Quartet reunites for 20th anniversary concert
Chattanooga Spiritual Quartet sings Saturday night
A nostalgic Facebook post has prompted a reunion concert of the Chattanooga Spiritual Quartet this weekend.
Neshawn Calloway, mezzo-soprano, formed the quartet 20 years ago with other music professionals Nel Reid, soprano; Harv Wileman, tenor; and LaFrederick Thirkill, bass. Calloway says all four are singers who had studied under Roland Carter at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Carter is a nationally renowned expert on African-American spirituals.
The singers performed quartet and solo arrangements of traditional spirituals for educational programs and professional shows around town, but disbanded in 2000 as each moved forward along individual family and career paths, Calloway explains.
“A Facebook post by Harv of a photo of the group taken 20 years ago in a Bessie Smith Hall practice room prompted LaFrederick to comment, ‘Let’s get the group back together!’ and Harv started organizing a concert,” says Calloway.
So the quartet will reunite for a 20th anniversary concert on Saturday, June 30, at 7 p.m. in Christ Episcopal Church. Doors will open a half-hour before the show.
Calloway is well-known for her Bessie Smith tribute shows. She regularly performs jazz, gospel and blues concerts around Chattanooga, in addition to her day job as head of the vocal department at Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts.
Reid has had a long career as part of the Chattanooga Public Library system and as a staff worship leader at Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church.
Wileman is artistic director of two professional vocal groups and is also an independent concert producer and vocal coach.
Thirkill is principal of Orchard Knob Elementary School and is recognized for his work as a community activist, historian, performer, playwright and public speaker.
Calloway noted that although the four have performed together numerous times in multiple combinations since the break-up of the original group, this will be the first time they have sung as a quartet in this century.
Their mentor Roland Carter — former Holmberg Professor of American Music at UTC before his retirement, composer, conductor, music publisher and pianist — has agreed to accompany this concert by his former students. Their program will consist of his arrangements of solo spirituals as well as solo and quartet arrangements by other black composers including William Grant Still, Hall Johnson, Harry T. Burleigh, R. Nathaniel Dett and Florence Price.
For information or tickets: www.eventbrite. com/e/chattanooga-spiritual-quartet-with-roland -carter-tickets-47141245735.