The Gateway Community Association will sponsor the 2018 Annual Kenneth Adair Memorial Concert at the Maxwell Blade Theatre of Magic in the historic Malco Theatre at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The concert will feature the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff Vespers Choir.
Adair was a city alderman who served Hot Springs citizens for 13 years from 1972 to 1985. He was a boxer, tailor and newsman who founded and edited The Arkansas Citizen beginning in 1958, providing the African-American readers vital information from around the nation and locally. He was instrumental in organizing the city's first chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Adair was known as a champion for individual rights and was considered a patriarch in the community, a news release said.
The GCA is the largest primary African-American historic neighborhood adjacent to downtown in the state of Arkansas with homes dated back to the 1920s.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Vesper Choir, an ensemble in the UAPB Music Department, is under the direction of Michael Bates, professor of music, and assistant director Andre Book. It is nationally recognized among historically black colleges and universities for its diverse repertoire and performances, the release said. It was named the Vesper Choir because it presented the music for the mandatory evening Vesper services from the 1940s to the 1960s.
In 2017, the choir returned from a weeklong tour around Madrid, Spain, where it performed in historical venues including the Church of San Manuel and San Benito, the royal palace at El Escorial and the Church of St. John the King.
Bates led the group of 49 student and staff members of the choir on a program titled "An American Celebration of Music in Spain." In addition to concerts, the students' agenda included visits to historical landmarks and museums where they learned about Spanish history and culture. During the concerts, the choir performed selections by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Heinrich Schutz, Francis Poulenc and George Frederic Handel. Performances also included a selection of spirituals and gospel songs.
"One of our biggest successes was the concert at the Church of St. John the King in Toledo," Bates said. "I was told that at least 225 people were in attendance. There was sustained applause after almost every selection and a prolonged standing ovation at the end of the concert. We even did an encore performance when the audience didn't stop applauding."
This year's concert is a return performance based on the wonderful response from last year's performance, the release said.
The proceeds for Saturday's program will support the operation of the GCA neighborhood revitalization efforts. Tickets are $25 for adults, and children 18 years and younger are admitted free with a donation of a canned good.
Call Jean Lacefield at 501-623-2659 or email [email protected] for more information.
Entertainment on 04/18/2018