Choral Alumni - Lincoln
Center Concert
A Letter from Mark Deakins, Ph.D.
Kentucky Christian University web site bulletin
April 7, 2008
KCU CHORAL ALUMNI,
Do I have a great opportunity for
you!!
We have been asked to perform a
gospel/black gospel concert with live orchestra in Lincoln Center on Sunday,
April 19, 2009. The concert will be held in Avery Fisher Hall - home of the New
York Philharmonic Orchestra (about 2,800 seats!).
Since the accompaniment for many of
the selected songs take a large orchestra we will need to have a large choir -
about 200 voices. I want to combine the Concert Choir, Chorale, the East Carter
High School Choir, and YOU, our KCU Choral Alumni, to make up this fantastic
choir. I have been directing the ECHS Concert Choir for nine years. They have
received two superior ratings at the National Choral Festival and recently received
a superior rating at the National Adjudicators Invitational and took the Board
of Directors Honors Award for the highest score of the competition among all
competing choirs, bands and orchestras.
I will be sending out packets,
containing the music and a stereo CD, so you can learn the music at home. We
will gather in New York on Saturday, April 18 for an all-day rehearsal, do a
dress rehearsal with the orchestra on Sunday afternoon and then perform the
concert that evening at 8:00pm. We will be singing many of the gospel/black
gospel songs we have performed through the years. The solos of two recent songs
we have performed, written by Mark Condon, will be performed by the composer.
Additional solos will be sung by David Phelps - the former first tenor of the
Gaither Vocal Band and the composer of additional pieces we will perform. We
are still awaiting word from our female soloist. I will let you know who that
is when we receive confirmation!!!
The cost for the trip which includes
the hotel for three nights (quad occupancy of singers), rehearsal, performance,
and a huge reception after the concert is $850.00. If you prefer to bring your
wife (family) and want the room to yourself the cost will be $1,640.00. We have
selected the Park Central Hotel conveniently located just steps from the
rolling paths of Central Park, the sights of Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall,
Lincoln Center and Times Square. A spectacular $65 million renovation has
placed the Park Central at the top of the list of New York City Central Park
hotels. I believe it will suit our needs well. I have recently visited the
hotel and it is beautiful. The rooms are small but functional and very stylish.
I am hoping you will be one of 50
KCU Choral Alumni who will join us in Lincoln Center. With this being our first
opportunity to perform in Lincoln Center, I certainly want it to be a
phenomenal concert! I know it will be if you are able to sing in the choir.
The Lord continues to make
opportunities for us. A ministry like this - gospel/black gospel music in
Lincoln Center - will not be taken for granted. We will share the gospel with
2800 people who need a word of encouragement in a dark and uncertain world. I
believe you and I were born for such a time as this.
Please join me, your fellow colleagues,
and the current KCU Concert Choir and Chorale, in Lincoln Center for an
unforgettable concert on Sunday, April 19, 2009. Please send me the registration form and the $100.00
per person deposit. I need to know by June 1, 2008 if there will be enough
interested choir members to perform the concert.
It will be a great time together -
singing, remembering past tours and concerts, and making new memories! I'm
looking forward to this. Call or email if you have further questions.
Love you much,
D
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