Concert: $25

Nov 2, 2019, 7:30 PM, First Congregational Church UCC sanctuary.

Reception and concert: $100

Join us for a pre-concert reception to celebrate the release of the Atlanta Music Festival 2016 recording featuring Jessye Norman, Morehouse and Spelman College Glee Clubs, Vega String Quartet and the Meridian Chorale.

Nov 2, 2019 , 6:00 PM, Fellowship Hall, First Congregational Church.

A contemporary annual event with a century-old musical and cultural heritage. In the wake of Atlanta's 1906 race riots when Henry Hugh Proctor, pastor of Atlanta's First Congregational Church, launched programs to support black communities and encourage racial harmony. In May of 1910 white Atlantans produced a highly publicized grand opera week, featuring New York's Metropolitan Opera. Reverend Proctor in turn formed the Atlanta Colored Music Festival Association, which produced its first concert that August at First Congregational Church, featuring the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Thanks to the association's cordial invitation, the 2000 attendees in Atlanta's Auditorium-Armory included a large contingent from the white community. The festival featured the most prominent African American concert artists of the day and was presented annually through 1917.

In 2001, Rev. Dwight Andrews, current Senior Minister of First Congregational Church, invited Steven Darsey, Meridian Herald’s Artistic Director, to join in a revival of the Festival and its celebration of African American concert music. Since 2001, this partnership continues to articulate a convicted vision of justice and grace.