Prof. S. Henderson & Los Medanos College Gospel Choir's 27th Gospel Celebration - Contra Costa Times

Contra Costa Times/East Bay Times - Editor: Roni Gehlke
Article Date: 5/1/2022
Professor Silvester Henderson & the Los Medanos College 27th Gospel Celebration Concert
Concert Date: 5/7/2022

LOS MEDANOS COLLEGE GOSPEL CHOIR

Conducted by their “2014 Grammy Quarterfinalist Conductor and Founder, Professor Silvester Carl Henderson, the Los Medanos College Gospel Choir was formed in the Spring Semester of 1995. Since then, they have earned a reputation as the finest community college gospel choir in the State of California. Each year, during the month of May, the choir produces a GRAND SCALE community event called the “GOSPEL CELEBRATION “. This event, which in 2004, attracted over 2,300 individuals, has become one of the largest multicultural events in Contra Costa County, for twenty years. In addition to this, the City of Martinez declared every first Saturday in May, as "Gospel Celebration Day". The Celebration Concerts, has brought many gospel, jazz, broadway stars, and rhythm and blues greats to the campus, and community such as Gerald Albright, Kirk Carr, Lawrence Matthews and Friends, the Young Inspiration Gospel Choir, Helen Stephens and the Lighthouse Singers, Eddie Baltrip and the Voices of Fulfillment, Melanie Daniel (vocal coach for Mariah Carey), Kirk Whalum "Mr. Gospel According to Jazz", Billy Porter (New York Broadway Star and Soundtrack Artist for Bete Midler’s “First Wives Club ), James Iglehart (New York Broadway Star from Alladin), Reverend Daryl Coley, Norman Hutchins, Howard Hewett, Paul Jackson Jr., Micah Stampley, Kenny Lattimore, LaToya London, Chris Walker, Lawrence Beamen, Kevin LeVar, Kathy Taylor – Brown and most recently Lena Byrd-Miles. During the Fall Semester of 2013, the choir performed for Dr. Vincent Harding, at the “California Community College League Annual Conference”. Dr. Harding is the nationally noted scholar who worked with civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King. In collaboration with the University of California Berkeley’s noted, emeritus, “Young Inspiration Gospel Choir”, the LMC Gospel choir presented a premier concert for the California Music Educators Association, which is the political professional association that sets educational and musical standards for all public schools in California. To a packed audience at the Sacramento Convention Center, the choir presented a “Gospel Music Lecture Concert”, demonstrating Professor Henderson’s classification of the “Five Styles of the Gospel Songs”. Over the last twenty years, the Los Medanos College Gospel Choir has received many local and national political honors. These honors have come from such distinguished leaders and organizations as Congressman George Miller, Congressman Eric Swallwell, Assemblywoman Susan, Bonilla, Assemblyman Bill Quirk, Senator Ellen Corbett, Federal Glover and the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, City of Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley and Martinez. On April 26,2014, the Los Medanos Gospel Choir, along with Professor Henderson, was awarded the 2014, “Community Service Award” from the East County Branch of the NAACP. Finally the “Celebration Concert” unites university educators and programs, faith based organizations, political leaders, business owners, and the general diverse community population, into a creative atmosphere that recognizes and appreciation the “GOSPEL SONG”, as an artistic and educational avenue to “Save Our Children through the Musical Arts”.