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Roll over calendar dates for performance information.
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WPAS Education & Community |
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Connections through the Arts Education Programs for All Ages |
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Since 1993, Washington Performing Arts Society's Children of the Gospel Choir has showcased some of the city's uniquely talented young voices in their own distinctive style of high energy performances, highlighting the rich tradition of gospel music while giving the Washington area audiences a glimpse of their versatility and appreciation of other genres of music. The WPAS Children of the Gospel Choir collaborates with noted music directors from throughout the Washington region, who enhance the choir's training, performance quality and disciplinary skills. In addition to showcasing the talents of local youth, the choir program promotes an environment of
self-confidence, teamwork and respect, and provides students with life learning tools to aid in personal and artistic growth.
For over a decade, the choir has performed with an array of special guests, including Step Afrika!, Kathleen Battle, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Yolanda Adams, Richard Smallwood, Vickie Winans, Dottie Peoples, Donnie McClurkin, and many other noted artists.
Some performance highlights for WPAS Children of the Gospel Choir include their recent appearance at the National Prayer Service for President Barack Obama on January 21, 2009 at the National Cathedral; Welcome to Washington Event at the Harman Center; featured performances on the NBC Today Show; repeated performances on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the annual National Night Out on The National Mall, and the 138th annual Birthday Celebration and wreath ceremony in honor of Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington, D.C. In addition, the choir has provided a one-hour family program at The Atlas Theater; featured as part of the 2008 D.C. Mayors Arts Awards program, in the Annual Jumoke Celebration by the Jack and Jill Club at THEARC, along with members of WPAS Men and Women of the Gospel in a performance with the Ramsey Lewis Trio, at WPAS' Annual Gala, and at other special events.
“The ensemble's music sounded passionate and joyful, especially Thurston's arrangement of ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel,' whose searing, soulful dissonances added to the hymn's longing.”
Andrew Lindemann Malone, The Washington Post
“…as one voice, with perfect ensemble, intonation and diction.”
Cecelia Porter, The Washington Post |
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About the Artistic Director |
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Stanley J. Thurston, as Artistic Director of the Washington Performing Arts Society's Gospel Choirs who have received acclaim from music critics such as Washington Post Cecelia Porter,
as a
"stellar performance" of the nearly 300-voice choir under his direction "...performed with one voice, with perfect ensemble, intonation and diction". Subsequent WPAS engagements this season
have featured Mr. Thurston as conductor with such well-known artists as Soprano, Kathleen Battle; Sweet Honey in the Rock; Canadian Brass; jazz legends Ramsey Lewis & Wynton Marsalis, along
with appearances on the NBC Today Show. He has appeared as conductor in concert venues including Carnegie Hall, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall and Millennium
Stage, the U.S. Capitol, The Music Center at Strathmore, Carter Barron Amphitheater, DAR Constitution Hall, Arena Stage, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Washington National Cathedral, and
the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Mr. Thurston is well known as a pianist, composer, and arranger. His orchestral arrangements have been performed by the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, New
Jersey, and the National Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of The American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, Mr. Thurston made his European opera conducting debut in Giuseppe Verdi's La
Traviata with Romania's Opera Constanta, returning in to conduct Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor the following season. He is the founding Music Director of The Heritage Signature Chorale and
currently
serves as the Director of Music at Foundry United Methodist Church, Washington, DC. |
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WPAS Gospel Choir Intranet*
WPAS Gospel Choir on Twitter*
*PLEASE NOTE: For WPAS Gospel Choir Members only. To gain access, contact Megan Merchant at mmerchant@wpas.org. |
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WPAS Children of the Gospel is on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/WPAS-Children-of-the-Gospel-Choir/46770229006 |
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