Nov 6, 2013 1 min read

Singers from California University of Pennsylvania’s Young and Gifted Gospel Choir will lend their voices to “Transformed – The Musical: The Story of African American Gospel Music” at 8 p.m. Nov. 24 in the Gerald and Carolyn Blaney Theatre in Steele Hall.

The musical will be directed by Dr. Randy Tillmutt, assistant professor of music and a Frederick Douglass Institute Scholar at Cal U. It will depict the chronology and development of African-American gospel music from the 18th through 20th centuries.

In addition to gospel music sung by enslaved people in the American South, the production will highlight the Quartet Era, with songs popularized by the Golden Gate Quartet in the 1930s and ’40s; the music of Thomas Dorsey, known as the “father of African-American gospel music” in the 1950s and ’60s; and the gospel sounds of James Cleveland, whose musical influence stretched from the 1950s to the ’80s.

Soloists who auditioned earlier this semester will perform with the choir.

Tickets are $3.50 in advance and $5.50 at the door. For advance tickets, call the Steele Box Office weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 724-938-5943. For more information, email Tillmutt at tillmutt@calu.edu.