Westend Gospel Singers in Concert at Glenview Community Church on Sunday, Sept 28

The Simple Gifts Concert Series of the Glenview Community Church presents Westend Gospel Singers from Eberswalde, Germany on Sunday, September 28 at 4:00pm. The Westend Gospel Singers began as a community choir at the Evangelical Church of Peace in Eberwalde, Germany in 1996 when Pastor Hanns-Peter Giering and his wife, Karin, put an ad in the local paper asking “Who wants to sing Gospel music with us?” The choir seeks to recreate the joy of Black American Gospel music and encourages everyone to sing along. For many members this is their first choir experience. Many classical composers came from Germany: Bach, Handel, Mozart, Hadyn. But in recent years gospel music has greatly enriched the music of the national church. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor in a church in this part of Germany and, returning from his visits to America, brought records of gospel music back along with him. Germans became familiar with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., renowned for his struggle for justice and martyr’s death. Mahalia Jackson, the Golden Gate Quartet, and others, brought gospel music to a wider audience through their European tours. Gospel choirs began to develop in congregations all over Germany.

The Westend Gospel Singers were hosts for the annual Berlin-Brandenburg gospel choir meetings in 1997, 1999 and 2002, bringing together hundreds of singers. For the choir’s 10th Anniversary in 2006, they recorded CDs, arranged concerts and workshops, and did a concert tour in the United States. During this 2006 tour they had the opportunity to sing in congregations of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ and their choir, the Gospellers, with Robert Robinson. In 2008 and 2012 the Westend Gospel Singers welcomed The Gospellers to Germany for their tour through Brandenburg, Berlin, and Poland.

Now the choir returns to the United States for their third tour. The 35 member choir will tour Wisconsin UCC churches from September 15 – 25, finishing their tour with singing engagements at Trinity UCC in Chicago and The Glenview Community Church on Sunday, September 28th. The tour is a joint ministry of the Wisconsin Conference, United Church of Christ, and the German Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Schlesische-Oberlausitz.

Directed by Hanns-Peter Giering, The Westend Singers will present an exciting program including arrangements by Robert Robinson and Robert Ray, with a cameo appearance by GCC’s Chancel Choir. A free will offering will be taken

Glenview Community Church is located at 1000 Elm Street (at Glenview Road). The building is handicap accessible and has onsite parking. It is 3 blocks west of the Glenview Metra North train station.

Visit www.gccmusic.org or call 847 724 2210 for further details.