Florida A&M Concert Choir History
Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University Concert Choir
The Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) Marching “100” are world renown by virtue of their groundbreaking marching style, high-speed cadences and exciting musical presentation. Likewise, their vocal counterpart, the Florida A&M University Concert Choir, has an impressive history of excellence in Choral Music Performance on which to stand. Established by Mr. J. Harold Brown during the early nineteen-thirties, the university’s Choral Music Division has trained and polished music educators and performers whose instruments are their voices, which they use to produce artistic works of all musical genres.
The FAMU Music Department endorses and cultivates Choral Music Performance as a vital and instructive medium having great artistic value. Eighty years of documentation give evidence of the extraordinary directors, accompanists, ensembles, groups and soloists who have studied and performed on the highest of seven hills in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city, where the FAMU campus is located. FAMU’s Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Complex consists of four multistory buildings dedicated to the pursuit of Art as an essential component of a well-rounded education. To that end, the Concert Choir performs frequently on campus during university convocations and special observances, as well as throughout the city and southeast region.
An Annual Concert Choir Spring Tour covering numerous cities regularly serves as a student recruitment tool for the school. The choir has traveled internationally to Spain, The Caribbean Isles, and Africa. Also of note, they have sung with top recording artists; in performance tours on both US coasts; before the American Choral Directors Association; and in the Music Educator's National Conference. Additionally, they frequently work in tandem with the FAMU Essential Theatre and Dance Department.
The Concert Choir performs a wide-ranging repertoire of music that generally incorporates Classical compositions, centuries-old Madrigals, works by modern American Composers, Broadway Show Tunes, Contemporary Gospel, and a vast array of Negro Spirituals – a genre created from, and particularly significant to the African American experience. Currently, Mr. Mark Butler, a FAMU alumnus, masterfully commands the Director’s podium. Dr. Joanna Sobkowska-Parson, Pianist, accompanies the group.
In 2008, retired FAMU Piano Professor and Choir Accompanist Dr. Mary W. Roberts collaborated with alumna Saundra Kay Brown Williams to found the Legacy Concert Chorale. Legacy is a community-based group of singers, instrumentalists and directors, many of them music alumni, who give support to the FAMU Vocal and Piano Divisions.
Earlier Concert Choir Subgroups: • Chapel Choir • FAMU Quartet • The Four Jays • The Stilettos • University Choral Union • University Male Glee Club • University Women’s Chorus
Former Concert Choir Directors: • J. Harold Brown (deceased) • J. Harrison Thomas (deceased) • Dr. Rebecca Steele 1947-1976 • Curtis King (deceased) 1976-1977 • Dr. Vernon L. Smith 1977-1984 & 1985-1990 • Anthony T. Rucker 1984-1985 • Mark Butler 1990-1991 • Dr. Augustus Pearson (deceased) 1991-1995 • Yvonne Hatchet 1995-1996 • Dr. Maria Corley, Interim Director 1996-1997 • Dr. Odell Hobbs (deceased) 1997-1999 • Charlie Toomer 1999-2007
Former Concert Choir Accompanists: • Colonius Davis, Organist • McCoy Ransom, Organist • Dr. Grace G. Johnson (deceased) Pianist • Charlotte Jiles, Pianist • Trudie King, Pianist • Dr. Maria Corley, Pianist 1993-1997 • Dr. Mary W. Roberts, Pianist 1960-2003
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