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Arlington’s Mystic Chorale Celebrates the Gospel Tradition


Contributed by Jane Arsham


What’s it like to sing Gospel with more than 200 other singers not to mention more than 700 audience members? Just ask Liz Gross from Arlington Heights who’s been singing with the Mystic Chorale for over 5 years. “Amazing actually--the power and magic are transformative!”

Under the direction of Jonathan Singleton, the Arlington-based Mystic Chorale takes the stage at Cary Hall in Lexington February 25th at 8pm and again Sunday, February 26th at 3:30pm. Mr. Singleton, winner of the prestigious New England Conservatory Gospel Music Award for 2005, really enjoys leading the Mystic Chorale and helping to preserve and present the rich variety of African-American cultural/musical expression — and getting everyone deeply involved in the music.

Says Singleton, “Gospel music connects people to their own spirit, to others’ spirits, and to something greater than us. It allows each of us to find meaning that’s deeper than the lyrics and melody. Gospel is a way of connecting to something bigger than us but that’s also within us. I’m excited to be working again with this wonderful and amazing chorale, founded by Nick Page! There’s an infectious enthusiasm created by the Chorale that has to be experienced to be believed, and when you combine that enthusiasm with the spirit and energy of Gospel music, the combination can’t be beat!”

“We are so fortunate to have Jonathan Singleton leading us for the Mystic Gospel” says Jane Arsham, co-president of the Chorale. “He has the amazing ability to make this uniquely African-American music accessible to everyone. People just love to sing Gospel and Jonathan brings out the very best in us!”

The Mystic Chorale meets weekly at the First Parish Church in Arlington Center. The Gospel Concerts will be at Cary Hall this year for the first time since 1999. Says Arsham, “We’re really looking forward to performing locally. It’s so much easier for our audience to come, sing, clap their hands and experience Mystic Gospel!”

For more information:

Mystic Chorale

Soul Food Music in a Junk Food Culture

by Linda Marks
September 1st 2005

Late last winter I attended a formal dinner dance. I was greatly looking forward to the dance portion of the evening. I love feeling the rhythm of music pulsating within my body. Feeling moved to move is something that brings me great joy. But alas, my experience turned out to be nothing like what I had hoped for. Instead of bringing old records to spin or CD’s to queue, the disc jockey had brought along his personal computer to act as both sound system and record player.

While I appreciate that computer technology can be an art form itself, and I have experienced high tech wizards who can use their sound optimizing machines to create transformational musical experiences, this was not to be at this dance. What emerged from the DJ’s non-sound optimized machine was music that, for me, felt so flat, so synthetic, that the beat and energy I knew to expect from favorite songs was missing entirely. The effect was numbing. And rather than feeling inspired to move, I found myself feeling drained. The sense of vital life energy that can be expressed in music was missing.

This was a new experience for me. As a person who makes it a priority to eat foods that are whole and nutritious, I realized I had unexpectedly discovered that music too can come in “soul food” and “junk food” varieties.

My love of soul enriching music attracted me to join the Mystic Chorale five years ago. The Mystic Chorale is a chorus of more than 200 voices, founded by song leader Nick Page. While on the one hand, Mystic is one of an abundance of wonderful Boston area community choruses, there are some very special elements to Mystic that make it unique. Mystic strives to make music a participatory experience — to quote the Mystic mission statement, “creating a dynamic collaboration among the bold and the shy, the untrained and the trained, the audience and the performers, challenging all of us to be truly amazing.”

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Jonathan Singleton Receives the New England Conservatory Gospel Music Award for 2005!

At the 26th Annual Thomas A. Dorsey Gospel Jubilee

On Sunday afternoon, February 20, after a standing ovation for leading Northeastern University’s Unity Gospel Ensemble in a sensational rendition of Lonnie Hunter's arrangement of "Even Me" at Jordan Hall, jazz and gospel pianist, composer, choir director and, lately, singer, Berklee alum Jonathan Singleton, received the prestigious New England Conservatory Gospel Music Award for 2005.

Commended by his peers for “changing the profile of the Boston gospel music scene” as well as for being a “really cool jazz musician” who does “everything,” Jonathan was selected largely for his outstanding musical artistry and leadership of many local church, college, and community gospel choirs over the past decade. The NEC Gospel Music Award  is given annually to an outstanding individual with a minimum of ten years experience in New England as a church musician, composer, group director, workshop/presentation leader, and gospel music educator who has recognizable accomplishments, is affiliated with national or international organizations, and is committed to gospel music.

Past recipients have been Freda Battle ('96), Donnell L. Patterson ('97), Dennis L. Slaughter ('98), Dennis Montgomery III ('99), James A. Early ('00), George W. Russell, Jr. ('01), Renese King & Herb Jones ('02), Hobert S. Yates ('03), and Evelyn Lee Jones ('04). Each recipient receives conferred faculty status with the NEC week long Thomas A. Dorsey Summer Gospel Institute.