04/24/2009
The SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir, under the direction of Robert Brown, will present contemporary and traditional gospel selections and spirituals during its 24th annual Spring Concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, in Old Main Brown Auditorium.
Tickets for the event are $2 for students; $4 for faculty, staff and senior citizens; and $5 for general admission. Children under 12 are admitted free and complementary tickets are available on a need basis. Proceeds support the Gospel Choir Scholarship and Programming Fund.
Comprised of College, high school and community members, the Gospel Choir has been recognized for its outstanding performances at the National Collegiate Gospel Competition. Earlier this month, the group toured Germany and presented concerts in Aachen, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt. Recent Gospel Choir tours have included Toronto, Canada and Niagara Falls, N.Y., in 2008 and England in 2007.
Selections from the 2009 European Tour to Germany will be offered by the choir. The concert will also feature music by the Gospel Choir Ensemble, student performances, a piano piece by Dorothy Thomas '77 and a saxophone piece by Jamie Yaman.
A Germany Tour selection will include the Edwin Hawkins gospel classic, "Oh Happy Day," which is highly popular in Germany and considered by many to have helped bring gospel music to the international stage. Also new to the choir's lineup will be "More Like Him," by Eric McDaniel. Cortland native Jamie Yaman, who also traveled with the choir to Germany, will present a saxophone rendition of Kirk Franklin's "Silver and Gold," backed by the Gospel Choir Ensemble. The audience favorite, "Perfect Praise," by Richard Smallwood, will have new soloists, Danielle Borkowski and Yazman McZorn-Hines. Additional selections will include "Faithful Is Our God," by Hezekiah Walker, and "Order My Steps," by Glenn Burleigh. Dorothy Thomas will do a piano rendition of "He Looked Beyond My Faults - We Shall Behold Him," by Dottie Rambo. The Gospel Choir Jazz Ensemble will perform "Spring Afternoon," composed by Robert Brown.
Brown, a SUNY Cortland adjunct instructor in Africana Studies and music teacher at Blodgett Elementary School in Syracuse, N.Y., is music director of the New Life Community Church. He has a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music. He completed his Master of Science in Music Education at Syracuse University.
Choir musicians are: Andy Rudy on keyboard, Reginald Siegler on bass guitar and Benjamin Terry on percussion, all from Syracuse; and Jamie Yaman of Cortland.
Choir officers this year are Shavonn Lynch, a senior psychology major from Auburn, N.Y.; vice president Phillip Malcolm, a senior economics major from Plainfield, N.J.; treasurer Jessica Jones, a sophomore health science major from the Bronx, N.Y.; and secretary Jasmine Fields, a sophomore political science major from New York City. This year's tour manager is Christen Owens, a senior elementary education major from Lynbrook, N.Y.
Sponsored by the SUNY Cortland Africana Studies Department, the concert is also supported by the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies, the Alumni Affairs Office, the Cortland College Foundation, the Division of Student Affairs, the President, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs offices, and the student activity fee. For more information, contact Distinguished Service Professor Samuel L. Kelley at sam.kelley@cortland.edu or Distinguished Teaching Professor Seth Asumah at (607) 753-2064.