In honor of Black History Month and Langston Hughes' 122 birthday on February 1, 2023, opera star Will Liverman has recorded I Dream a World,” a new music video featuring text by the famed writer. Multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist Damien Sneed composed the piece. Hughes wrote the poem, which speaks of a perfect world where racism and avarice are defeated, while living in Harlem in 1941.

Liverman, an operatic baritone, portrayed the leading role of Charles Blow in the Met Opera's production of Fire Shut Up In My Bones, the first opera by a Black composer staged at the Met in its entire history. On February 15, Liverman will make his Lincoln Center solo recital debut, performing a program that portrays the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the Black experience through poignant texts and expressive musical settings. The recital includes select songs from his Grammy-nominated album Dreams of a New Day—Songs by Black Composers.

As founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, Sneed has gained a global reputation for vivid interpretations of vocal literature.

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1901. Known as a poet, novelist, playwright and activist, he coined the writing style known as jazz poetry and was the leader of the Harlem Renaissance.