By: Michael French, UCD College of Letters & Science
The choruses of UC Davis join together to perform music the late Albert J. McNeil, professor emeritus of music, loved and championed. The performance is March 8 at 7 p.m. in the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
“Celebrating Albert J. McNeil” features the Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers and a quartet by former members of the Los Angeles-based Albert J. McNeil Jubilee Singers and composer Diane White-Clayton who honor McNeil’s musical legacy at UC Davis. A renowned American choral conductor, A. Jan Taylor, will guest conduct several selections on the program.
Conducted by Nicolás Dosman, director of choirs and a professor of teaching at UC Davis, the evening’s program includes Hold Out Your Light and John the Revelator as arranged by McNeil, To Sit and Dream and The Word Was God arranged by Rosephanye Powell, In Dat Great Gettin’ Up Morning and Elijah Rock arranged by Jester Hairston, and The Battle of Jericho and Ev’ry Time I feel the Spirit arranged by Moses Hogan.
The concert also includes a performance of White-Clayton’s Be Thou Exalted, B.E. Boykin’s Go Down Moses and Byron Smith’s Worthy to Be Praised.
A driving force in choral music at UC Davis, McNeil was also an original faculty member and chair of the Department of African American and African Studies. He died on Nov. 29, 2022.
“I was in Al McNeil’s choir his last year,” said Professor Laurie San Martin (B.A. music, ‘91), former chair of the Department of Music. “As an undergraduate, you just didn’t want to miss out on working with him. He was a legend. He loved teaching music, and his love was felt by all — his choir members and the audience.”
Taylor, a recently retired professor of music from A&M University in Texas, frequently lectures on the performance practices and preservation of the African American spiritual. She has served as adjudicator and choral clinician for choral competitions, festivals, and regional honor choirs throughout the United States and abroad.
The performance begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $24 for adults and $12 for students and youth. Tickets are available at the Mondavi Center Ticket Office in person or by calling 530-754-2787 between noon and 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. Tickets are also available online at tickets.mondaviarts.org.
For more information about music department concerts in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis, visit music.ucdavis.edu.
