Gospel According to Campus Choir

LA JOLLA —  As unlikely as it may seem, the sounds of religious fervor are sweeping the quiet academic grove of UC San Diego. Since mid-October, the knock-em-dead revival choruses in the sleek La Jolla Playhouse production of “Elmer Gantry” have filled the high rafters of the campus’ Mandell Weiss Theatre with hallelujahs. Tuesday night, on the other side of the campus, adding to the fervor, the UCSD Gospel Choir turned the usually sedate Mandeville Auditorium audiences into a clapping, singing congregation.

Each venue, however, teaches its own lesson.

In the stage musical “Elmer Gantry,” the power of music to move people is abused by an unscrupulous evangelist, and the saga ends in tragedy. But the UCSD Gospel Choir under resident director Ken Anderson redeemed music’s tarnished soul. On the faces of the singers (students from a spectrum of racial and ethnic tribes), music’s power to disclose a common humanity while praising the Divine registered with unmistakable conviction.

Though Anderson managed to squeeze more than 300 members of his Gospel Choir onto the Mandeville stage, he noted that the popular university choral group numbers between 850 and 900.

Anderson is such a confident pedagogue that he taught the audience the refrain of the final anthem “Oh Lord, We Praise” in all four voice parts so they could join the Gospel Choir in its performance. And it worked.

The evening’s musical fare, 13 songs written in an uncomplicated contemporary gospel style, ranged from ecstatic, foot-stomping numbers to quiet ballads. The rousing “Jesus Has Been So Good to Me” packed an authentic Pentecostal punch, and, even after the choir and soloist had finished, the instrumentalists--with Anderson at the piano--extended the piece into a jazzy coda. At the other end of the emotional spectrum, assistant director George Callahan took the vocal solo in “The Power of the Holy Spirit” and coaxed some holy horsepower out of its gentle ballad structure.

Anderson’s earnest choristers displayed skillful training and the sweet, fresh sound one expects from collegiate voices. This choir did not have the rich color and textual inflection unique to the choirs of African-American storefront churches, but, as Anderson pointed out, most of his singers are approaching this style of singing for the first time. Their zeal and high spirits proved ample compensation.

The two-hour program included a few trappings from worship services, including Scripture readings and short, gentle homilies from Anderson between choral numbers. His versatility was remarkable, usually conducting the choir from a small electronic piano next to the podium. But he also provided elaborate accompaniments on both acoustic and electronic keyboards when he turned over the conducting duties to Callahan. (Earlier this month on the same stage, Anderson demonstrated his own vocal prowess, singing one of the lead roles in Virgil Thomson’s opera “The Mother of Us All.”)

The phenomenon of the UCSD Gospel Choir demonstrates the migration of a rich musical tradition from its isolation and ardent cultivation in the African-American community to a wider audience and more diverse community of singers. It is a gift worthy of genuine Thanksgiving.