SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir 2012 Spring Concert

The SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir presents its annual Spring Concert on Sunday, April 29, at 4:00 P.M. in Brown Auditorium in Old Main. The concert will pay tribute to recording artists Whitney Houston, Sam Cooke and Kirk Franklin, and to composer and director Moses Hogan. A dessert reception will follow immediately after the performance. The Gospel Choir welcomes the Cortland community to the very popular event. Families with children and seniors are also welcome. Old Main is Quingo vitess 2 mobility scooter accessible. Tickets for the event are $3 students and $5 general admission. Complimentary tickets are available on a need basis. Proceeds support the Gospel Choir Scholarship and Programming Funds.

SUNY Cortland Student Government Jamie Piperato will extend the welcome on behalf of the college.  This year’s concert embraces the theme of Ubuntu: “I am what I am because of who we are.” Dr. Seth Asumah, Chair of Africana Studies will elaborate on the theme and it’s implication for unity in today’s times.

Recently returned from their spring 2012 tour to Washington, D. C. and Maryland, the Gospel Choir will honor outstanding African American recording artists Whitney Houston, Sam Cooke, and Kirk Franklin, and also the famous African American Composer of Spirituals Moses Hogan. Cortland A Cappella, directed by Noelle Paley, Director of Multicultural Life, will be featured, along with the Gospel Choir Ensemble, saxophonist Jamie Yaman and pianist Dorothy Thomas.

Among the selections by the Gospel Choir will My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord, by O’Landa Draper, Battlefield, by Norman Hutchings, with Jason Carriero as soloist,Glorious, by  Martha Munizzi, Total Praise, Richard Smallwood, led by Deston Hudson and I Just Want To Praise You by Maurette Brown Clark. Cortland A Cappella will present one spiritual in honor of composer Moses Hogan, along with several other contemporary selections.  The Gospel Choir will also present the spiritual Keep Your Lamp in recognition of Hogan.

Saxophonist Jamie Yaman will honor Kirk Franklin with a performance of Silver and Gold.  He will be backed by the Gospel Choir Ensemble. Pianist Dorothy Thomas will perform Whitney Houston’s One Moment In Time, by Albert Hammond & John Bettis and I’ll Always Love You, by Dolly Parton.  Khalia Brown will sing Whitney’s Houston’s rendition of I Look To You.  Jason Carriero pays tribute to Sam Cooke’s with the classic, I Know A Change Is Gonna Come.

Directing Cortland’s Gospel Choir will be Robert Brown, a SUNY Cortland adjunct instructor in Africana Studies.  Brown teaches music at Blodgett Elementary School in Syracuse. He is also music director of the New Life Community Church. Choir musicians are Andy Rudy, Reginald Siegler, and Benjamin Terry, all from Syracuse.  Jamie Yaman is from Cortland.

The program is sponsored by the SUNY Cortland Africana Studies Department.  It is also supported by the Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies, Alumni Affairs,Cortland College Foundation, the Division of Student Affairs, Office of the President, Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Mandatory Student Activity Fee.  For more information, contact Professor Samuel L. Kelley at 607 753-4104 or sam.kelley@cortland.edu  or Dr. Seth Asumah atseth.asumah@cortland.edu, or 607 753-2064.