On Friday night, Volney Morgan of the MOBO Award winning gospel group Volney Morgan & New-Ye, will host a showcase of dynamic choirs from throughout the European continent and the United Kingdom. Audio sound designer Armando Fullwood will join 7x GRAMMY® Award winning engineer Danny Duncan (who’s worked with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Israel Houghton) to introduce VenueFlex/ChoirFlex, a new technology that enhances audio clarity for an immersive acoustic listening experience. Each day there will be educational courses on topics such as vocal blending incorporating spoken word, dance, and theater into a choir’s stage presentation and how to dress a choir and create its fashion imprint. Lawrence’s plan is to expand upon the rich legacy of the Music & Arts Seminar. So, we’ve got choirs coming from Sweden, Latvia, Denmark, and so many other places.” Bazil Meade MBE (the pioneering founder of the 40+ year old London Community Gospel Choir that’s given royal command performances and performed with a who’s who in music) and Ayce Oyerinde, are handling on the ground promotions for Music + Arts Global through their London-based firm, GloFest International. Instead of me going to all of them, I said why don’t we all meet in London for this first year and then I’ll come to you the next year. A lot of the leaders in different cities asked for me to come and teach their choirs. I conducted a 500-voice choir at Duomo Cathedral in Florence, Italy with 30,000 people in attendance. I’ve visited many countries and worked with their choirs. “A lot of people in the Baltic states can really sing well. “Choir music is everywhere, and music is a universal language,” Lawrence says. …I’d like to eventually take the convention out of the states…just to keep it fresh.” While that hope didn’t materialize during Hawkins’ lifetime, it’s happening April 27-29, 2023, when Lawrence will present the newly renamed conference Music + Arts Global at the Gaumont State Theatre (197-99 High Road NW6 7HY) in the Kilburn district of London, England. “I don’t want it to be just another social affair. “I want to see young people really benefit from the art…,” Hawkins said of the Music & Arts Seminar in a 1987 interview with Totally Gospel Magazine. It’s against this backdrop that GRAMMY® Award winning choirmaster Donald Lawrence is reviving his mentor, the legendary late Edwin Hawkins’ annual Music & Arts Seminar that was birthed in 1979 and reimagining it for the 21st century as a bi-annual conference, Music + Arts Global. It’s featured in TV commercials and films, sampled by pop artists, and played in dance clubs on six continents. Today, choir music is not only sung in churches around the world. The USA’s Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir lifted their voices during Barack Obama’s second inauguration ceremony. South Africa’s award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir has performed on the Academy Awards. The world watched on television as London’s Kingdom Choir sang at Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s royal wedding.
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