Maryland Gospel Choir’s Anniversary Concert Celebrates Alums
The Maryland Gospel Choir’s 50th Anniversary concert on Oct. 18 united generations in gratitude and worship.
The concert, held in the Dekelboum Concert Hall, featured 36 choir members and alumni. Around 50 other alumni were in the audience along with their families, friends and other members of the UMD community.
During the concert, choir Director Mitchell Fleming told the audience to treat the concert hall like a sanctuary. The audience sang, danced and clapped, making it feel more like a Black church service than a formal performance.
The choir performed “I Love The Lord”, “Center of My Joy” and “Total Praise”, which are songs written by Richard Smallwood, the first professional director of the choir. Fleming described him as a “maestro” during the concert.
“Just Wanna Praise You”, famously performed by gospel singer Maurette Brown Clark, was also performed during the concert. Clark was at the concert and led the choir during the song.
It was the second time Fleming was able to “share the stage with a recording artist who was a former student of the University of Maryland.” Clark hosted the choir’s spring 2018 concert.
“She was really accomplishing something spiritual in that song, and the [Holy] Spirit just moved,” said Samantha Vidas, an upperclassman and communications and philosophy, politics and economics double major.
After Clark’s performance, “something had shifted that stayed shifted” for the rest of the concert, according to Vidas.
The choir also performed “Rē” and “Nobody Like My God,” songs written by Assistant Director Tiffany Blossom.
“When I played [the songs] for the choir, they immediately joined in, and both the choir and director…asked to include the songs as they wanted to honor me at the concert,” said Blossom, a former president of the choir.
The choir presented certificates of appreciation to former directors Valeria Foster and Jarrett Baker, as well as current director Mitchell Fleming. They presented Blossom and Anne Reese Carswell, the choir’s advisor and instructor of record, with presents.
“This lady stands on a wall for students on campus,” said Fleming about Carswell. Carswell is also the associate director of the Nyumburu Cultural Center, which funds The Black Explosion.
The concert was a spiritual experience for the directors and choir members.
“I’ve been holding back tears all night because the Holy Spirit has been working,” Fleming said before the choir performed “Total Praise.”
“There was a moment when the entire audience stood, singing with us, and it felt like one big family lifting up one sound to heaven,” said Blossom.
However, the preparations for the concert were nothing short of intense.
According to President Jadon Walker, a junior and international relations major, the group started preparing for the concert early in the semester.
“It was difficult getting all the music out and…making adjustments as needed,” said Walker. This was exacerbated by the fact that alumni from across the country were performing alongside the students.
To solve these problems, the directors created a hybrid rehearsal schedule. While alumni practiced over Zoom and during the weekends, students met on Thursday evenings on campus.
“It was a joy working with alumni,” said Walker. “They really have passion…for singing, just like they [did] back in school, so it was beautiful.”
“We shared lyric documents, sheet music and practice recordings in advance, along with detailed check-ins and a run-of-show so everyone was [of] one accord,” said Blossom.
Unfortunately, the choir wasn’t able to access the Dekelboum Concert Hall until just under three hours before the concert started.
“One thing we always pride ourselves on is [being able to] work with what we have,” said Walker. The choir was able to do sound checks and practice performing with live instruments before the concert, and the event happened without any audio issues.
The choir’s members are optimistic about the group’s future.
Vidas hopes that the group is a place of love and appreciation for tradition, and Walker wants the choir to elevate in performance, gain notoriety and be a positive influence on campus. Blossom wants the choir’s members to grow in their relationship with Christ, keep Jesus at the center of the group and build a safe and spirit-filled community.
“With God’s hands on this ministry, I truly believe the best is yet to come,” said Blossom.
The Maryland Gospel Choir’s next performance will be a collaboration with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Gospel Choir. The groups will be part of Praise Unplugged: The 2025 Gospel Concert at UMES on Nov. 2.