NEC Presents 30th Annual Gospel Jubilee, Feb. 14, 15 in NEC’s Jordan Hall

Saturday Performance Features Jerome Kyles and the Sanctuary Chorale of Morning Star Baptist Church

First Jubilee Directed by Donnell Patterson ‘82, Since Becoming Chair of Newly Created NEC Gospel Music Department

NEC Community and Millennium Gospel Choirs, Plus Brand New NEC Youth Gospel Choir are Highlights

            New England Conservatory’s 30th annual Thomas A. Dorsey Gospel Jubilee will celebrate the light of the spirit and the warmth of love in two weekend performances at NEC’s Jordan Hall, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. in NEC’s Jordan Hall.  Special guest will be Jerome Kyles, Minister of Worship and Music at Boston’s Morning Star Baptist Church, who will bring the sanctuary chorale from that church and his special brand of musical witness to the event. The Jubilee is directed by Donnell L. Patterson, recently appointed Chair of NEC’s newly formed Gospel Music Department—one of the few such departments existing in an American university or music school.  Patterson, who received his degree from NEC in 1982 with a major in music education and piano, earned an M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of South Florida and an M.Ed in Technology in Education from Harvard University.  Currently completing a doctorate in Music Technology, Patterson has been involved in the production of Gospel Jubilee since his student days and has watched it grow into a two-day event with such renowned Gospel artists as Richard Smallwood, Donald Lawrence, Kurt Carr, Alvin Slaughter and the Mississippi Mass Choir.    
           
Of special interest this year will be the first official Jubilee appearance by NEC’s Youth Gospel Choir, created this semester and directed by Evelyn Lee Jones.  The choir will sing in both performances along with the Belmont Hill School B-Flats.
           
Guest performer Jerome Kyles is a vocalist, pianist and organist who not only directs the Morning Star Baptist Church music ministry, but has produced for and collaborated with such musical stars as Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, and Richard Smallwood.  In 2006, he was chosen to lead a local youth choir for The Discovery Networks’ reality series Trial by Choir.  Through the series, viewers watched him transform 24 urban teens from diverse backgrounds into a working musical group through discipline, hard work, and tough-love.  Kyles has also been featured in a Boston Pops telecast devoted to Gospel.  As a result of this national exposure, he has been in great demand as a clinician and performer with Gospel groups throughout the country.  Kyles will appear on the Saturday night performance.
            Other special guests and the performances in which they will appear are:
Saturday, February 14

• Linda Brown San Martin and the Eastern Mass Gospel Choir
• Jerome Kyles and Sanctuary Choir of Morning Star Baptist Church

Sunday, February 15

• Saxophonist Bobby Tynes with the St. Paul A.M.E. Church Mass Choir 
• Dr. George Thorn and the Union Baptist Choir
• Four area ministers known for their exceptional musical gifts including the Reverends Martin McLee (former pastor of Union United Methodist Church and a current district Superintendent for the United Methodist Church), Wanda Josephs (Co-pastor of the Brockton A.M.E. Mission), Jeffrey Brown (Pastor of Union Baptist Church—Cambridge) and Minister Olivia Dubose (New Hope Baptist).

           
            The NEC Community and Millennium Gospel Choirs will sing in both concerts.  Distinguished ministers of music who will conduct include, besides Patterson, James A. Early, Jonathan Singleton, and Gospel Jubilee co-producer/Millennium Gospel Choir coordinator Patricia Dance.   

            Tickets for the Jubilee are RECESSION-PRICED! at $5.  To order, go to the Jordan Hall Box office or call 617-585-1260. 

For further information, check the NEC Website at: http://concerts.newenglandconservatory.edu or call the NEC Concert Line at 617-585-1122.  NEC’s Jordan Hall, Brown Hall, Williams Hall and the Keller Room are located at 30 Gainsborough St., corner of Huntington Ave. St. Botolph Hall is located at 241 St. Botolph St. between Gainsborough and Mass Ave.

ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY

Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world.  Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars.  Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide.  Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.

The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions.  On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors.  Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.

NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall.  These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes.  Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.

NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.
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