If you go
› What: Roland Carter 75th Birthday Celebration› Where: First Baptist Church, 506 E. Eighth St.› When: 3 p.m. Saturday, April 22› Admission: Free, but free-will offering will be taken› Phone: 423-265-3229› Online: timesfreepress.com/music
Roland Carter's 75th birthday isn't until May 4, but concerts and parties started weeks ago to celebrate the life and music of the retired University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor. Celebrations have been held in Savannah and Charleston, S.C., Hampton, Va., Winston-Salem, N.C. and at UTC.
"It's so wonderful. People are so kind to me," says Carter. "My friends and colleagues are wonderful."
Saturday afternoon, April 22, the party continues when the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song salutes Carter with a 75th birthday concert in First Baptist Church, 506 E. Eighth St. They will be joined by the Wendell Whalum Community Chorus of Atlanta.
Carter was the Choral Society's director for more than two decades. Dr. Wendell Whalum was a good friend of the UTC professor. Additionally, Dr. David Morrow, who now conducts the Wendell Whalum Community Chorus, and Carter are both past presidents of the National Association of Negro Musicians.
Michael Mitchell, director of the Choral Society, says 40 members of the Choral Society will be singing and the number of singers onstage will double when the two choirs combine for "Lift Every Voice" to open the concert.
The program will be a mixture of Carter's arrangements of spirituals and other numbers.
Mitchell says the Choral Society is singing only Carter pieces. The Whalum Chorus will perform "He is Marvelous" by Rosephanye Powell, "O God Beyond All Praising" by Gustav Holst and "Walk Together, Children" by Moses Hogan.
The choirs will also combine for the finale, "True Religion," featuring soloist Vanessa Kimbrough.
Proceeds collected from the offering will benefit student scholarships.
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.