“Lift Every Voice and Sing” Symposium Speakers

Roland Marvin Carter is the Emeritus Holmberg Professor of American Music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He served each of the faculties of UTC and Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, for nearly a quarter of a century. Both appointments included stints as head, chair, and director of choirs. As a composer/arranger, he is, perhaps, best known for his festival setting of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and his setting of the Negro spiritual, “In Bright Mansions Above.”

Recognized as an authority on the performance and preservation of the music of African American traditions and composers, Carter has had a most distinguished record of commitment, service, and teaching, having held seats on the boards of directors of the League of American Orchestras, Sphinx, TN, Arts Commission, National Association of State Arts Agencies, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Association, ArtsBuild of Chattanooga, and Chorus America. A past president of the National Association of Negro Musicians, he was founder and CEO of Mar-Vel, Inc., a music publisher specializing in the music of African American composers and traditions, now published by Walton Music/GIA.

Among his most distinguished awards and honors are the Southern Region of American Choral Directors Association with 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in Excellence, the naming of the “Dr. Roland Carter Commemorative Street” UTC, Chorus America’s highest honor—the 2023 Distinguished Service Award—the naming of the “Dr. Roland M. Carter Stage” in Hampton University’s venerable Ogden Hall, and the 2024 Bessie Smith Cultural Center’s Legacy Award.

Stephen Michael Newby holds the Lev H. Prichard III Endowed Chair in the Study of Black Worship and is a professor of music at Baylor University, where he also serves as Ambassador for the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program. He has over three decades of experience in university teaching and administration, having previously been the minister of worship at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, director of the Center for African American Worship Studies at Trevecca Nazarene University, and a tenured professor of music at Seattle Pacific University. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Newby earned degrees in music education, jazz composition, and music composition, along with a master of arts in theology.

Newby has served in church music ministries across the US for over 40 years, with notable achievements in both gospel and concert music. His compositions have been performed by orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony and Savannah Symphony, and his works are recorded by Albany Records and Maranatha Music. He has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Wesley Work III National Composers’ Award. A former national anthem conductor for the Seattle Sounders FC, Newby has authored scholarly works published by Rowman & Littlefield and is co-authoring a book on Andrae Crouch with Robert Darden, to be released by Oxford University Press in 2025.

Pastor Ovella began her journey through ministry at 18 years old, which ultimately led her to Dr. Emery Moss Jr, pastor of Strictly Biblical Bible Teaching Ministries. For 10 years, while serving as minister of music she achieved ETA training in biblical studies as well as her teaching accreditation through the Ecumenical Theological Seminary.

After 26 years of serving in music ministry, in May 2007, God gave her the vision to organize Always in Jesus’ Presence Ministries, where she now serves as pastor. In 2010, Davis founded and organized a 501c3, The United Communities of America (UCOA), whose mission and focus are the reduction of crime through the promotion of peace, healing, and positive change. In 2013, Davis was appointed by the late Sheriff Benny Napoleon to the Wayne County Sheriff's Chaplaincy. She was, historically, the first female chaplain appointed under his leadership. In April 2017, another historic work took place under her leadership, when 46 billboards declaring God said “Thou shall not kill” were sponsored and placed throughout Detroit.

In the 2018–2019 school year, The United Communities of America launched a new youth violence prevention program, “Students for Peace” in 2 schools, Robichaud High and Ecorse High. The results were impressive and impacting, with both schools reporting significant reductions in violence, bullying, and altercations. In 2020, during Covid, she enrolled to achieve her Purpose Development Coaching Certification from The Purpose Development Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Her coaching practice is integrated into the CODE22 violence reduction initiative and is presently being implemented in Kenross Correctional facility, Northwestern High School, and Dickerson Juvenile Detention Center.

Donté Alexander Ford is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is best described as a musician, minister, and scholar. At Wheaton, Ford teaches principles in music and worship ministry, coaches Chapel Bands, oversees the music and worship arts offerings in chapel worship, and serves as the director of the Worship Arts Certificate, and since 2022, opera music director and conductor.

Ford’s many musical talents have afforded him the opportunity to serve as guest clinician/conductor, lead pianist, opera chorister, resident percussionist, and minister of music. He is a published composer with GIA Publications, Inc., and the founder and artistic director of Sankofa Chorale, a multi-ethnic choral ensemble that preserves and perpetuates African American choral music while performing that music alongside choral masterworks of the western European choral canon.

As a scholar, Ford focuses his efforts on the history and preservation of Black American concert, popular, and sacred music, as well as church hymnody, congregational song, and the history, theology, and music of African American holiness and Pentecostal movements. His scholarly work includes contributions to the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and UM Discipleship Ministries’ History of Hymns. Currently, he is a 2024 recipient of the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Teacher-Scholar grant awarded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to continue his work on the hymnody of Bishop Charles Price Jones.

Joy Jittaun Moore is the president of Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois, where she also serves as professor of homiletics. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and self-described “Ecclesial Storyteller,” Moore inspires theologically grounded and socially relevant interpretations of Scripture to shape communities of faith. 

Prior to Northern Seminary, Moore served as vice president of academic affairs and professor of biblical preaching at Luther Seminary. She established the William E. Pannell Center for African American Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and held leadership roles at Duke Divinity School, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Adrian College. She has pastored churches in Michigan and contributed to Sojourners, Christian Century, and Working Preacher. 

A Chicago native, Moore earned a BA in education and mathematics from National-Louis University, an MDiv from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and a PhD in practical theology from Brunel University/London School of Theology as a John Wesley Fellow.

Theodore Thorpe III, considered by many to be a gifted, multifaceted musician, is one of the leading voices and contributors to the music field in the Washington Metropolitan area and throughout the country. His life-long experience in musician education brings richness to his leadership as he draws on celebrated talent as a sought-after conductor, clinician, professor, musical director, vocalist, pianist, organist, composer, arranger, and choral master. 

Holding both bachelor’s and master of art’s degrees in music, with concentrations in vocal performance and choral conducting, from Oakwood University and Morgan State University, respectively, Thorpe’s talents have been recognized for exemplifying musical excellence throughout the years. He has performed as an artistic director, conductor, and soloist at major historical performing arts centers, including Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the Strathmore Music Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center. He presently serves in his nineteenth season as music director and staff musician at the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, his eighth season as an artistic director for Washington Performing Arts, and in his fifteenth season as director of choral activities at Alexandria City High School. Recently, Thorpe was selected as one of the 40 educators to be featured in the Yamaha “40 under 40” Class of 2023 for his outstanding contribution to music education. Thorpe believes strongly in excellence without excuses. He continues to look to make a difference in education, and in the lives of young people, while blazing a trail for upcoming musicians.

Chelle Stearns, PhD, University of St. Andrews, has taught theology at the Seattle School of Theology & Psychology for the last 16 years and is the current president of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music. She has a broad interest in theological engagement with the arts, with her primary research in music and theology. Her book, Handling Dissonance: A Musical Theological Aesthetic of Unity, is an exploration of a theology of unity through Arnold Schoenberg’s compositional philosophy and Colin Gunton’s trinitarian theology. Her publications include book chapters, essays, and reviews on topics such as cultural trauma and the art of Jacob Lawrence and Steve Prince, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” lament in the works of composer James MacMillan, trauma and Christology, and a musical theology of trauma. Her writing can be found in publications by IVP Academic, Lexington, Cascade, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press. Stearns is currently researching and writing a book on music, trauma studies, and theology.

Raymond Wise began his musical career at the age of three, singing gospel music with his family singing group, “The Wise Singers.” He attended Denison University, where he reorganized the Black Student Union Choir, started the Black Student Union Ensemble and Dance company, and earned a B.F.A. in music. From there, he went on to study opera, art, and German at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria, then on to study African-American history, music, and dance at San Francisco State University. He completed an apprenticeship in the business and recording of gospel music with the Walter Hawkins Corporation and was awarded a graduate fellowship from Ohio State University, where he earned his masters in music education and Ohio Teacher’s Certification. He also completed a doctorate in music education at Ohio State University.

Wise has served as a church minister of music for more than 40 years. Also, he has served as the musical director for more than 30 choirs and has prepared choirs to perform for national recording artists such as Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Yolanda Adams, Tramaine Hawkins, Wintley Phipps, and others. Wise served as the chorus master for the world premiere of the Opera Columbus production of Leslie Burrs’s Vanqui and assistant chorus master for the Opera Columbus production of Aida. Wise served as chorus master for Leslie Burrs’s Declaration of Joy and the Columbus Symphony production of Hannibal Lokumbe’s African Portraits. He also served as the musical director for Carlyle Brown’s production of Yellow Moon and as co-musical director for “Harlem Hallelujah,” a live Sunday-morning service at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

Courtney-Savali Andrews is an ethnomusicologist from Seattle whose areas of research include issues pertaining to Afro-Pacific identity and expression. A double-degree graduate of Oberlin in Africana studies and piano performance, she completed a master's degree at Arizona State University, with emphasis on musical direction, and pursued Fulbright studies in New Zealand from 2009 through 2012. She returned to Oberlin in 2014–15 as a visiting musical director.

Andrews’s teaching experience includes two years as an ethnomusicology fellow at the University of Wellington and visiting lecturer in music and Samoan studies at the National University of Samoa. Prior to joining the Oberlin faculty, she served as a teaching artist and collaborative pianist with Seattle Opera and was a musician and youth leader at the Grey Lynn Community Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand.

Dwight Andrews is professor of music theory and African American music at Emory University and pastor of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Atlanta. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the Yale Divinity School, and a doctorate in music theory from Yale University. He has taught at Yale, Harvard, and Rice Universities. He was a recipient of Hutchins Research Fellowship at Harvard University for 2021–22, a recipient of the 2023 Governor’s Award in the Arts and Humanities in Georgia, and a recipient of the prestigious 2023 Composers Now Visionary Award with Philip Glass and Libby Larsen. A multi-instrumentalist, Andrews has appeared on over 25 jazz and "new music" recordings and been recognized for his collaborations with playwright August Wilson. He served as musical director for the Broadway productions of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Seven Guitars. His film credits include The Old Settler, The Piano Lesson, and Miss Evers' Boys. A recipient of the Alliance Theater’s Reiser Fellowship, Andrews is currently developing a chamber opera on W. E. B. Du Bois with noted filmmaker and MacArthur fellow Louis Massiah. Andrews is completing a monograph on the intersection between religion, spirituality, and jazz.

Stevener Gaskin, Jr. serves within the Student Engagement Department as director for the Intercultural Arts and Media Office at Wheaton College. He advises and leads student organizations such as the Storytelling Project, College Union, and the Student Media Team, where students are equipped to lead within the intersection of faith, art, and campus-wide programming. Stevener holds a BA from Indiana University Bloomington (2008), an MA from Wheaton College Graduate School (2018), and is currently pursuing his doctor of ministry (D.Min) at the Litfin Divinity School of Wheaton College. 

He also serves his church community as an artist in residence at Good News in the Neighborhood in Palatine, IL. Passionate about biblical leadership and innovative creativity, Stevener provides strategic direction for student-coordinated performances, events, and media initiatives—fostering Kingdom diversity, inclusion, and joyful memory-making across campus. 

A God-fearing, fun-loving, and reckless dreamer, Stevener uses spoken word poetry and rap to communicate messages of love, hope, and redemption through Christ-centered content. Having been transformed by the gospel, he strives to proclaim the good news of Jesus through creative expression, public speaking, and meaningful connections.

A native of Rockford, IL, Eric Lewis Williams holds a BA in communications and sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a masters in theological studies from the McCormick Theological Seminary, the MDiv from Duke University and a PhD in religious studies from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. Alongside of his academic preparation, Williams is an ordained minister of the Church of God in Christ. 

Williams has taught theology, history and African American studies at several institutions including: Western Theological Seminary; Ashland Theological Seminary (Detroit); Iowa State University; Shaw University; Virginia Union University; Boston College; and Harvard University. In addition to his teaching experience, for nearly seven years, Williams served as the Curator of Religion for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC. In July of 2023, leaving the museum, Williams joined the teaching faculty of the Duke University School of Divinity in Durham, NC. At Duke University, Williams serves as assistant professor of theology and Black Church studies, and director of the office of Black Church Studies. 

Williams’ current research examines the meaning of religion within African American history and culture, and the role and influences of African religions within the Atlantic world. Williams is a co-editor of the T&T Clark Handbook of African American Theology and is currently completing a manuscript which explores theological significations in African American religious thought. 

Williams' research and studies have taken him to the continents of Africa, South America, Europe, extensively throughout the continental United States, Mexico, and to several islands of the Caribbean. Williams considers himself a transatlantic commuter, a collector of words, and an emergent jazzman in the world of ideas.

Founded in the late 1960s, the Howard Gospel Choir (HGC) of Howard University is the first choir of its kind in the world. As a result, HGC has pioneered an international legacy in gospel music ministry. For over five decades, the choir has set a very high standard as a premier performing arts ensemble having performed across the United States and having toured to 25 countries around the world.

From the outset, the group has been in constant demand, and has been afforded the opportunity to collaborate with musical luminaries of all genres. Additionally, HGC has performed at functions that have featured heads of state from several nations, public figures, prominent politicians and religious leaders of all faith backgrounds.

Notwithstanding the legacy of excellence and the vast accomplishments since its inception, the main objective remains the same: To share a message of hope that brings peace, restoration, and inspiration to all who will lend their ears and hearts.

The choir is currently under the musical direction of Reginald Golden, a two-time Howard University graduate from University Heights, OH. Darrell Brown, also an HU alumnus, is the assistant director.

The Ambassador Chorale was founded by the late Professor Roosevelt Williams during the 1975–76 academic year with four eager members to officially represent the university as its public relations entity. Today, under the direction of “Dr. J” (Dr. Argarita Johnson-Palavicini), the chorale has upwards of 50 members that not only perform as an independent academic ensemble, but enjoy exposure to sight-reading, vocal technique, and performance pedagogy. Members of the chorale also hold leadership responsibility for the organization through appointed administrative positions. 

The chorale performs a wide range of music, from Negro spirituals to Brahms and gospel music, and explores various musical genres, including student compositions. The chorale has performed with the New World Symphony and world-renowned soprano Michelle Bradley, and most recently, jazz great Carmen Lundy. The chorale has also performed in the United States, the Bahamas, and Europe to great acclaim!

Formed in 1993, Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir (COTG) is one of Washington Performing Arts’s resident ensembles. COTG has become a destination choir for local students who look to develop excellence in artistry and technique as a performance ensemble. Chosen through a competitive audition process, choir members from DC, Maryland, and Virginia commit to participating in a year of choral training, intensive workshops, and a variety of performances on Washington Performing Arts’s main stage and through community events.

The COTG program provides opportunities for youth in grades four through 12 and promotes an environment of self-confidence, teamwork, and respect. Under the leadership of artistic director Michele Fowlin, the Children of the Gospel Choir has been featured at the White House; the Inaugural Prayer Services for President Barack Obama and the National Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela, both at the Washington National Cathedral; in concert with Matthew Whitaker, in recital with bass-baritone Joseph Parrish; with Broadway stars Stephen Wormley and Matthew Morrison; on Music and the Mind Live with Renee Fleming, at the historic Howard and Lincoln Theatres; the US Department of State; From the Top! and on NBC’s Today.