Members of the Spelman College Glee Club will perform at Hendricks Chapel June 29.
As the grand finale of the 2025 Syracuse International Jazz Fest, the Spelman College Glee Club of Atlanta will perform at Hendricks Chapel on Sunday, June 29.
The Spelman College Glee Club, now in its historic 100th year, is the oldest collegiate choir of African American women in the United States. Directed by Kevin P. Johnson, D.M.A., since 1999, the Glee Club has achieved national and international acclaim, performing at the White House, Carnegie Hall, the Vatican and across Europe. With the motto “to amaze and inspire,” the Spelman College Glee Club uplifts audiences with artistry rooted in tradition and shaped by innovation.
Return to Community: A Sunday Gospel Jazz Service will feature performances by The Spelman College Glee Club, The Black Celestial Choral Ensemble (BCCE) of Syracuse University and a community choir composed of Syracuse-area residents.
Following highly successful events in 2023 and 2024, the 2025 Syracuse International Jazz Fest finale at Hendricks Chapel will once again offer a dynamic and inclusive spiritual experience that fuses and celebrates gospel and jazz, includes a pre-event welcome luncheon, and seeks to spark and sustain renewal in our local community and beyond. The program and luncheon are both free of charge and open to the first 1,000 attendees.
Since 1924 the Spelman College Glee Club has served as Spelman College’s premier performance organization, representing the college with excellence through a wide-ranging repertoire of classical masterworks, Negro spirituals, world folk music and commissioned works by African American composers. Led by Johnson since 1999, the Glee Club has achieved national and international acclaim. Johnson is a composer, conductor and educator whose work lies at the vibrant intersection of music, culture and spirituality. He is associate professor of music at Spelman College and leads the Glee Club into a new century of musical excellence and innovation. Having earned a doctorate in musical arts, Johnson’s compositions—including seven complete mass settings and over 300 psalm arrangements—are sung across the United States, especially in Black Catholic communities. His recent works include Hip-Hop Mass, commissioned by the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute, and Music Everywhere Chorus America. Johnson is also director of music at the Lyke House Catholic Center and founder of Lion and Lamb Publishing.
Founded in 1977 by Rev. Seretta C. McKnight ’80 to provide a spiritual home for Black students at Syracuse University, the BCCE ministers through gospel music that fosters and supports academic excellence at a university welcoming to all. Led by student director Joshua Garvin ’25 and supported through The Alumni Group of the BCEE (TAG-BCCE), the choir has performed at numerous venues throughout the United States, including the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta), the spiritual home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and currently led by Rev. Raphael Warnock, a United States Senator.
To honor the Sunday gospel jazz service theme of “Return to Community,” a diverse community choir composed of Syracuse residents will once again be led by Cora Thomas, known locally as “Syracuse’s First Lady of Gospel Music.” Born and raised in Syracuse, Thomas serves numerous community organizations and hosts “Sunday Morning Gospel” on WAER 88.3 of the Newhouse School of Public Communications. All interested in participating in the community choir may contact Cora Thomas at cathomas@syr.edu or Hendricks Chapel at chapel@syr.edu or 315.443.2901.
To celebrate the “Return to Community” theme, a pre-event outdoor welcome luncheon, featuring free food and refreshments, will take place on the Kenneth A. Shaw Quadrangle from 12:30-2:30 p.m. At 2:30 p.m, the first 1,000 guests will be ushered into Hendricks Chapel for the 3 p.m. service.
For additional information on the 2025 Syracuse International Jazz Fest, please visit syracusejazzfest.com.
