University News
WIU School of Music to Perform a Faculty Recital WIth Cooper and Andrews Oct. 22
October 16, 2023
MACOMB, IL - The Western Illinois University School of Music will present a Faculty Recital featuring tenor Alfonzo Cooper, Jr. and organist Linda Andrews at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22 at the First Presbyterian Church, located at 400 E. Carroll St. in Macomb.
Sharon J. Willis from Atlanta, GA, was commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church to create a composition in honor of C.T. Vivian, a Civil Rights leader from Macomb. This resulted in the creation of a five-movement suite called "Portraits of Peace" that portrays the life and work of C.T. Vivian. The piece was composed for WIU School of Music faculty members, Assistant Professor Alfonzo Cooper Jr., C.T. Vivian diversity teaching scholar in Vocal Performance and Linda Andrews, instructor of Organ.
Willis is an accomplished composer, having created 16 operatic works, extensive choral pieces including anthems, spirituals (both solo and SATB), cantatas and masses. She has also authored nine plays, nine books and several Afrocentric historical narratives. Notably, she re-enacted C.T. Vivian's encounter with Sheriff Jim Clark on the Courthouse steps of Selma, AL, for Vivian's 94th Birthday Celebration.
Previously, Willis served as the Music Department Chair at Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College before retiring. Currently, she serves as the Sanctuary Choir Director at Hoosier Memorial U.M.C. Willis has received various honors and awards, including the Distinguished Composer by the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM), Inc., the Kuumba Award of Arts and Letters presented by Delta Sigma Theta, the Atlanta Music Legends Award by The Atlanta African-American Music Society, the Spiritual Enlightenment Award – Trumpet Awards (2019), Composer of the Year, National Pen Women and the Samuel Johnson Distinguished Music Educator's Award in 2017. She has also received numerous commissions, including from the American Guild of Organists, the Georgia Music Teachers Association and Central State University. Willis holds a doctorate degree of Musical Arts degree from the University of Georgia, a master's degree in Church Music from Scarritt Graduate School, a master's degree in Music from Georgia State University and a bachelor's degree from Clark College.
Additional organ repertoire performed on the concert will include two works by Florence Price, "Retrospection" and "Adoration," Willis' own "Ascension Suite," Joel Raney's duet for piano and organ based on "Kum Ba Yah," with pianist Gayle Cooper, and solos for tenor voice by Margaret Bonds and Damien Sneed. Concluding the program will be the congregational hymn, "When Peace Like a River." There will be a reception following the program at the church.
This performance is open free to the public.
For more information, call the COFAC Recital Hall office at (309) 298-1843 or visit wiu.edu/recitalhall.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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