Published on January 13, 2007 by William Nunnelley  
Posted by William Nunnelley on 2007-03-08

The Samford University A Cappella Choir will present a concert in The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Sunday, March 18, at 2 p.m. in the Terrace Theater.

The program by the 54-member choir will feature a rare performance of Aaron Copland's only extended work for unaccompanied choir, In the Beginning, and works by J. S. Bach, Howard Hanson, Charles Stanford and others. Dr. Timothy Paul Banks will conduct. The performance will be the first stand-alone concert in the Kennedy Center by a collegiate choir from Alabama.

Formed in 1939, the auditioned ensemble most recently was featured at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. It also has performed during recent years in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.

The choir will travel to London in May for an evensong residency on the South Bank at Southwark Cathedral. It will also perform at the Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival in Lincolnshire, in Lincoln Cathedral, Ely Cathedral and other venues.

For ticket information to the Kennedy Center performance, contact www.kennedy-center.org or call (202) 467-4600.  

The Kennedy Center concert will highlight the choir's annual spring tour. Other tour concerts are scheduled for Rainbow Presbyterian Church, Gadsden, Ala., March 14; Mount Hermon Baptist Church, Danville, Va., March 16; River Road Church, Richmond, Va., March 19; First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, S.C., March 20; First Baptist Church, Elberton, Ga., March 21; and Spivey Hall, Atlanta, Ga., March 22.

The choir will hold its Home Concert Friday, March 30, in Reid Chapel at Samford.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.