Beverly Benjamin Cole is a 94 year old composer that currently resides in Sault Ste. Marie. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a masters in piano and a minor in theory in 1952. Within the past few years, he sent out copies of his manuscripts to voice professor Stephen West. In the letter that he sent along with his manuscripts, he asked Professor West if any students were interested in performing his songs. Professor West looked over the music and got into contact with Mr. Cole, who explained that he had never heard any of the songs sung before. Professor West ended up performing and recording ten of his songs himself with staff pianist Kathryn Goodson and sent the recordings to Mr. Cole. They also performed some of his songs in a UM faculty showcase in early 2022.

Jack Morin, a student of Professor West, decided to scan all of the manuscripts sent to Professor West after performing one of the pieces and became enthralled with the works. The manuscripts had multiple versions of each song for different vocal ranges, each posing unique musical content with variations from slight to massive. In order to organize the pieces and their various versions into a cohesive edition for all voice types, Jack began learning how to digitize Mr. Cole’s manuscripts so that they look cleaner and are more accessible to performers. Jack Morin and Professor West also visited Mr. Cole in the summer of 2022, and they were able to perform many of the songs with Mr. Cole at the piano, the first time he’d ever heard most of the songs sung.

Since the summer, Jack Morin has been digitizing and editing the manuscripts of music, and hopes one day to be able to publish the works on behalf of Mr. Cole, who has stated that he simply wants his music to be performed. Jack has also been gathering together nine collaborators to perform all of these vocal works in concert both at the University of Michigan and in Sault Ste. Marie in collaboration with the Soo Theatre. The music itself consists of five cycles of songs, with text from the psalms to A. E. Housman, and each cycle will be performed by a separate pianist and singer duo.

The Songs of Beverly Benjamin Cole will be performed at Central United Methodist Church, April 2nd at 2pm. Admission is by donation.