Tuskegee’s Golden Voices choir to perform at Canterbury

“Lift Every Voice,” a free concert by Tuskegee University’s Golden Voices Concert Choir, will be held Pam Sunday in recognition of Birmingham’s 50 years of progress in civil rights.

The concert begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 24 at Canterbury United Methodist Church.

The Tuskegee Choir was developed in 1886 because Dr. Booker T. Washington had determined that the institute was in need of a group of singers who could lead vesper services and sing for special campus occasions. The Choir has since performed at the grand opening of Radio City Music Hall; at Carnegie Hall; at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony; the National Prayer Breakfast; and for United States presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and William J. Clinton. In March 2012, The choir’s return to the Lincoln Center in New York marked the 40th anniversary of its first performance there.

Wayne A. Barr is Director of Choral Activities at Tuskegee University. He earned degrees in church music and choral conducting from Westminster Choir College (B.M), Southern Methodist University (M.M, M.S.M.), and the University of Michigan (D.M.A). He has served as organist and choir director at churches in Alabama, Michigan, New Jersey and Texas. Under Dr. Barr’s direction, The Tuskegee Choir has toured the Midwestern and East Coast regions of the United States, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and has presented numerous concerts throughout the Southeast.

Canterbury United Methodist Church is located at 350 Overbrook Road. For more call 871-4693.