Howard University choir for Jamaica concert tour

As part of its activities to mark the International Year for People of African Descent, the U.S. Embassy has invited the celebrated Howard University Choir to Jamaica for a series of performances and master classes.

The Howard University Choir, one of the most outstanding choral groups in the United States, is recognized as an American national treasure. The choir garnered critical acclaim under the leadership of its former conductor, the late Dr. Warner Lawson, and has extended its tradition of excellence under the leadership of its present conductor, Dr. J. Weldon Norris.

The choir has toured extensively both in the United States and globally, and has been highly praised for its performances of the choral works of J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Poulenc.

True to its singular legacy, the Choir has become the definitive interpreter of Negro Spirituals and Work Songs, as well as of choral works by composers of African descent. The Washington Post pronounced recently that the Choir’s performance of Negro Spirituals was “mesmerizingly beautiful.” Since 1974 the Choir has been privileged to perform for every President of the United States at the White House and, most recently, appeared there at three receptions during the Christmas season.

In February of 2009, the Choir was featured on the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) series History Detectives, performing Negro Spirituals from Slave Songs of the United States. In March of the same year, the Choir, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, toured five cities in the People

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