Gospel music and music of the African American genre will come to downtown Nassau as Christ Church Cathedral hosts the world renowned Uzee Brown Society of Choraliers (UBSC) on their first singing trip outside the United States of America.
The Uzee Brown Society of Choraliers was founded by Uzee Brown, Jr., educator, composer/arranger, performer and chair of the Morehouse College Department of Music. He contemplated that, given the size and diversity of the city of Atlanta and its African American population, an additional community-based chorus such as the UBSC would be a meaningful musical alternative. Its mission is comprised of three basic objectives -- to assemble, study, sing and perform for the mutual enjoyment of making music of the highest quality for all of its members and the general public; to perform a wide variety of vocal music in such a way that the music of diverse cultural traditions, both sacred and secular are heard, and the heritage of African American musical traditions are preserved and understood; and to advocate the concept of the UBSC as a cohesive force and source of cultural enrichment in the community and throughout the nation.
Membership in the UBSC is by audition. It is a chorus in residence at Morehouse College, comprised of professional singers, choristers who have many years of experience in church and community choirs, students, and ardent lovers of music making whose ages range from the 20s to the 80s. Many of its singers have worked, studied and interacted with each other over the years.
"We are so pleased that Dr. Brown and his group have elected to not only come and visit our country but also to stage a concert at Christ Church," said Adrian Archer, director of music at the historic Anglican Cathedral. "Last year I had occasion to visit Atlanta and during that time attended one of the rehearsals of the group. I was happy to invite them to come to The Bahamas and relieve themselves of the cold temperatures in Atlanta. I was so pleased weeks later to find out that they were actually going to come, and through the encouragement of a member of the chorus, Bahamian singer Robert "Bobby" Pinder, they began making serious preparation for travel to our shores. The result, we hope, will be a great vacation for them, a memorable visit for all of us and a new musical relationship between Dr. Brown, his chorus and members of the music community here in The Bahamas."
The UBSC began in the fall of 2009 for the primary purpose of completing a multi-media recording project of Tikvah (a Hebrew word meaning hope), based on the life and writings of a surviving Jewish holocaust victim, Philip Markowicz, with music by award-winning American composer, Burton Beerman. While the initial gathering of the choraliers was intended to be simply for the joy of singing and exploring new repertoire, before the recording project was completed, the UBSC was invited to perform for its first public audience of more than 4,000 for the opening of the International Association of Internal Auditors at the World Congress Center.
In the fall of 2010, the choraliers sang at Friendship Baptist Church for the opening of the Atlanta Festival of Spirituals. In March, 2011 they joined in an unprecedented and historical collaboration of five local churches, all of varying denominations, in a two-CD recording project of hymns, entitled "New Wine in Old Wineskins" with Dr. W. James Abbington, GIA Publishing Company African American Heritage Series editor, Emory University professor and adjunct professor of church music at Morehouse.
A public performance of the CD project was presented as a commemorative concert on 9/11/2011 in the Martin Luther King, Jr., International Memorial Chapel. The choraliers recently completed a demo recording project for internationally-acclaimed film director, Spike Lee for his 2013 movie, "Red Hook Summer", and a 2012 recording and concert of "Total Praise", selections from the "Total Praise Hymnal". It has recently completed part one of a CD project, aimed at further illuminating the grassroots traditions of Negro Spirituals.
"The concert will culminate with more than 80 voices in song when the visiting ensemble is joined by our local singing group The Highgrove Singers and Bahamian soprano Joanne Deveaux-Callender," said Archer. "This will be one of the highlights of the evening as we sing Clement Bethel's 'Praise', an exciting arrangement by Lee Callender, as well as four other pieces including Psalm 117, a composition of Roger Holland's 'Lord Make Me An Instrument' and Mark Hayes' 'It Is Well With My Soul'."
The concert, under the patronage of the governor general, will take place on Sunday, March 1 at 6:00 p.m. in Christ Church Cathedral, George Street. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 students and may be purchased at Christ Church Cathedral or St George's Anglican Church.
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