Dalton Rashad Criss Adirondack High School Honors Gospel Festival 2024

Fri Apr 19 12:00:00 UTC 2024

*SUNY Plattsburgh Gospel Choir and Lake Champlain Mass Choir proudly
presents:*

*Dalton Rashad Criss Adirondack High School Honors Gospel Festival 2024*

*The PLATTSBURGH STATE GOSPEL CHOIR, FERMATA NOWHERE, as well as the DALTON
RASHAD CRISS ADIRONDACK HIGH SCHOOL HONORS GOSPEL FESTIVAL CHOIR will take
the main stage on SATURDAY, APRIL 20th, from 6:00p.m.- 8:00p.m. at the
historic Strand Center Theatre for the Arts, 23 Brinkerhoff Street
Plattsburgh, New York 12901. *

*The concert features more than 50 High School students from across the
Adirondacks and Vermont Champlain Valley region who will come together for
two days to learn and perform a concert of choral-concert gospel music.
The DRC-ADR/HSHGF choir will perform 10 compositions/orchestral
arrangements all supported by a professional Adirondack Chamber Orchestra
under the artistic leadership of Jennifer Moore of the Willsboro Central
School district. The concert will feature A Cappella, Concert Spirituals,
Contemporary Gospel, Traditional Gospel and Inspirational Ballads. *

*The vision of the Dalton Rashad Criss Adirondack High School Honors Gospel
Festival is to expose regional talented high school students to the
harmonies and artistry of Gospel Music. This event allows students to
explore their own personal unique artistic experiences and gives license to
celebrate with others through movement, harmonies and the musicianship of
gospel music. The 2019 Inaugural Adirondack High School Honors Gospel
Festival was a huge success with some six regional schools and at least 50
high school students participating either as musicians or chorus members**.
Dalton Rashad Criss**, a Peru Central School student and festival favorite,
played the upright bass in the 2019 festival. He passed away, unexpectedly,
a few months later and thus the festival committee decided to name future
festivals in his honor.*

*Through years of doing high school Jazz Festivals and “Freedom Music
Workshops” in the region, there is an excitement by music teachers to
expose students to gospel music within their academic programs. The rarity
of artistic presentations of gospel music in the Adirondacks (classrooms,
choral clinics, etc.) is understood by organizations like ours.*

*This festival will bring together an SATB voice choir, a chamber orchestra
composed of high school musicians, students and local professionals.
Various gospel styles such as concert spirituals, traditional gospel and
contemporary gospel will be presented. In addition to singing, the festival
participants will incorporate body movements to enhance various pieces.
Additionally, it is hoped that after this weekend, the participants will
gain a better understanding of the gospel genre and begin to respect this
truly Americana music style.*

*Gospel music was born out of slavery from both African and European
esthetics. The joy, sorrows and hopes of a nation of people can be heard in
these songs. The slave experience, albeit harsh, can be paralleled to a
broader audience, like people of the Adirondack region. A memorial of that
time is captured at the North Country Underground Railroad Historical
Association Museum. Life in the Adirondack is tough with long winters and
short days. These songs have proven to melt away many sorrows to a host of
people and inspire hope and positive thinking. This event will engage
students in the 2-day event by exposing, teaching and giving them the
opportunity to immediately apply learnt music in the culmination concert
festival.*

*Participants will learn about the history, evolution and impact of gospel
music on the human experience. Students will be taught the colors and
blends of gospel music and its musical expressions using elements of
phrasing, timber, dynamics, emotions, tempo and instrumentation.*

*Dr. Raymond Wise** of Indiana University in Bloomington is the invited
clinician for the festival.  Dr. Wise serves as Professor of Practice in
the African American African Diaspora Studies department and instructs
courses in African American Music. He is the associate director of the
African American Arts Institute, an IU division devoted to the perpetuation
and performance of African American Music and Art. Wise conducts the
African American Choral Ensemble. He has also served on the faculties of
The Ohio State University, Denison University, and Trinity Lutheran
Seminary.  Dr. Wise’s work has taken him as far as Europe (Ireland, Czech
Republic), Africa, Asia and hundreds of places nationwide, such as the
Ithaca High School Gospel Festival and Carnegie Hall.  Many consider Wise
the “Moses Hogan” of our time. Additionally, Dr. Wise went on to Denison
University (Granville, Ohio), where he reorganized the Black Student Union
Choir, started the Black Student Union Ensemble and Dance Company, and
earned a B.F.A. in Music. From there, Wise went on to study Opera, Art, and
German at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria, then on to
study African American History, Music, and Dance at San Francisco State
University in San Francisco, California. Wise completed an apprenticeship
in the business and recording of Gospel Music with the Walter Hawkins
Corporation in Oakland, California. Wise was awarded a Graduate Fellowship
from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where he earned a
Master’s in Music Education and Ohio Teacher’s Certification. Wise also
completed a Doctorate in Music Education at the Ohio State University. Dr.
Wise’s dissertation topic was “Defining African American Gospel Music by
Tracing it’s Historical and Musical Development from 1900 to 2000.” *

*The** eight high schools that are participating are Bouquet, Middlebury
(VT), Montpelier (VT), Moriah, Peru, Saranac Lake, Seton Catholic, as
Willsboro, well as Ithaca College High School Gospel Choir Festival Alumni
and members of the Montreal Steppers. The program host will be Dr. Dexter
L. Criss, Professor of Chemistry at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Artistic Director of the Plattsburgh State
Gospel at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Department of Music.*

*There is still time for local/region high school choral singers, schools
and Ithaca College High School Gospel Choir Festival Alumni to register and
participate in the 2-day clinic and concert. Please contact Jennifer Moore
(jmoore at willsborocsd.org <jmoore at willsborocsd.org>) no later than April
10th if interested. This unique festival promises to provide both students
and high school chorus teachers with the history, evolution and impact of
gospel music on the human experience.  Students will take away from this
clinic an enhanced level of sophistication about gospel music styles and
will be taught the colors and blends of gospel music and its musical
expressions using elements of phrasing, timber, dynamics, emotions, tempo
and instrumentation. *

*Dexter Criss: Co-Founder of the Adirondack High School Honors Choir,
Artistic Director of the SUNY Plattsburgh Gospel Choir, Director of the
Lake Champlain Mass Choir. In addition to co-coordinating the event, Dexter
will work with the gospel band.  Andrea Ogle: Co-Founder of the Adirondack
High School Honors Choir, Associate Artistic Director of the SUNY
Plattsburgh Gospel Choir, Associate Director of the Lake Champlain Mass
Choir. In addition to co-coordinating the event, Andrea will work with the
choirs during sectionals.  Jennifer Moore: Co-Founder of the Adirondack
High School Honors Choir, Choral Director of Willsboro Central School.
Choral Director of Champlain Valley Voices. In addition to co-coordinating
the event, Jennifer will work with the orchestra*

*This event is open to the public and is co-sponsored in part by the Lake
Champlain Mass Choir with additional support from  SUNY Plattsburgh
Department of Music, Office of the President SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY
Plattsburgh’s Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, Mayor’s Office City
of Plattsburgh, SUNY Plattsburgh’s Office of Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion and the SUNY Plattsburgh Student Association.  To learn more,
contact the Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir Office at 518-564-2704 or
gospelchoir at plattsburgh.edu <gospelchoir at plattsburgh.edu>, or visit the
website at www.plattsburghstategospelchoir.org
<http://www.plattsburghstategospelchoir.org> or find us on Facebook.*

*ADVANCED ONLINE TICKETS: **www.plattsburghstategospelchoir.org*
<http://www.plattsburghstategospelchoir.org>

*Advance Online Tickets: General $22, Students $10 Door Tickets: General
$27, Students $12*

*Group Rate Discounts Available*
*Advanced Tickets can also be purchased at The Christian Supply Center (164
Prospect Ave., Plattsburgh, NY) and the Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir
Office (Hawkins Hall 133).*

JENNIFER MATOTT
Administrative Assistant 1
Music and Theatre
Myers 220
101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(o) 518-564-2180 <+1-518-564-2180>
plattsburgh.edu <https://www.plattsburgh.edu/>
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