UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State African American Music Festival celebrates the music of African Americans and African American composers. Typically occurring in February, it includes performances by Penn State faculty and students as well as guest artists. The festival concludes with a concert on Saturday afternoon featuring Penn State's Essence of Joy which will be livestreamed at the Penn State School of Music.
Now in its 23nd year, the 2018 festival will feature guest conductor Herbert Jones (Heritage Gospel Chorale of Pittsburgh). In addition, alumni of Essence of Joy will perform as soloists and join School of Music students in concerts occurring on Thursday, Feb. 1, and Friday, Feb. 2. Two additional Essence of Joy alumni will take part in the culminating Essence of Joy concert occurring on Feb. 3. Mark Lehnowsky (Florida) and Donte Ford (Texas) will return to the University Park campus to conduct works they either composed or arranged for the ensemble.
The African American Music Festival is sponsored by the Penn State School of Music and the University Park Allocation Committee. All events are free and open to the public.The festival is coordinated by Anthony Leach.
Schedule
— 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, 110 Music Building I — Essence of Joy alumni vocalists and the Penn State Graduate Brass Quintet. Click here for program.
— 2:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, Common Hour, 128 Music Building II — Essence of Joy alumni vocalists and the Art Blakey Ensemble. Click here for program.
— 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, 110 Music Building I
— 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, Worship Hall of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center — Essence of Joy. Click here for program.
Herbert V.R.P. Jones is one of the nation's foremost figures in choral conducting and pedagogy and an expert in the intersection between theology and musical expression. A southern transplant to Pennsylvania, Jones has cultivated a broad-based, multifaceted career as a choral conductor, educator, operatic and oratorio bass, liturgical dancer, orator and pastor, teaching and performing across the United States and Europe.
Jones has taught in the public schools of Mississippi (grades six to 12), the private high school sector (Piney Woods School, Mississippi, The Neighborhood Academy, Pennsylvania), and colleges and universities in North Dakota, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Mississippi.
Jones is considered a leading authority on the music of Moses George Hogan. His doctoral dissertation, “The African-American Spiritual and Gospel Song: The Musical Contributions of Moses George Hogan, Composer and Arranger,” is the only definitive work on the life, music and compositional style of the composer.
Jones has performed in operas, musicals, theater, and on the dance stages of America and abroad. In the dance world, he has studied and performed classical ballet, modern dance, and liturgical (Sacred) dance and mime. He is a former student of the “Graham Technique” (the dance technique of Martha Graham) and, while in high school, was a member of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater of Harlem apprenticeship program. He has choreographed for ballet companies and dance programs across the United States
An ordained Minister of Music, Jones is executive assistant to the academic dean of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc. (GMWA), and is a board member of the Afro-American Music Institute (AAMI), Professionals for Christ, Inc., Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation, and RAISE Academy. He is a retired music department faculty member of Community College of Allegheny County Department of Music, Allegheny Campus.
He is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, the National Association for Music Education, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Tau Beta Sigma, and the National Guild of Sacred Dancers. He has published articles in the Mississippi ACDA Mississippi Music Teachers Journal, the Academic Division of GMWA, the Milestone Christian Bookstore Newsletter, and Black Research Journal.
Jones currently serves as minister of music at Bethany Baptist Church, adjunct faculty at the Center for Urban Biblical Ministry, and is the founder/director of the Heritage Gospel Chorale of Pittsburgh. He continues to maintain an active schedule conducting seminars and workshops, guest conducting, and adjudicating choral festivals and competitions.