Sunday, November 11, 2018

NewJerseyStage.com: Westminster Jubilee Singers Presents "Examine Me"

Vinroy D. Brown, Jr.


Nov. 9, 2018

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Westminster Jubilee Singers will present a concert titled “Examine Me” on Sunday, November 18 at 7:30pm in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. Led by the ensemble’s conductor, Vinroy D. Brown, Jr., the program explores the Psalter (book of Psalms) and includes settings by African American composers.

The program features Psalm I by Nathan Carter, “The Lord is My Shepherd, Alleluia” from Adolphus Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes, Margaret Douroux’s Day and Night Praise and works by Cedric Dent and M. Roger Holland.

Composed of students selected by audition, the Westminster Jubilee is modeled after the historically acclaimed Fisk Jubilee Singers.   Its repertoire, while specialized and select, is very diverse and focuses on solo and ensemble artistic expressions from its singers.  Part of Westminster Choir College’s Sacred Music Department, the ensemble performs literature that includes African-American spirituals and folk songs; classical music by African-American composers; African chants and dances; gospel music and secular songs by musical greats such as William Dawson, Duke Ellington, Patti LaBelle, Walter Hawkins, Quincy Jones, Andre Crouch, Richard Smallwood, Kirk Franklin, Dr. Nathan Carter, as well as Westminster graduates, Rosephanye Powell, Donald Dillard and Roger Holland.  Also explored and performed are works by non-African-American composers, including George Gershwin, Alice Parker, Robert Shaw, Robert Page, Gail Poch, Steve Pilkington and others who have composed and/or arranged music of the African-American experience.


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