Palmetto Voices to perform in Rock Hill, donating proceeds

ROCK HILL — The sanctuary of Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church will fill with song on Aug. 16 as the Palmetto Voices Spiritual Ensemble performs for the evening, and gives back to music students in the community.

Artistic director Sonja Sepúlveda, a graduate of Winthrop University, will return to her college town after 25 years to conduct this performance; all ticket sale proceeds will go to music scholarships at her alma-mater and high school seniors in York County who will attend a South Carolina accredited music program, studying music education or performance.

The group will sing concert spirituals, African-American religious folksongs which often expressed a longing for freedom from enslavement in the South. Spirituals, one of the United States’ most significant folksong forms, became part of the standard repertoire of the civil rights movement.

Sepúlveda founded Palmetto Voices in 2006 as part of her doctoral dissertation. Since then, the group has grown to include other Winthrop University music graduates, Opera Carolina members, Carnegie Hall singers and soloists and Spoleto Festival USA, Kennedy Center Opera, Royal Voices of Charlotte, Caritas A Cappella Ensemble and Inspirar Choir performers. For this performance, ensemble members will come to Rock Hill from across the state, and from North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

Some of Palmetto Voices’ members currently direct choir or school ensembles, like drummer and percussionist Jamey Johnson, who started playing for Sepúlveda in high school and is now a music teacher. On piano for the evening will be Cedric Meekins, a keyboard player and composer from Charlotte, and Shonda English, a gospel singer from Sumter.

“Through her TEDx Talk and conversations, she (Sepúlveda) admits that being a 5-foot-2-inch blonde female conductor was not an easy path in the 1980s, but she has paved the way for many other female conductors to become conductors of orchestras,” said Wendy Wingard-Gay of the Rock Hill Music Club, sponsor of the event. “Many of her singers say that Dr. Sonja Sepúlveda gives her whole body and soul into her crystal-clear conducting style as she is usually drenched with sweat before the end of a concert.”

The performance will kick off at 6:30 p.m. with an introduction from Sepúlveda. Attendees can purchase tickets for $25 online using a card, or at the door via cash or check.

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