Dramatic speeches and powerful passages by Frederick Douglass, Thomas Jefferson and San Francisco composer Kirke Mecham will be the core of a free concert presented by the Iowa State University Department of Music Sunday.

Songs of the Slave, a suite of five movements from the 1994 opera John Brown, the abolitionist who started the Civil War, by Mecham. The concert will feature guest soloist Kevin Bell, a bass-baritone, three ISU choirs and the ISU Symphony Orchestra.

Bell graduated from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and made his debut with Iowa audiences nearly two years ago when he performed solos in Joseph Handel’s Messiah while being accompanied by the Des Moines Symphony and the Choral Society. His past performances include concerts with the Florida Philharmonic, the Pacific Chorale, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Seattle Opera and the Washington Opera.

Dr. Robert Molison, director of choral activities, describes Songs of the Slave as being heavily influenced by African and African-American style.

The suite opens with John Brown’s favorite hymn, Blow Ye the Trumpet. The second and fourth movements of the suite are The Songs of the Slave and A Speech by Frederick Douglass, respectively. The lyrics to both are taken from speeches Douglass presented to the British Parliament, which eventually impacted the outcome of the Civil War.

The lyrics to Declaration are words of the preamble written by Jefferson, in which the music emphasizes the words “all men” and “equal.” This movement features a solo by Bell, the Oratorio Choir, the Iowa State Singers, the ISU Chamber Singers and the ISU Symphony Orchestra.

Molison described the third movement, Dan-u-el, as “a really modern version of an old spiritual song in a dramatic setting.”

The concert itself will open with the ISU Chamber Singers performing William Dawson’s Ain’-A That Good News and the Oratorio Choir, which will perform African and African-American literature.

The Iowa State Singers will then perform Ralph Manuel’s Alleluia, a piece performed at a memorial service in remembrance of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. Following this performance, the three choirs will be accompanied by the ISU Symphony Orchestra in Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah. This will feature a solo by Wayne Tigges, a junior in vocal performance.

The ISU Symphony Orchestra will then perform Paul Ben-Haim’s Fanfare to Israel, which was originally written for the Brass Band of the Israel Defense Forces.

“Students are quite turned on by it [the music]. They really feel the way it moves them,” Molison said. “You learn more about cultures by singing about them and it has some significance for the world.”

The concert will be held at C.Y. Stephens Auditorium at 3 p.m. Sunday and is free to the public.