HYMN SOCIETY CONCERTS (!)

With thanks to Paul Richardson, Professor of Music.

As you may know, Samford is hosting the annual conference of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada from Sunday, July 11, through Thursday, July 15.

More than 200 visitors from across the continent will be on campus for workshops, addresses, reading sessions, and worship. While these sessions are limited to those registered, there will be five hymn festivals that are free and open both to you and to the public.

As you can see, the festivals for this year’s conference are unusually varied:

Sunday, July 11, 7:30 pm, Reid Chapel
“Free at Last: Spiritual Songs of Liberation”
Mary Louise Bringle, Andrew Donaldson, Deborah Carlton Loftis

Monday, July 12, 7:30 pm., Homewood High School
Sacred Harp Singing
David Ivey

Tuesday, July 13, 7:30 pm, Sixth Avenue Baptist Church
“Unsung Hymns by Black and Unknown Bards”
James Abbington

Wednesday, July 14, 7:30 pm, Reid Chapel
“Crazy in Alabama: Longing for Justice in Story and Song”
Kate Campbell

Thursday, July 15, 10:30 am, Reid Chapel
“What Does the Lord Require?”
Jacque Browning Jones, Adam M. L. Tice

You may recogznie some of the names among the festival leaders. Deb Loftis is a former Samford librarian who also taught adjunctively. Her husband John was director of the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission. Deb is the new Executive Director of The Hymn Society and visiting professor of church music at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond.

Kate Campbell is a Samford graduate who frequently collaborates with Wayne Flynt.

You may also be interested in attending a pre-conference event. Faythe Freese, associate professor of music at the University of Alabama, will present an organ recital in Hodges Chapel on Sunday, July 11, at 4:00 pm. This recital is being sponsored as a memorial to Gretchen Hartung Anderson, who graduated from the Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing in 1995, by the Hartung and Anderson families.