Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

Conyers

DeKalb Choral Guild To Perform At Monastery

Published November 3, 2005

On Sunday, Nov. 6, at 3:30 p.m., the DeKalb Choral Guild will present “Toward the Light,” a musical manifestation of inspiration and inner vision, featuring an encore performance of “A Celebration Mass” by Atlantan Sharon J. Willis, at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. The director of the DeKalb Choral Guild, Bryan F. Black, noted that the Guild commissioned this work in 2004 to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They premiered the work on Dr. King’s birthday.

Dr. Willis, “an Atlanta composer of considerable reputation, conceived ‘A Celebration Mass’ not as a liturgical work but rather a blending of the Mass’s universal themes with words taken directly from Dr. King’s sermons and writings.”

The concert will also feature selections performed during the Guild’s recent 10-day tour in Germany and the Czech Republic, including Georg Philipp Telemann’s setting of Psalm 117, international folk songs and gospel songs.

Since its founding in 1978, the DeKalb Choral Guild has attracted talented choral musicians from throughout the metropolitan Atlanta area with professional backgrounds including public relations, medicine, sales and education. Black noted that the group is “fortunate to be back for the third year in a row” to perform at the monastery, where the acoustics are “just short of heavenly.”

A reception follows the concert, which is free with donations accepted to support the monastery’s senior monks.

The monastery is located at 2625 Highway 212, SW, Conyers.

 


For more information about the Guild, go to http://dcguild.home.mindspring.com/. For more information about the concert, call (678) 964-2237.