November 11, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … “Gospel Christmas,” holiday concerts of uplifting Christmas music performed in gospel style, returns with celebrated conductor and composer/arranger Charles Floyd leading the Oregon Symphony, the Northwest Community Gospel Chorus and a special appearance by rising Gospel artist Micah Stampley on Dec. 9, 10 and 11 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Media support for these concerts is provided by KINK fm102, with further support from the Heathman Hotel.
Now in its seventh year, “Gospel Christmas” is a Symphony holiday tradition and an audience concert favorite. “Ticket sales for these concerts are more than $10,000 ahead of this time last year,” says Sandra Snyder, Vice President of Marketing. “These concerts are sure to sell out; anyone planning to go should buy their tickets now.”
Stampley’s first CD release is taking the world of gospel music by storm. The album, titled “The Song of Micah,” debuted at the second highest position for a male gospel artist in Billboard Music’s history, and the singles “War Cry” and “Take My Life (Holiness)” are climbing both the gospel and gospel R & B charts. It features a mix of styles ranging from traditional gospel and pop ballads to R&B and hip-hop. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says of Stampley’s debut CD, “The tunes feel so intimate and immediate, it’s as if someone snuck up and recorded him mid-prayer,” while GospelFlava.com writes, “Micah Stampley is one of those artists whose voice and presence instantly capture an audience.”
Floyd leads the Symphony and the Northwest Community Gospel Chorus, a group of more than 100 singers specially selected for this concert who represent more than a dozen Northwest churches. The choir, rehearsed by Gary Hemenway, pastor of Journey Church in Walla Walla, Wash., includes members of the Portland/Vancouver Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, as well as various other music ministries and churches of Portland and surrounding communities. “These choir members, soloists and musicians are persons who love to sing and proclaim the Good News through the medium of gospel music,” said PVC Chapter Representative and Choir Coordinator Dorothy L. Davis. Stampley will perform “sing” from “The Song of Micah.”
This year’s program features stirring gospel arrangements by Floyd and others including “Reign,” “We’ve Come to Lift You Up,” “Perfect Peace,” “Hosanna” and “I am Healed.” The concert will also include arrangements of traditional carols including “Silent Night,” “The Little Drummer Boy” and Floyd’s arrangement of “Ukrainian Carol (Song of the Bells)” from his “A Symphony of Carols.” Stampley will join the orchestra for “The First Noël.”
Floyd, a nationally known conductor, has led more than 500 orchestras since 1991, including the San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston Symphony Orchestras. Since 1993 Floyd’s conducting appearances have included the annual “Gospel Night at Pops” at Boston’s Symphony Hall and Esplanade Pavilion and a PBS telecast of “Evening at Pops,” featuring Patti LaBelle and Edwin Hawkins in a program of gospel music. Floyd, also a noted pianist and composer/arranger, premiered his latest work for orchestra, “Elements,” in Los Angeles earlier this year.
Donations of new, unwrapped toys for the Northwest NewsChannel 8 Toy Drive and canned food for the Oregon Food Bank are accepted at all Oregon Symphony Holiday concerts.
Performances are scheduled for Friday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range from $23 to $73 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Customer Service Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Conductor, pianist and composer Charles Floyd began studying piano at age four, gave his first solo recital at age nine and by age twenty had been heard in solo recital, chamber music and concerto performances throughout the United States and Spain.
Floyd performed frequently as soloist with the Louisville Orchestra between 1982 and 1984; he also was chosen as pianist for the Louisville Ballet’s internationally recognized tribute to George Balanchine during the 1983-84 season. Floyd has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the National Chopin Competition of New York’s Kosciuszko Foundation.
As a conductor, Floyd has been heard in concert with more than 500 orchestras since 1991, including the Detroit Symphony, the Atlanta, Indianapolis, Houston, Oregon, Saint Louis, San Antonio, Buffalo, San Francisco, Chicago and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. He has also appeared with the Scottish National Radio Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the London Symphony. During the 2003-04 concert season, Floyd appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in four different programs and made his debut with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in July.
Floyd is also a frequent guest conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Since 1993 his performances have included “Gospel Night at Pops” at Boston’s Symphony Hall and Esplanade Pavilion as well as standard Pops programs. His work in Boston’s 1996 season included a PBS telecast of “Evening at Pops,” featuring Patti LaBelle and Edwin Hawkins in a program of gospel music and critically acclaimed performances of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with conductor Keith Lockhart. His programs have featured artists including Grace Bumbry, Sting, Elton John, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Yolanda Adams, Daryl Coley, Doc Severinsen, Sergio Mendes, Nancy Wilson, John Faddis, Mark O’Conner, kd lang, Stevie Wonder, Wynona Judd, and William Warfield. In 1998 he was music director for the nationally broadcast holiday special, “A Cathedral Christmas,” with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves from Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral.
Floyd’s eleven-year partnership with Natalie Cole included such projects as the multiple Grammy Award-winning tribute to Nat King Cole entitled “Unforgettable, With Love,” the Emmy Award-winning PBS Great Performances concert video of the same title, as well as the Grammy-winning releases “Take a Look” and “Stardust.”
His compositions range from chamber music to large orchestral works. A tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, “One Man’s Dream,” was commissioned and premiered by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in 2001. His “Four Spirituals” for soprano and orchestra was premiered at Boston’s Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in 1995 and his oratorio “Hosanna” for gospel chorus and orchestra premiered in 2000. A new commissioned orchestral work, “Elements,” premiered in Los Angeles this year.
Micah Stampley is one of Gospel’s most talked-about new artists with the release of his stunning debut album, “The Songbook of Micah,” a dramatic compendium of styles ranging from cool R&B to hot, funky hip-hop, traditional-flavored Gospel and gorgeous pop balladry.
Stampley was born in Los Angeles, but was raised in Baton Rouge, La., where his family moved when he was still an infant. Having come into the world with a God-given gift for singing, he joined his father’s church choir at the age of four. From his earliest church choir days, Stampley kept a close eye on his choir director and fellow musicians, assuming almost by osmosis the art of directing, hearing and teaching harmonies and vocal arrangements to the choir. In addition to leading musical workshops at other local churches, he was a constant and prominent presence in church musical productions and presentations around the area. By the tender age of seven he had acquired the skill, coupled with his amazing talent, to take the reigns as a choir director.
Stampley taught himself piano and keyboards and become the church’s official minister of music at age 13, a position he held through his late teens. He continued in his ministerial role for a while after graduation, until he began traveling the country with Rev. Earl Johnson on his numerous crusades, and also was featured in several Gospel musicals in the Los Angeles area.
In 2003, Stampley accepted a position as assistant minister of music at St. Agnes Baptist Church in Houston, where he and his wife and five children still reside today. It was there, in late 2003, that he finally made the connection in the music business that he dreamed of. Marcus Dawson, now GM of Dexterity Sounds and also organist for famed writer and evangelist T.D. Jakes, came to St. Agnes to play keyboards for Sunday services. Unknown to Stampley, Bishop Jakes’ record label Dexterity Sounds/EMI, had been actively looking for a strong male vocalist. Dawson returned to Bishop Jakes’ Dallas church, the Potter’s House, telling the Bishop that he had found the artist they had been looking for.
Meanwhile, in January 2004, Stampley was named the winner of the 2004 Stellar Award’s national Star Search, competing against thousands of other candidates. The week after the Stellars, he was invited to be a special musical guest at the Potter’s House. After both Sunday morning services were finished, Bishop Jakes summoned Stampley to his office and offered him a record deal on the spot.
Stampley has a decidedly focused vision of his place and purpose in the plan the Creator mapped out for him. Drama as well as music has been a significant part of his life and he wants to use those gifts to spread the Gospel though TV, stage and film, as well as music. He dreams that his songs, his album and whatever is to follow will become part of a much bigger and multi-faceted ministry.
“He’s already given me the desires of my heart,” Stampley says, “so I don’t pray for opportunities anymore. I just pray to be ready for whatever He has in store for us the days and years to come.”
