OGCMA to Present 67th Annual Choir Festival

One of OGCMA's most steadfast and beloved traditions, the Annual Choir Festival, now in its 67th season, returns on Sunday July 11 at 7:00 p.m. in The Great Auditorium. This year's theme is "He Leadeth Me, Songs of Hope and Healing."

The Great Auditorium is located at 21 Pilgrim Pathway in Ocean Grove, NJ. All facilities are handicapped-accessible. This is a non-ticketed event. A free will offering will be accepted.

This spectacular choral event features dozens of choral organizations from the Eastern United States, forming a massed choir of hundreds of voices accompanied by Dr. Gordon Turk on the historic Great Auditorium Pipe Organ. The Choir Festival will be conducted by OGCMA's Director of Music Ministries, Dr. Jason C. Tramm, as well as Special Guest Conductors Marina Alexander, Dr. Cindy Bell, Kevin Boesiger, Dr. J. Donald Dumpson, Rider Foster, Dr. Everett McCorvey, Fiona Sutherland, and Dr. Michael John Trotta.

The combined choirs will perform anthems, hymns and works by classical and contemporary composers:

"Through It All He Leads Me" - Kevin Boesiger

"Give Me Jesus" - L.L. Fleming

"Hallelujah" - Beethoven

"He Watching Over Israel" - Mendelssohn

"It Is Well with My Soul" - John Ness Beck

"On the Third Day" - Allen Pote

"The Storm Is Passing Over" - (Arr. Barbara Baker)

"There Is a Balm in Gilead"- W.L. Dawson

"You Are My Refuge" - John Michael Trotta

History of the Choir Festival

The first choir festival in Ocean Grove was held in 1955. The concept of a large-scale festival of Christian music evolved when Dr. and Mrs. Walter D. Eddowes recognized a need for an experience that would inspire choristers to attain higher goals in music for their churches. At that time, the Auditorium Choir secretary, Mrs. Anna Nichols, extended an invitation to vocal groups in Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore area. The first festival was a preaching service that included a hymn sermon, seven anthems, five conductors and nine choirs. About 200 singers augmented the Ocean Grove Auditorium Choir and the result was so thrilling that an annual event was established. Through the years, many renowned composers of choral music have conducted their own works at Ocean Grove, performed by the huge festival choir. Among them are: John Ness Beck, Craig Courtney, Dr. Laurence Dilsner, Jester Hairston, Ross Hastings, Dr. Carl Mueller, Carl J. Nygard, Jr. and Clayton White.

For more information visit: https://www.oceangrove.org/

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