Worship, praise and singing will ensue at Dartmouth this Saturday at the fourth-annual Gospel Fest. The various choirs will showcase their talents in an exciting forum for all to enjoy.
The Intercollegiate Gospel Fest was created in 1999 at Harvard University as a way for gospel choirs of Ivy League schools to get together for praise and worship. Since its inception, Gospel Fest has expanded to include other schools from the northeast.
This year, schools performing alongside the Dartmouth choir will include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, University of Bridgeport and Youngstown University among others. Also featured in this year's Gospel Fest will be the special guest choir Redeemed Praise from Boston.
Praise Fest, the first public event of the weekend, will take place in Spaulding Auditorium on Friday evening at 8 p.m. The free performance will feature acclaimed keynote speaker Bishop J.C. White, former Dartmouth Gospel Choir director, and will consist of an opening prayer and a procession.
A special performance by Redeemed Praise will compliment the rest of the concert well and provide an interesting display of talent and versatility.
The theme for Praise Fest is "You Are My Song."
A series of Bible study workshops will take place on Saturday morning. The different college gospel choirs will minister to each other through song later in the day.
Saturday evening at 8 p.m., the college will be treated to "10,000 Tongues 2002: The Concert," the culminating event of the weekend.
The Spaulding concert will feature diverse and unique performances by every gospel choir in attendance. The performances will showcase two or three select songs by each individual choir group and their respective accompaniements.
The groups will join together at the conclusion of "10,000 Tongues" to sing a mass choir piece. Olivia Carpenter '00 will be returning to Hanover to direct the mass choir.
The Director of the Dartmouth Chamber Singers, Timothy Newton, is the interim artistic director for the Dartmouth Gospel Choir and will also be participating in the coordination of the event.
After the performance, the Roth Center for Jewish Life will host a reception for the audience members, and all are invited to participate in "Gospel Karaoke" in Poison Ivy.
In previous years, Gospel Fest has been held at Yale University, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.
Tamara Cooke '02, a member of the Dartmouth choir who is helping to organize the multi-faceted event, noted that aside from the support from choir members themselves, the main funding for Gospel Fest has come from the Hopkins Center and the Tucker Foundation.
Cooke also said that Gospel Fest, which is part of the Tucker Foundation's 50th Anniversary Celebration, will unite alumni, students and local residents. Such a unique event that can bring the Hanover community together rarely comes along.
The free "10,000 Tongues" concert will certainly bring together members of the community of all backgrounds for a night of great entertainment.
"I don't think it's very often that we get gospel music or Christian music in the Hanover area, so it will be amazing for the Upper Valley community. We're combining different worlds -- people coming back to visit Dartmouth from years past, present students and other visiting guests," Cooke said.
Gospel Fest is sure to be a highlight of this momentous weekend in Dartmouth history celebrating the Tucker Foundation's storied past.
