In the final episode of our series on the Akron Symphony Chorus, we sit down with Chorus Director Chris Albanese and special guests Chuck Myricks Jr. and Jesse Ayers about There’s a Stirrin’ in the Water, which they co-composed in 2016. The episode includes selections of There’s a Stirrin’ in the Water from the November 2016 performance by the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Akron Symphony Chorus, as well as a performance by the Akron Symphony Chorus in May 2021 from the parking lot of the First United Methodist Church in Akron. As a pioneering participant in Akron’s Gospel Meets Symphony concerts, Chuck Myricks has had several of his compositions performed by the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Tuscarawas Philharmonic. In 2000, he was commissioned by Akron’s First Night to write the new Millennium Theme Song for the city-wide celebration. His 2004 collaboration with the Ohio Ballet led to the premier of Transformation, a ballet featuring music composed by Chuck and performed by Divine Hope. He also has written a musical, The Miracle of Love, and an opera, Paul: A Musical Journey. Jesse Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011, and winner of the first Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Composition Competition in 2016. Recent honors include the 2020 Governor’s Award for Ohio’s Outstanding Individual Artist, the 2019 Ohio Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year Commission, two Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Excellence Awards, the 2011 Dayton Ballet “New Music for New Dance” award, a 2010 MacDowell Fellowship, and seven “Finalist” awards from the American Prize. His music has twice been selected to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days festival. Learn more at his website.

In the third episode of our four-part series on the Akron Symphony Chorus, we sit down with Chorus Director Chris Albanese and special guest Moira Smiley to discuss chorus music in the tradition of the Sacred Harp.

In the second episode of our four-part series on the Akron Symphony Chorus, we sit down with Chorus Director Chris Albanese, Music Director Christopher Wilkins and special guest Betsy Burleigh to discuss Haydn’s towering masterpiece, The Creation. The episode includes selections of The Creation by the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Akron Symphony Chorus, featuring guest artists Joyce Guyer, soprano, Karl Dent, tenor, and Timothy Jones, bass-baritone from April 2008; along with the Akron Symphony Chorus’ recording from May 2021 in the parking lot of the First United Methodist Church in Akron. Betsy Burleigh is the Thomas R. Kasdorf Professor of Choral Conducting and chair of the Choral Conducting Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She served as director of the Akron Symphony Chorus from 1997 to 2002. She has also served as music director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, been a guest conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Akron Symphony, Canton Symphony, and Handel Society of Dartmouth College, was chorus master for Cleveland Opera, assistant director of choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra, and director of Boston’s Chorus pro Musica, the Providence Singers in Rhode Island, Canton Symphony Chorus, and the Mastersingers of Lexington, Mass. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)

In the first episode of a four-part series on the Akron Symphony Chorus, we sit down with Chorus Director Chris Albanese and Steven Savanyu of Buford T. Hedgehog Productions to talk about a special recording project by the chorus in the parking lot of the First United Methodist Church in Akron. Chris and Steve share stories about the recording project, how the chorus coped with a year of virtual recordings, and the music they performed for the project. The episode opens and closes with a short sampling of the Akron Symphony Chorus performing Haydn’s Awake the Harp. In addition to leading the Akron Symphony Chorus, Chris Albanese is an assistant professor of choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he conducts the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers and teaches courses in choral conducting.  With more than 45 years of experience in the audio/video industry, Steve Savanyu brings a wealth of creative knowledge to the recording process. He produces corporate and industrial videos, multimedia programs, live streamed events, and interactive learning content. Learn more at his website. 

In the sixth episode of Deep River: The Legacy of the Spirituals, we speak with Jennifer Mekel Jones, who served for a decade as Choirmaster of the ASO’s Gospel Meets Symphony. She is a composer, singer, songwriter, recording artist, ordained minister, and a central figure in the musical life of the region.  In this episode, Jennifer tells stories about her deeply musical family, beginning with the formative years learning from her mother, Esterline Jones, who played a pivotal role in the earliest years of Gospel Meets Symphony. She also gets us up to speed on the musical activities of her two children, Joshua and Jazmin, and on her professional life and ministry since she passed on the responsibilities of leading the GMS Choir to Jonathon Turner.  Musical excerpts include a performance of In Bright Mansions Above from the Gospel Meets Symphony performance in 2018, Pass Me Not; an original song from Jennifer’s album, Destiny; and a surprise private solo track made while Jennifer was a student at Akron’s Buchtel High School, Nick Nack Paddy Wack.

In the fifth episode of Deep River: The Legacy of the Spirituals, we are joined by Dr. Raymond Wise for a discussion about the development of spirituals and their influence on his own creative career. The episode, We’re Marching to Zion: A Visit with Dr. Raymond Wise, includes two performances from his acclaimed recording 21 Spirituals for the 21st Century featuring the Raise Chorale: We’re Marching to Zion and I’ll Stand. Dr. Raymond Wise is the Professor of Practice of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Director of the African American Choral Ensemble at Indiana University. He has also served as the musical director for more than 30 choirs and has prepared choirs to perform for national recording artists such as Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Yolanda Adams, Tramaine Hawkins, Wintley Phipps, and others. He has been a guest soloist, conductor, and composer with the Nashville, Littleton, Ithaca College, and Czech National Symphonies, and has appeared twice as guest conductor with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Gospel Meets Symphony Choir.

In the fourth episode of Deep River: The Legacy of the Spirituals, Jonathon Turner, the ASO’s Gospel Meets Symphony Choirmaster, and Brenda Justice, Coordinator of Choral Programs, join co-hosts Christopher and Tom to discuss Nathaniel Dett, a composer, choir leader, pianist, teacher, poet, writer, and seminal figure in bringing spirituals to a classical setting. The episode concludes with a performance of Dett’s The Chariot Jubilee by the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony Chorus and tenor Kennedy Jones from November 18, 2016. (Photo by R. Nathaniel Dett Collection - Sibley Music Library - Eastman School of Music)

In the third episode of Deep River: The Legacy of the Spirituals, Jonathon Turner, the ASO’s Gospel Meets Symphony Choirmaster, and Brenda Justice, Coordinator of Choral Programs, join co-hosts Christopher and Tom for a listening session. The episode includes the following recordings from the orchestra’s Classics series, Gospel Meets Symphony, and a world premiere from the ASO’s 2020–21 Interlude season: Morton Gould Gospel Train; Old Time Religion (November 18, 2016) William Grant Still Jesus is a Rock; What a Morning  (April, 2021) William Dawson Soon Ah Will Be Done  (February 8, 2020) Margaret Bonds He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand  (February 15, 2014) Brenda Justice, Angeleina Valentine, sopranos

In the second episode of Deep River: The Legacy of the Spirituals, Jonathon Turner, the ASO’s Gospel Meets Symphony Choirmaster, and Brenda Justice, Coordinator of Choral Programs, join co-hosts Christopher and Tom to discuss influential performers of the spirituals as they were first becoming known to the general public. Especially noteworthy is Harry T. Burleigh’s influence on Dvořák, including his significant musical contribution to the New World Symphony. The episode opens with an excerpt from Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel, arranged by Lawrence Brown, performed by Alvy Powell. At the conclusion, Roland Hayes is heard in a performance of Go Down, Moses from 1922, and Marian Anderson is heard in an excerpt from her historic performance at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939. She performs Gospel Train, arranged by Harry T. Burleigh.

Deep River: The Legacy of the Spirituals—a multi-episode series—debuts on the Akron Symphony's Unorchestrated podcast with Crossing to Freedom: The Spirituals Emerge.  Jonathon Turner, the ASO's Gospel Meets Symphony Choirmaster, and Brenda Justice, Coordinator of Choral Programs, join co-hosts Christopher and Tom to discuss the importance of the Negro Spiritual in American history, with a focus on the seminal contributions of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The episode opens with an excerpt from Elijah Rock, arranged by Moses Hogan, performed by the Gospel Meets Symphony Choir in 2019, and closes with a performance of Harry T. Burleigh’s iconic arrangement of Deep River, performed by Jonathon Turner.