Westminster Jubilee Singers To Present Living the Dream Concert on January 22
The Westminster Jubilee Singers, conducted by J. Donald Dumpson, will present its second annual concert honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Saturday, January 22 at 8:00 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the Westminster campus in Princeton. Joining the ensemble will be the Hampton University Concert Choir, conducted by Royzell Dillard.
The program will include works by Nathan Carter, Roland Carter, R.L. Dillard, Eugene Hancock, Moses Hogan, Undine Moore, Frank Williams and many more.
Praised by critics for their “pinpoint accuracy” and music making with “a fine sheen,” the Westminster Jubilee Singers is a multicultural, multiracial and interdenominational choral ensemble that performs music from the African-American tradition. This season the ensemble will also perform twice in the Baltimore area in conduction with an appearance at the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) Eastern Division conference. Last season the ensemble performed at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York as part of the Children’s Defense Fund’s 30th anniversary and made a concert tour of New England in conjunction with an appearance at the American Choral Directors’ regional conference in Boston.
Conductor J. Donald Dumpson is equally at home in the classroom, in the church and on the stage. A member of Westminster’s sacred music faculty, he is also minister of music at Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia and conductor of the New Jersey Symphony’s Community Chorus. His talents as a master keyboardist, composer and arranger have led to collaborations with a wide array of musicians, ranging from Charles Dutoit and Bobby McFerrin to Cab Calloway and Patti LaBelle.
The Hampton University Concert Choir is the primary touring ensemble for the University. Established in 1870, this group is distinguished by performing in some of the most honorable concert hall and churches in the country and abroad. The choir has toured parts of Europe and Canada, performed in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and was featured at the Inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton in 1997.
Royzell Dillard is celebrating his 15th year of service as the conductor and artistic director of the Hampton University Choirs. A workshop leader during the annual Hampton University Ministers' Conference, he has also held the post of music director for the Christian Education Leadership Institute at Hampton University. He has been a guest lecturer/presenter at the Black Music Caucus Conference, the Inter-Collegiate Music Association Conference, the Dallas Cultural Arts Center, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Haile Selassie I Peace Foundation Concert series. Currently, he serves as the co-director of Music for the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference Choir Directors’ Organists’ Guild.
In addition to serving on Hampton University’s faculty, he is the minister of music at Memorial Church at Hampton University and conducts all choirs at Hampton.
Tickets for this concert are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. To purchase, call the Westminster box office at 609-921-2663 weekdays between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
