Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2007-03-21

"A performance that was meditative, stirring and convincing," wrote a Washington Post reviewer of the Samford University A Cappella Choir's presentation of Aaron Copland's "In the Beginning" at the John F. Kennedy Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday (March 18).

The 17-minute Copland piece, the composer's only extended work for unaccompanied choir, was a part of the choir's debut performance at the Kennedy Center. Dr. Timothy Paul Banks conducts the 54-member choir.

"This ensemble generates joyful sounds and expression in settings ranging from psalms and Shaker tunes to spiritual and poems," wrote Post writer Grace Jean following the concert that also included works by J.S. Bach, Howard Hanson, Charles Stanford and others.

Alabamians can enjoy the same program when the choir presents its Home concert Friday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Samford's Reid Chapel. The public is invited free of charge.

The Home concert completes a spring performance tour that included stops in Gadsden, Elberton, Ga., Atlanta, Ga., Danville, Va., Richmond, Va., and Spartanburg, S.C.

 
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 5,791 students from 49 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.