SPELMAN COLLEGE GLEE CLUB

DIRECTOR: KEVIN JOHNSON

Now celebrating its 98th season, the historic Spelman College Glee Club has maintained a reputation for choral excellence since 1924. Open by audition to all students of the College community, the Glee Club performs a repertoire that includes selections from world cultures, commissioned works, sacred and secular choral literature, Negro spirituals, and music by African American composers, all with a particular focus on harmonies that complement women’s voices. Generations of young women, including those who major and minor in music and those focusing on other areas of study have given their time, talent, and energy in exchange for membership in this special elite group embedded within the Spelman sisterhood. Currently, under the direction of Dr. Kevin Johnson, associate professor of music, the Glee Club has performed for a variety of audiences throughout the United States and abroad. Past performance venues include the Faneuil Hall in Boston, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. Internationally, the Glee Club has traveled to Canada, Brazil, Portugal, and, most recently, Italy for the 2022 ASCO International Summit in Rome. Performance highlights include a 2016 concert at the White House for President Barack Obama and a March 2017 performance at the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Active in the local and national music community, the Glee Club has shared the stage with the Dance Theater of Harlem, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and an array of other African American celebrities. Locally, they have performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and most recently provided the choral soundtrack for the Atlanta Ballet’s world premiere of Dwight Rhoden’s “Sunrise Divine,” which featured arrangements and original music by Dr. Johnson. As the premiere performance organization for the College, the Glee Club sings for most campus events. In 2021, they celebrated the 95th anniversary of the annual Spelman-Morehouse Christmas Carol Concert with the Morehouse College Glee Club. Over those 95 years, this event has become the perennial highlight of the Christmas season in Atlanta. This concert is featured on National Public Radio and Georgia Public Broadcasting during the holiday season. Other major performances include the annual Spring Concert and Spring Tour, which take place during the College’s observation of spring break.