Festival of Sacred Music coming to Bluff Park
Joyful sounds will fill the air over local hill tops. This month, Bluff Park United Methodist Church is hosting the seventh annual Over the Mountain Festival of Sacred Music.
The choral concert is titled “Come, Sing and Be Joyful” and is directed by James A. Brown and accompanied by organist Daniel Lawhon and members of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
Brown presently serves as the director of music and worship at Independent Presbyterian Church (IPC) of Memphis, Tennessee, a position held since 1993. Prior to coming to IPC, he was director of music at Briarwood Presbyterian Church for 16 years. Lawhon, a Kentucky native, serves as organist/choir director at the Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham.
Last year’s festival had a chorus of more than 90 singers from more than 30 different church choirs and choral groups from Birmingham as well as other cities in the Southeast.
This year, 100 singers are registered and members of Brown’s choir in Memphis will be joining as well. The concert will feature music from the Baroque to Contemporary periods along with four hymns of the church arranged for choir, organ, brass, timpani and congregation.
“We look forward to a wonderful time together with great sacred music,” said singer Gaston White.
Begun in 2008 as an idea of a small group of individuals who saw the value of sacred choral music to singers and the community, OTM Festivals came about as a result work of an all-volunteer planning committee.
For more, visit otmfestivals.org or contact Gaston White at 879-1909 or pgwhite1909@gmail.com.
“Come, Sing and Be Joyful”
The Over the Mountain Festival of Sacred Music Chorus
Sunday, Feb. 15, 4 p.m.
Bluff Park United Methodist Church