{"id":77239,"date":"2025-12-01T21:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/77239\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T21:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:33:07","slug":"oakland-interfaith-choir-celebrates-huge-milestone-with-busy-december-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/77239\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Interfaith Choir celebrates huge milestone with busy December"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0number 40 recurs again and again<\/a>\u00a0and again in the Bible, often marking periods of trial and tribulation. Noah and his floating menagerie survived 40 days and nights of exterminating rain. Moses led the Israelites through the desert for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land, and Jesus endured 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness.<\/p>\n

For the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, 40 is a reason to celebrate. Under the leadership of\u00a0Terrance Kelly<\/a>, the OIGC has grown<\/a> and thrived while serving as the tribune of good tidings, not to mention gorgeous gospel music, for civic events and festivities throughout the region.<\/p>\n

As the organization concludes four decades of glorious service, the extended OIGC family gathers at Oakland\u2019s Paramount Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 6, for a 40th Anniversary Concert, an event that Kelly predicts will be \u201ccomplete shenanigans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just about every facet of the OIGC family will be represented, including contingents from the Youth Choir and the 200-strong Community Choir. Some 60 members of the OIGC will be on stage with numerous special guests joining the festivities, including the powerhouse Rev. Reginald Finley and Artemis Lee, who won first place in Beebe Memorial Cathedral\u2019s gospel contest last September.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll also be joined again by Miss Jackie Tolbert, a Katrina survivor who resettled in the East Bay and who\u2019s got that Southern you-can\u2019t-stop-me style,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

The OIGC reprises the celebration a few weeks later on Sunday, Dec. 21 at the 17th Annual\u00a0South Bay Holiday Gospel Concert\u00a0at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts. And on Dec. 24 the OIGC presents two\u00a036th\u00a0Christmas Eve Concerts\u00a0at the Great American Music Hall. With dynamic ASL interpretation by Half-N-Half, aka Sherry Hicks and Michael Velez, OIGC is known for putting on shows that pop with energy.<\/p>\n

December is the time of year that the OIGC kicks into high gear, with lots of events that don\u2019t get a numerical designation. On Friday, Dec. 5, a contingent from the OIGC Youth Program performs at the tree lighting ceremony at Emeryville\u2019s Bay Street. And on Wednesday, Dec. 10, the OIGC joins Gov. Gavin Newsom at the 94th Annual California State Capitol Tree Lighting in the State Capitol Rotunda.<\/p>\n

At performances large and small Kelly runs the show musically, but he\u2019s very mindful of audience expectations. He learned the hard way about keeping his listeners satisfied when he neglected to program a standard hymn at one of the Paramount performances several years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn old lady met me at the door of the dressing room and I thought she was going to tell me how much she enjoyed the concert,\u201d he recalled. \u201cBut she said, \u2018I came all the way from\u2019 wherever it was, \u2018and you didn\u2019t sing \u2018O Holy Night.\u2019 She wasn\u2019t going home without that song, and she made me and seven members stand there and sing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s made sure to program \u201cO Holy Night\u201d ever since, along with \u201cJoy to the World\u201d and \u201cEmmanuel,\u201d a gospel standard \u201cthat the African Americans come for,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cIn my church family, \u2018Emmanuel\u2019 and \u2018O Holy Night\u2019 start their holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1986, the OIGC was conceived by Stacey Hoffman in her first years as executive director of Jazz Camp West. Sizing up the popularity of the summer program\u2019s gospel choir she suggested that Kelly create a year-round ensemble. The innovation was that people of all (or no) faiths were welcome.<\/p>\n

In those early years the group drew attention as much for its racial composition as its musical prowess. Rolling into Black congregations with a gospel choir featuring a preponderance of non-Black singers meant that the group had to feel the spirit. Kelly made sure the singers mastered the details of the arrangements.<\/p>\n

While it quickly became too big to travel much outside the Bay Area the group earned widespread renown via a series of acclaimed recordings. Contributing to a diverse array of Grammy Award-winning albums like Linda Ronstadt\u2019s \u201cCry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind,\u201d MC Hammer\u2019s \u201cToo Legit to Quit,\u201d and Tramaine Hawkins\u2019 \u201cLive\u201d put the OIGC on the international map.<\/p>\n

Whatever its reputation, the OIGC is still subject to the vicissitudes of other arts organizations. In recent months the choir has lost about $165,000 in federal funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve muddled through,\u201d said OICG Executive Director Maren Amdal. \u201cThere\u2019s been a big retrenchment, going from seven to four full-time staff, to make sure we can maintain our programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when so many forces are working to divide Americans from each other, the OIGC offers an object lesson in the power of communal creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come together with 23 different faiths, Christians, various forms of Buddhism and Judaism, to sing Black gospel music, to show the world what can be done if people agree to give up a little bit of themselves,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cOur intent is to cause world peace. We want everyone to be lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Andrew Gilbert at\u00a0jazzscribe@aol.com.<\/p>\n

OAKLAND INTERFAITH GOSPEL CHOIR<\/p>\n

40th Anniversary Holiday Concert: 7 p.m. Saturday Dec. 5 at Paramount Theatre, Oakland; $24.25-$104.15; www.oigc.org<\/a><\/p>\n

17th Annual South Bay Holiday Gospel Concert:\u00a06:30 p.m. Dec. 21, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts; $43-$60; tickets.mvcpa.com<\/a><\/p>\n

36th annual Christmas Eve Concerts: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 24, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco; $28.25; www.oigc.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0number 40 recurs again and again\u00a0and again in the Bible, often marking periods of trial and tribulation. Noah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[967,1040,181,971,330,143,145,144,1058,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-77239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-holiday","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-lifestyle","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-oakland","14":"tag-oakland-headlines","15":"tag-oakland-news","16":"tag-theater","17":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}