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The Dartmouth
Gospel Choir has been invited to perform at the world-renowned New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
The group will sing on Saturday, April 28, as the opening act for the New
Orleans-based Bishop Paul S. Morton and the Greater St. Stephens Mass
Choir.
Dartmouth Gospel Choir (Photo by Joseph Mehling '69)
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Founded in 1970, the annual Jazz Fest draws tens of thousands to New Orleans
for two weekends of music in such Louisian traditions as gospel, jazz, Cajun,
zydeco, blues, R&B, rock, funk, African, Latin, and Caribbean. Headline
performers for Jazz Fest 2007, to be held April 27 through 29 and May 4 through
6, include Harry Connick Jr., Norah Jones, Allen Toussaint, Ludacris, Jerry Lee
Lewis, Jill Scott, Irma Thomas, Rod Stewart, and Bonnie Raitt.
The choir is one of only a handful of college groups from outside of
Louisiana who have been invited to perform. "This is a tremendous honor
for the choir," notes Joshua Price Kol, director of student performance
programs at the Hopkins Center
for the Arts. Directed by Walt Cunningham, the 60-plus-member choir is
composed of Dartmouth students, Upper Valley community members, and about 20
professional and semi-professional gospel musicians and singers from Chicago
who have been drawn in by Cunningham, who lives there part-time.
The Dartmouth choir has experienced a rebirth under Cunningham's leadership,
Kol observes. "Everywhere this choir goes to perform, audiences are wowed
by the artistry of the group and stunned-'Dartmouth College has a world-class
gospel choir?' Well, we do."
The Dartmouth group's visit to New Orleans will reach beyond their Saturday
performance. The choir will also take part in a Katrina-related community
service project, sing in a church, and hopes to perform at two high schools
before returning to Dartmouth, reports Kol.
This combination of music and mission is true to the choir's purpose, says
Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia. "The Gospel Choir is unique in the
sense that they not only care about the performances they give but also about
supporting the communities in which they perform." As for their music, she
says it's irresistible. "Even if you're standing outside a rehearsal when
the Gospel Choir is singing, the choir's combination of energy and passion is
contagious."
By REBECCA BAILEY
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