Musicologists Rodney Whitaker (above left) and
Terrance L. Lane (above right) conceptualized
From Gospel to Jazz. Whitaker is artistic director
of the orchestra, and Lane is director of chorale
studies at B-CU.
and First Lady Michelle Obama.
In 2017, the 50-member group released
an album, Hold Fast to Dreams, and earlier
this year toured Israel. Many locals saw the
chorale in April, when it joined forces with
the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park for
African-American Masterpieces: Symphonic
Spirituals, held in Knowles Memorial Chapel
on the campus of Rollins College.
keep African-American music alive,” says Terrance
L. Lane, director of chorale studies at
B-CU. “This program will contain every emotional
experience, from sorrow to joy. I think
it will be a great experience for everyone.”
Whitaker and Lane say the orchestra
and the chorale will perform some songs
separately while collaborating on others,
have some improvisation,” says Whitaker.
-
-
cred series, which the composer once de-
of the most beloved gospel songs of all
Take My Hand.”
Whitaker notes that gospel music has
always had a special meaning for African-
Americans, who found hope in songs of
worship during the darkest days of slavery
and through the civil rights movement.
“Gospel often had veiled meanings,” he
about being alive and being human.”
G E T Y O U R T I C K E T S
D I D Y O U K N O W ?
From Gospel to Jazz, was
a favorite gospel song of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was sung at a rally he held the
night before his assassination. By his request, it was sung at his funeral by Mahalia Jackson.
68 artsLife | FALL 2018
EVENT: From Gospel to Jazz
DATE/TIME: Saturday, September 29,
8 p.m.; and Sunday, September 30,
4 p.m.
VENUE: Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
NOTES: The Jazz Orchestra at Dr.
Phillips Center and the Bethune-
Cookman University Concert Chorale
join forces to present a program of
traditional and contemporary jazzinfused
gospel music.
TICKETS: Prices starting at $40
844.513.2014 • drphillipscenter.org
/drphillipscenter.org