The Gospel Academy Award-winning Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, under the direction of Terrance Kelly, is a multiracial, interfaith group of 55 vocalists united in their love of gospel music with its message of hope, joy, unity and justice.
The choir is a frequent guest in churches throughout Northern California, and is a popular headliner at events benefiting community organizations. Their concerts have supported services for domestic violence, Alzheimer's Disease, children's, homeless , and AIDS agencies; health care for crack-addicted mothers and children; earthquake relief, scholarships, housing, and other areas of pressing human need. The Choir's prison outreach includes San Quentin Prison and city/county jails.
Performances: Their exquisite vocal harmonies and stirring gospel repertoire have led to performances with gospel recording stars Tramaine Hawkins, Take 6, The Clark Sisters,
Edwin and Walter Hawkins, Timothy Wright, The Dixie Hummingbirds, Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and with jazz and pop recording artists Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, Pharoah Sanders, Stan Getz, John Denver, Marlena Shaw and Jeffrey Osborne. The choir performed Duke Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music with the Duke Ellington orchestra to rave reviews. Memorable performances also occurred at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Monterey, Russian River and San Francisco Jazz Festivals, Oakland's Festival at the Lake, the Oakland Coliseum Concert for Nelson Mandela and the 1994 Grace Cathedral sermon by South Africa's Bishop Tutu. The Choir headlined the 40th Annual Atlanta Arts Festival, has played to full houses in Canada, and sang at the State of the World Forum, performing for Mikhail Gorbachev and many other global peace workers. In 1997, the choir travelled to Australia to perform at the International Music Festival. In 1998. They went to Portland, Oregon to perform at the opening festivities of the World Games. The Choir toured Israel in 2000.
Awards:2002, 2001, 2000 and 1999 brought the choir Gospel Academy Awards for "Best Community Choir of the Year", repeating their 1997 win, when Terrance Kelly also won for "Outstanding Director of the Year". The choir received the 1998 Arts Organization of the Year Award from the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. at the 1997 Bay Area Gospel Academy Awards. In July, 1997 the choir received a Gold Award for promotion of cultural understanding through music at the International Music Festival in Sydney, Australia. Terrance Kelly received an Emmy in 1995 for his choral arrangement of the Choir's KGO-TV public service announcement. In 1989 and 1990, the choir received awards for "Best Performance of the Evening" at the Gospel Academy Awards. The Choir has also received awards and recognition from city, state and federal agencies, the J.C.Penney Awards Program and the Clorox Foundation Community Commitment Awards Program.
Recordings: Great Day - A Cappella Negro Spirituals was released in February, 2003. Rejoice! Christmas With The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, was released in November,1999 to critical acclaim, and set sales records for indpendent Christmas releases. The Choir's popular first album is entitled The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir-Live! A second album, entitled We've Come a Mighty Long Way, released in December, 1995 has proved to be equally popular. The Choir also has performed on three Grammy Award-winning albums: Linda Ronstadt's Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, Hammer's Too Legit To Quit, and Tramaine Hawkin's Tramaine-Live. The choir has also recorded with the renowned Kronos Quartet.
Television and Film: Television and Film: The choir has been profiled on CBS-TV's Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, and was featured on KGO-TV's 1994 Holiday Season Special and Profiles in Excellence. Other credits include KPIX-TV's Sunday by the Bay and After Dark, KRON TV's For People Who Care Awards and Christmas holiday shows, the Black Film Makers Hall of Fame, and KTVU-TV's Mornings on Two. The choir is the subject of Skip Brown's award-winning documentary film, This is Our Story, This is Our Song , which has been broadcast on KGO-TV and KQED-TV. They also performed on the soundtrack of an Emmy Award-winning children's video, The Nutty Nutcracker, which was released on video and broadcast in late 1999. In 2000, the Choir's performance at the California Music Awards with rising R&B; star, Ledisi, was broadcast on TV.
Musical Background: The choir's director, Terrance Kelly, has extensive musical credentials in both gospel and jazz music. His operatic range and joyous emotional feel for the music make him a popular soloist as well as an accomplished director, composer and arranger. His credits include choral arrangements on albums by Linda Ronstadt and the Kronos Quartet, and gospel arrangements of popular music for TV and video soundtracks. In addition, he wrote and arranged most of the music for all of the choir's albums. The choir's accompanists include keyboardists Ben Heveroh, and Tina Bryant; David Belove on bass, and Darian Gray on drums. 1/03
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