25th Anniversary of Southern Folk Passion

A creation of Steven Darsey and the late Reverend Fred Craddock, Southern Folk Passion features hymns from The Sacred Harp, compiled in Georgia in 1844, one of many tunebooks produced by singing masters travelling the 19th century rural south. These masters found and notated unrecorded tunes and texts frontier people were singing, thus preserving important hymns like “Wondrous Love” and “Bound for the Promised Land.” Of such hymns, Reverend Craddock said, “folk will recognize this music who have never heard it before.” Darsey says that “among the reasons shape-note “folk hymns” strike so deeply into our hearts is that their texts and tunes are built on philosophical and musical principles that are as old as thought and singing themselves. Thus, through singing and listening to these tunes, we—with ears to hear—experience the wisdom of the ages.” It is said that the only book more commonly found in 19th century southern homes than The Sacred Harp was the Bible.

This year’s Southern Folk Passion will be held on April 14, 2019 at 4 p.m. at the historic Church at Ponce and Highland (formerly Druid Hills Baptist Church), 1085 Ponce De Leon Avenue. It will feature the Meridian Chorale, conductor Steven Darsey, Timothy Miller and renowned actress Brenda Bynum.

The Meridian Chorale, which includes some of the country’s finest professional singers, hews to the traditions of the late Maestro Robert Shaw. Darsey holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music at Yale and studied musicology with Peter le Huray at Cambridge and conducting with Helmuth Rilling at Stuttgart. He has conducted numerous performances and prepared choruses for Sir David Willcocks and Robert Shaw. Darsey’s research into vernacular art music led him to set folk hymns from The Sacred Harp into the Passion narrative, modelling Southern Folk Passion in this respect after J.S. Bach’s passion settings. Meridian Herald is a winner of the Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities.

In Southern Folk Passion, Brenda Bynum reads from the Gospel of Mark. Ms. Bynum is a winner of the 2015 Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities. Known for her dramatic readings of Flannery O’Connor’s letters, her devotion to Samuel Beckett and her portrayal of Violet Weston in August: Osage County, she has been involved in numerous productions at the Alliance Theatre, Academy Theatre, Callanwolde Fine Arts Theatre, Theatre Emory, Imaginary Theatre, Seven Stages, Push Push Theatre, Actor’s Express, and Southeastern Playwright Project, among others. A professor of theatre at Emory University for 18 years, each year Emory University presents the “Brenda Bynum Award” to an outstanding drama student. In Southern Folk Passion, Ms. Bynum reads from the Gospel of Mark.

The partnership between Steven Darsey and Reverend Craddock produced two works: Southern Folk Passion and Southern Folk Advent, both of which have been produced yearly for a quarter of a century. Reverend Craddock, who died in 2015, was the Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament Emeritus in the Candler School of Theology. Founder of the Craddock Center which serves underprivileged Georgia children, Reverend Craddock was ranked by Newsweek as one of the twelve most influential preachers in America. Meridian Herald’s Folk Advent will be produced at the Old Church at Emory at Oxford on December 7th at 2 PM and at The Church at Ponce and Highland on December 8th at 7:30 PM. and will feature Leah Calvert and her bluegrass band.

About the Meridian Chorale’s work, one attendee wrote “…I am overcome. The music is still playing in my mind… Thank you for an evening that will stay in my heart… What an extraordinary experience, enlarging my world in unexpected ways.” Another wrote: “The Chorale’s beautiful and powerful performances are so special and unusual that I would like to have everyone I know experience their music. I wish all of you the best in the future, and I eagerly await hearing about Meridian Herald’s success in the choral music world.”