American Choral Music Maestro Andre Thomas to Perform with Seoul City Choir

April 13-14 at Sejong Center Chamber Hall 'Master Series'

Andre Thomas, a maestro of American choral music, will take the stage with the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus to present a special performance.

Conductor Andre Thomas. [Photo by Seoul Philharmonic Choir]

The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Seoul Metropolitan Chorus announced on the 13th that it will hold the 'Master Series' featuring guest conductor Andre Thomas on April 13-14 at the Sejong Center Chamber Hall stage.

The 'Master Series' is a repertoire concert by the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus that showcases the best performances through collaboration with talented conductors from home and abroad. This year, it reexamines the history of Black people embedded in choral music and their music.

Andre Thomas is actively working as a choral conductor and director worldwide, including the United States, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Australia, and Africa. He has conducted prestigious orchestras and choirs such as the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK, the Berlin Dario Choir in Germany, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. He received the Robert Shaw Award, the highest honor from the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and was also honored with a lifetime achievement award from the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO). Since 2022, he has been serving as an Associate Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, contributing to their season programs.

The Sejong Center Seoul City Choir will present the "Master Series," featuring the legendary American choral music maestro Andre Thomas as a guest conductor, on the 13th and 14th of next month at the Sejong Center Chamber Hall.
[Photo by Sejong Center]

Andre Thomas will present captivating American contemporary choral music through works by Black composers with the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus. The program gathers masterpieces imbued with musical value, ranging from Black spirituals sung by enslaved Black people dreaming of a return to their beloved homeland amid persecution and hardship, to contemporary pieces that envision an ideal future while living in the present.

The concert highlights Florence Price, the first Black female composer to gain fame in the United States, and Nathaniel Dett, a Black classical composer who incorporated Black spirituals into 19th-century Romantic styles to compose choral music and oratorios. Works by currently active composers such as Adolphus Hailstork, Zenaida Robles, Rosephanye Powell, Stacy Gibbs, and Andre Thomas will also be performed.

Prior to the concert, on April 11, a seminar titled 'Understanding and Performing Black Spirituals' by Andre Thomas will be held. Registration opens on March 13 on the Sejong Center website and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

A representative from the Sejong Center stated, “In the first part, audiences will experience the essence of American choral music through the high-level skills of Black composers using traditional Western musical language, and in the second part, they will delve deeper into Black music that moves the soul beyond musical technique through Black spirituals and gospel.”