Celebrating Diversity with Heart and Soul!

Every week, professional musicians, students, teachers, businesspeople, nurses, homemakers–you name it–gather. Greeting each other affectionately (this is a family after all), choir members swap news while they await late arrivals. Finally, a hush falls…and the choir bursts into soul-shaking three-part harmony, bass guitar growling, piano and percussion punctuating the phrasing. In this as in every rehearsal, the singers are transported to a realm of heart and praise, spirit and rhythm–a realm that listeners share whenever the choir performs.

Unity in Diversity

The Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir gathers singers of various musical experience, ethnic backgrounds, and ages to celebrate music and spirituality through the rich tradition of African American religious music. For some, the choir is a first foray into gospel singing. For others, this music is a way of life.

The choir’s heart and harmonies invariably bring audiences to their feet in auditoriums, churches, schools, prisons, conferences, and festivals. Singular in its diversity and the power of its expression, in praise ranging from inspirational spirituals to rocking contemporary gospel tunes, the choir fills its members and listeners alike with gladness and gratitude.

Our Mission

The Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir, through its soulful interpretation of the African-American gospel music tradition, moves audiences spiritually and creates community across racial, cultural, and economic boundaries.

We strive to perform to the highest musical standards, preserving and educating about traditional forms while exploring new musical avenues with African American gospel music.

We celebrate a love of gospel music, and seek to model community and reconciliation.

The Vision

Just four months after its first rehearsal in early 1990, this community-based, multi-cultural choir swept the competition to win first place in the prestigious Amateur Talent Contest at the Minnesota State Fair. Amateur no more, the choir returned to the State Fair a year later to present 13 concerts–and completed its first professional studio recording that same summer. Since then, the choir has thrilled audiences at hundreds of events in venues as varied as the Historic State Theater, the Orpheum, Central Baptist Church in St. Paul, the Ordway Theater, Red Wing Correctional Facility, People Serving People 410 Homeless Shelter, the Governor’s Mansion, St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, and the Minneapolis Metrodome.
Since its inception, the choir has maintained its commitment to be a community resource. In recent years it has received substantial support from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the U.S. West Foundation, and the St. Paul Foundation’s African American Community Endowment Fund to bring its music and message to prisons, homeless shelters, and inner-city and rural communities.

We seek to be:

• a grassroots musical resource to the entire community through high quality regular public concerts and participatory programs in community venues,
• an access point for learning about the African-American gospel tradition, and
• a leader in the Upper Midwest in attracting and supporting singers, gospel musicians, regional and national talent.

The award-winning Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir is available for concert and event presentations throughout the year.