Penn State's Essence of Joy will celebrate its 25th anniversary at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 24, in the Worship Hall of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the University Park campus. The concert includes favorite repertoire from its history as a Penn State choral ensemble. Anthony T. Leach is the music director and conductor. School of Theatre faculty member Aquila Kikora Franklin is the choreographer, assisted by student Jermaine Crosson. The choir is accompanied by percussionists Olawatobi Jewoola and Emanuel Gamble, and bassist Neal Holter.
Tickets are $4.99 for general admission and $2 for students. No advance purchase is available. Ticket sale (cash only) begins 45 minutes prior to the concert in the lobby. This concert is also available on livestream at the Penn State School of Music.
Created in 1991, Essence of Joy sings sacred and secular music from the African and African-American choral traditions. Annual University Park events include fall and spring concerts, as well as the "African American Music Festival" (February) and "Our Gift in Song" (December). The choir also regularly collaborates with other Penn State ensembles, including a performance of the Leonard Bernstein "Mass" in 2013.
Involving undergraduate and graduate students from all academic programs at Penn State, Essence of Joy has performed throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, North Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, and Illinois. The choir has been invited to perform for conferences of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (1995, 1997, 2003), the eastern division of the Music Educators National Conference (1997), the eastern division of the American Choral Directors Association (2002, 2006, 2014), the national American Choral Directors Association (1999, 2003, 2005, 2011), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2000). In addition, they have presented concerts at the Schomburg Museum of Black American Culture in New York City (1998, 1999, 2001).
The choir has released four compact discs: "The Soul and Spirit of Essence" (1998), "Essence 'Live'" (2000), "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and "The Light" (2003). The choir made its first European tour in 2001 with concert performances in Poland and the Czech Republic. Recent tours have taken Essence of Joy members to South Africa, Taiwan, Korea, Spain, and France.