To hear the Chamber Singers’ performances, go to: With Heart and Voice: Spirituals, Then & Now. The performance of “You Must Have That True Religion” comes at the 5:30 mark, while “In Bright Mansions Above” is at 45:10.It’s like winning the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
That’s how Kevin Ford, UC Foundation professor in the Department of Music, describes the recent honor bestowed on the Chamber Singers of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The ensemble was featured for the third time on the NPR program “With Heart and Voice: Spirituals Then & Now,” which focuses on choral and organ music. This time, though, the show featured two songs performed by the Chamber Singers, marking the first time they appeared twice on the same program, Ford said.
“To be chosen for a national broadcast lets the current singers see what can be the result of hard work and concentrated effort. That level of recognition sets the bar for each new generation of students to reach,” Ford said.
The singers performed “You Must Have that True Religion” and “In Bright Mansions Above,” both written by the internationally renowned Roland M. Carter, Ruth S. Holmberg professor of American music at UTC. The pieces were from the Chamber Singers CD, “In Bright Mansions Above: The Choral Music of Roland M. Carter, Vol. 1.”
Carter is a composer, arranger, conductor and pianist, and he conducted the inaugural concert of the African American Music Series at Carnegie Hall.
Just the fact that the Chamber Singers have been featured on “With Heart and Voice” is worth noting, Ford said.
“Regional universities almost never get this kind of exposure. Most of the choruses on this episode were professional choruses, not college choruses,” he said.
