register |  login
› LONE TREE
Loading Ad
Visit Other Hubs:
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Tower
RECENT STORIES

Ramsey conducts largest chorus at Lincoln Center

Contributed by: Kory Nelson on 2/24/2007

Local Choral Director Jim Ramsey Conducts Largest Chorus in History of Lincoln Center: Local Church Choir Performed at Wesleyan Choral Festival to Raise Funds for Land Mine Disposal in Angola

Local choir director Jim Ramsey's dreams of a choral festival tribute to Charles Wesley were realized on Sunday February 18th - on the biggest of world stages - Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. Ramsey has worked for several years to bring to Lincoln Center the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Wesley, one of the world's most prolific hymn writers. Charles Wesley was the brother of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. He authored more than 9,000 hymn texts, including "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today." At the Tercentennial Wesleyan Choral Festival, Ramsey conducted the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and 275 singers from across the country through several choral pieces on the home stage of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Ramsey was instrumental in getting the Wesleyan Festival to feature the world premiere of "Directions for Singing", an arrangement for choir and orchestra that highlights 13 Wesley hymn texts, some in arrangements of familiar numbers associated with the texts, and others set to new music by Andrew Fowler, composer-in-residence for the Carolina Master Chorale of Myrtle Beach. At Ramsey's urging, the St. Luke's United Methodist Church of Highlands Ranch Colorado commissioned Fowler to compose the arrangement especially for the festival.

James Ramsey is Director of Worship and Arts at St. Luke's United Methodist Church where he leads a thriving 350-member Music and Drama Ministry program. In addition, he is Music Director and Conductor of the seventy-voice Littleton Chorale and a Music Education Outreach clinician for Opera Colorado. As Assistant Conductor of the Grammy award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus, James has worked with Director Vance George and enjoyed preparing the chorus for several maestros including Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Roger Norrington and Libor Pesek. Ramsey has also worked with the General Board of Higher Education in the Methodist Church for over 10 years serving as Music Director for the United Methodist Student Movement and the Exploration '98 conference. This spring Mr. Ramsey will graduate with his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Literature and Performance at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He earned a Master's of Music degree in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, having studied with Donald Neuen and a Bachelor's of Music degree in Education at Middle Tennessee State University. Honors include the Bakker Conducting Award at Eastman and the Freelyn Jeffers Conducting Award at CU. James resides in Wildcat Ridge with his wife, Leigh, their five-year old son, Jack, and almost three-year old son, Luke.

The members of the St. Luke's United Methodist Church Chancel Choir that performed in the festival were: Nancy Abbott, Angela Alderson, Claire Alpert, Kamala Boles, Reverand Janet Forbes, Ray Godsey, Susan Hooke, Heather Johnson, Kevin Larsen, Sandra Larson, Michael McKitterick, Kory Nelson, Matthew Rose, Penny Rose, Pamela Rowley, Dr. Doug Rowley, Lise Takayama, and Patricia True.

The Tercentennial Wesleyan Choral Festival was presented at Lincoln Center as a fund raiser for the United Methodist Campaign of Relief, UMCOR, and their campaign to support the eradication of land mines in Angola, Africa. Angola is among the worst land-mine affected countries in the world, a victim of 30 years of civil war between Angolan government forces and Unita rebels, which ended in 1994. Estimates of the number of Angolan land mines range between 10 and 20 million which equates to at least 1 to 2 land mines for every person in the country. United Nations estimates put the number of Angolan amputees resulting from the silent killers at 70,000. UMCOR is using lessons learned from its de-mining work in Mozambique to help the Angolan government train its own de-mining teams. This program teaches Angolans how to safely identify and remove mines. UMCOR is also teaching mine awareness to prevent further fatalities from these hidden explosives. Land is being cleared of vegetation to allow for the removal of landmines under a landmines removal program sponsored by UMCOR and its parent agency, the General Board of Global Ministries. Since the implementation of removal activity in early 2003, over 3 million square meters of land in Mozambique have been cleared of deadly landmines. Angola is the next field for clearing.

Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr., of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church, introduced the evening's festivities and acknowledged the presence of Mr. Ismael A. Gaspar Martins, Angola's Ambassador to the United Nations, in the audience. Bishop Brown also joined in the performance by leading the audience in the dramatic reading during "Prayer for Peace", an interpretive orchestral and choral composition by Carlton Young, based on the anti-war text that Charles Wesley wrote hundreds of years ago but which still speaks to the world today.

Jim Ramsey organized the event, but was also helped by fellow Eastman College of Music Alumni, and fellow music director, Dr. Timothy Koch, who also conducted several pieces and brought members of his choir from the First United Methodist Church in Myrtle Beach to perform with the Festival Chorus. Dr. Eph Ehly, Professor Emeritus at the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City, also joined the Festival to conduct Fowler's "Directions for Singing". Thirteen different choirs joined together under the expert tutelage of Ramsey, Dr. Koch, and Dr. Ehly for three rehearsals at the famous Riverside Baptist Church in Manhattan and the final performance at Lincoln Center: Applewood Valley United Methodist Church Choir, Golden, Colorado - Scott Finlay, director; Buncombe Street United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, Greenville, South Carolina - Billy Fallaw, director; Carolina Master Chorale, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - Tim Koch, director; Detroit Conference Invitational Choir, Waterford, Michigan - Sara L. Hazen and Matthew J. Packer, co-directors; Lancaster United Methodist Church, Lancaster, California - Ralph Williams, director; Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, St. George, Utah - Amy Seifert, director; St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Highlands Ranch, Colorado - James Ramsey, director; Sun Prairie United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin - Andrew Estervig, director; Tanner Williams United Methodist Church Choir, Daphne, Alabama - Tripp Morris, director; Tennessee Wesleyan College Choral Program, Athens, Tennessee - W. Keith Wheeler, director; Whitney United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, Boise, Idaho - Constance Branton, director.

Two professional soloists also joined the Festival Chorus to perform in "Directions for Singing", Soprano Stephanie Gregory and Bass-Baritone Joe Damon Chappel. Ms Gregory received a Master's of Music degree in Opera Performance, an Artist's Diploma from Yale University, and a Bachelor's of Music Education degree specializing in piano and choral conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi. She was named the 2001 "American Jenny Lind" and was awarded an extensive recital tour of Sweden. Ms. Gregory has been featured as a soprano soloist with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, Orquesta Clásica, Orquestra Sinfônica da Bahia, the Hartford Symphony, the Bridgeport Symphony, the Mississippi Symphony, the South Carolina Symphony, the Opera Theater of Connecticut, the New Opera Festival di Roma, in Rome Italy, and the Orquesta Filarmônica de Buenos Aires. In 2004, she completed a concert tour of South America with the Yale Alumni Chorus, where she was the featured soprano soloist. Bass-Baritone Joe Damon Chappel is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he was a William Warfield Scholar and had many solo credits with the Eastman Chorale and the Eastman Opera Theater. Mr. Chappel is the principal bass soloist with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity (NYC) and is a founding member of the Tiffany Consort.

A noteworthy highlight of "Directions for Singing" was the onstage appearance of John Wesley, in the corporal form of St. Luke's Associate Pastor Dave Money, who provided a humorous accounting of his Brother Charles' primary commands for Methodists in singing hymns. Reverend Dave's authentic English accent and his period costume provided a creative platform to orally present the six "directions" before each of the related compositions. The stark comparison between Charles Wesley's traditional style of hymns and more modern choral work was most dramatically displayed for the audience when the Festival Chorus performed first a traditional rendition of "Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast", and then Fowler's gospel inspired adaptation of Wesley's hymn, "Sing Exactly: Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast," featuring Mr. Chappel's powerful baritone voice.

Reactions from the audience in attendance included a rousing response to both Ms. Gregory's mesmerizing performance in "Sing Modestly", and Ramsey's masterful work in extracting an exhilarating cadence and an explosively dynamic resonance in "The Battle of Jericho" - a gospel composition by Moses Hogan that had the audience standing and cheering in enthusiastic appreciation. Audience members related that the 275 chorus members put out an impressive and formidable "wall of sound". The fact that the Festival Chorus was the largest vocal group to ever appear on stage at Avery Fisher Hall certainly underscored the massive reverberation the large group delivered with inspired conviction.

The Festival also included performances of "Sing Unto God" - G.F. Handel; "He Watching Over Israel" - Felix Mendelssohn; "Laudate Dominum" - W.A. Mozart; "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" - Johannes Brahms; "Libera Me" - Gabriel Fauré; "Antiphon" - Ralph Vaugh Williams; "Awake, My Heart" - Jane Marshall; and "Alleluia" - Randall Thompson.

The vision and inspiration behind the Wesleyan Choral Festival, as well as the quality of performance drawn from such a large multitude of amateur singers of varying skills at Lincoln Center, rightfully propels Jim Ramsey higher on the national scene of choral directors. Douglas County should recognize the soon to be Dr. James Ramsey as both a valuable treasure and a true leader in the regional performing arts scene, and take advantage of the opportunity to contemplate the future of the arts in our community.

Who cannot agree that the amazing growth and develop in Douglas County over the past few years has resulted in the planning and building of needed infrastructure, schools, parks, and sporting venues - but our community is woefully lacking in similar development of an infrastructure for the arts. The obvious deficiency in public facilities for the performing arts is not only shameful in the deafening void of cultural events, but is also quite problematic for any large group seeking an auditorium and stage (most notable at high school graduations). The ancient Greek philosopher Sophocles said it best, "Whoever neglects the arts has lost the past and is dead to the future." Douglas County needs to have the courage to envision and develop a multi-purpose regional performing arts complex capable of accommodating various types and sizes of performing art groups, with the site selection and architectural design worthy of our commitment to celebrate our past and present and inspire our future growth towards full humanity. Now is the time for our community leaders to set out a clear and committed path forward towards this laudable goal and rally our citizens through the celebration of such talented residents as Jim Ramsey. As Jose Quintero put it, "A great man for the arts should be celebrated not because of the past, but for the future."

ATTACHED PHOTOS:
(1) James Ramsey
(2) Members of the St. Luke's UMC Chancel Choir who performed at the Tercentennial Wesleyan Choral Festival at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center on Sunday, February 18th: Front row: L to R: James Ramsey, Penny Rose, Heather Johnson, Rev. Janet Forbes, Kamala Boles, Angela Alderson, Dr. Doug Rawley, Rev. Pam Rawley, Sandra Larsen, and Susan Hooke; Back Row: Kevin Larson, Matthew Rose, Lise Takayama, Kory Nelson, Ray Godsey, and Michael McKitterick.


SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story



Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Kory Nelson

Parker , CO

Kory Nelson has posted 21 stories and 8 comments since joining on 9/25/2006. Kory Nelson 's average story rating is 4.
SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY
STORY RSS FEEDS
WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?
Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

Loading Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

This YourHub.com community is produced by The Denver Newspaper Agency
Web Development and Channel Analytics provided by Indigio

terms of use //  privacy policy
the staff //  advertise //  help & faq
buy photos