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Resonating from deep within the musical traditions of South Africa, the voices of Thula Sizwe call out with songs of peace and hope. Reminiscent of the harmonies of Ladysmith Black Mambazo heard on Paul Simon’s Graceland album, Thula Sizwe’s arrangements are rich, soulful, and uplifting. Blending their tuneful singing with traditional dance and drumming, this ten-man ensemble brings and authentic snapshot of Zulu culture to the eyes and ears of the American public.

Thula Sizwe tours and teaches with this overall mission:

• promote global peace and goodwill,
• encourage oppressed voices to be heard,
• and advocate for living wage and economic equity.

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Dr. Felicia Barber served for the past nine years as Director of Choral Activities at Westfield State University, in Westfield, Mass., where she led the Chamber Chorale, Gospel Choir, and University Chorus and taught classes in conducting, choral music education, and pedagogy.  Barber, whose research interests include effective teaching strategies, fostering classroom diversity and incorporating equity and justice initiatives in choral curricula, and the linguistic performance practice of African American spirituals, has contributed to such periodicals as the American Choral Directors Association’s Choral Journal and is the author of A New Perspective for the Use of Dialect in African American Spirituals: History, Context, and Linguistics (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). She has given clinics and presentations on topics related to diversity in choral music and implicit bias in classical music, among other areas, at institutions across the United States, and in 2021 delivered a lecture at Yale titled “Performance Practice: A linguistic Approach to Dialect Found in Spirituals.” 

At the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Barber serves as Associate Professor, Adjunct, of Choral Conducting and conducts the Yale Camerata. In addition to teaching graduate-level choral conductors and aspiring undergraduate conductors, Barber is developing a new initiative designed to prepare Yale students to work with young musicians on choral music in school and church settings. 

An active member of American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Barber has presented her research at state, divisional, and national conferences. She also has served on the organization’s National Diversity Committee and Eastern Division 2020 Conference Committee and is the current President of the Massachusetts ACDA board. In addition, she is regularly engaged as a guest conductor for youth and community festivals around the country, including several All State ensembles in Vermont, Oklahoma, and California, as well as upcoming festivals in Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island.

Barber earned a bachelor-of-music degree in vocal performance from Oral Roberts University, in Tulsa, Okla., where she studied conducting with Dr. Edward Pierce, a master-of-music degree in choral music education from Mansfield University, in Mansfield, Penn., where she studied with Dr. Peggy Dettwiler, and a Ph.D. in music education and choral conducting from Florida State University, where she studied with Dr. André Thomas and completed a dissertation titled Phonological Features Employed in the Text Set by Arrangers of African American Spirituals and an IPA Guide to Proper Pronunciation of Dialect.

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Rochelle Ellis, DMA Voice, is a performer, teacher and conductor. She held positions as Adjunct Associate Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and Lecturer of Voice at Princeton University. She has sung extensively in the U. S. A. and internationally in both concert and opera. She made her New York City Opera debut in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and her Carnegie Hall debut in Bach’s Cantata 140, under the baton of the late Joseph Flummerfelt.

Active in community outreach in music, Dr. Ellis teaches in the summer Westminster Conservatory High School Vocal Institute and in the Solo Vocal Artist Camp. Dr. Ellis has served as Teaching Artist for The Princeton Festival Guild and has served as Music Director and Solo/Small Ensemble Director for the Trenton Children’s Chorus.

The St. Louis native received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She received her Master of Music Education degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.

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Nathaniel Gumbs is a native of the Bronx, NY and has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including Antigua, St. Thomas, Ghana, Paris, and Munich, and is consistently gathering new fans and followers. The New York Times described Nathaniel’s playing in their review of his recording with bass-baritone Dashon Burton, as “mature, lyrical, accurate and energetic,” and that his performance was presented “deftly and with feeling.”

Dr. Gumbs currently serves as Director of Chapel Music at Yale University where he works with students, faculty, and guests to coordinate music for three worshiping communities: the University Church in Battell Chapel, and at Yale Divinity School in both Marquand Chapel and at Berkeley Divinity School. He earned his undergraduate degree from Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia, his Master of Music degree from Yale University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Nathaniel’s principal teachers include Steven Cooksey, David Higgs, and Martin Jean.

Prior to his position at Yale, Dr. Gumbs served as Director of Music and Arts and Church Organist at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, where he led several hundred volunteer musicians and staff in four choirs and other ensembles. Nathaniel currently serves as the Interim Minister of Music and Fine Arts at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY.

In 2017 The Diapason magazine recognized Nathaniel as one of 20 outstanding organists under 30 years old for his achievement in organ performance and church music. In 2018, Nathaniel curated the opening Hymn Festival (Singing Diverse Music in The New

Church) for the Hymn Society’s annual conference. He is also featured on various recording projects through GIA publications with James Abbington, choral projects with award winning conductor Jason Max Ferninand, and recordings of revised choral works by Margaret Bonds with NY Philharmonic's Chorus Director, Malcolm Merriweather. Most recently, Dr. Gumbs is a contributing composer in Pulling Out The Stops, Volume 3, Congregational Song Accompaniments for Organ, published by Augsburg Fortress.

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Rosephanye Powell (b.1962) has been hailed as one of America’s premier women composers of solo vocal and choral music. She has an impressive catalogue of works published by some of the nation’s leading publishers, including the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Fred Bock Music Companies, Gentry Publications, Oxford University Press, Alliance Music Publications, and Shawnee Press. Dr. Powell’s works have been conducted and premiered by nationally and internationally renowned conductors and have been premiered at distinguished halls around the country, including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and Spivey Hall, to name a few. Dr. Powell’s works have been commissioned by professional choral ensembles, including Cantus and the Grammy award-winning men’s vocal ensemble Chanticleer.  Dr. Powell is commissioned yearly to compose for university choruses, professional, community and church choirs, as well as secondary school choruses. Her work has been auctioned by Chorus America and her compositions are in great demand at choral festivals around the country, frequently appearing on the regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, as well as Honor Choir festivals. Dr. Powell’s compositions include sacred and secular works for mixed chorus, women’s chorus, men’s chorus, and children’s voices.