The first-ever choir festival at the Baha’i House of Worship for the North American Continent is to take place at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 27, in Wilmette, Ill.
Van Gilmer, director of music at the Baha’i House of Worship
for the North American ContinentThe festival is the largest gathering of singers ever to perform at the House of Worship.
Approximately 200 singers from throughout the country and Canada will sing a capella under the award-winning direction of Van Gilmer, director of music at the Baha’i House of Worship.
All are welcome to attend the performance, which is part of the regular devotional program in the temple’s auditorium.
Festival participants began assembling at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference CenterChicago North Shore in Skokie, Ill., on Thursday and started rehearsing on Friday. The singers will be practicing up until the Sunday event. Song selections include classical and gospel compositions.
Mr. Gilmer won “Best Gospel Song” for “My God, My Adored One” in the 2006 Independent Music Awards. His composition, whose lyrics come from a Baha’i prayer, is on the Boston Praise Collective’s CD, “From Exile to Exaltation.”
Before coming to the Baha’i House of Worship, Mr. Gilmer directed the Baha’i Gospel Singers, the Metropolitan Washington Baha’i Chorale in Washington, D.C., and the 100-voice Baha’i Gospel Choir, which toured Europe in 2004.