The Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University (CHC) is sponsoring a musical concert entitled “Down by the Riverside: Celebrating Ancestries, Lives and Legacies” with an evening of songs beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3 in Magale Recital Hall. The NSU Creole Heritage Center, NSU Jazz Orchestra and the School of Creative and Performance Arts are hosting this event. Proceeds will go to support the Dr. Terrel A. Delphin, Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund.

The concert will feature The New Orleans Black Chorale, Inc. directed by Dr. John E. Ware and accompanied by pianist Dr. Wilfred Delphin. Ware is a professor of music at Xavier University where he teaches voice, conducting, vocal diction, vocal literature and pedagogy and is the conductor of the Xavier Concert Choir and University Chorus. Professor Dennis Montgomery III, Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts will be the guest organist for this event. Montgomery is a pianist, organist and professor and has been the director of the Music Reverence Gospel Ensemble for nearly 30 years.

The New Orleans Black Chorale specializes in performing music by African American composers and is especially dedicated to the preservation and performance of the American Negro Spiritual. The New Orleans Black Chorale grew out of an ensemble that sang with the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony when it presented the first “Symphony in Black” in 1980, a concert that highlighted the contributions of black artists to the cultural wealth of New Orleans.

Originally under the direction of the late Edwin B. Hogan, the Chorale was comprised of soloists, people from organized church choirs, college choirs and others with an interest in preserving American Negro Spirituals. Throughout its history the Chorale has not only given the New Orleans community access to music not usually heard, but has also provided scholarships to music students at Xavier, Dillard and Southern Universities.

Tickets to the concert at NSU are $20 per person or $35 per couple. Students with ID will be admitted for $10. Group rates for 20 or more is available. Sponsorships are also available at the $500, $250 and $100 levels.

“We are more than fortunate to have artistry and talent of this extraordinary quality coming to Natchitoches and performing in the Magale Recital Hall at Northwestern State University,” said Loletta Wynder, director of the Creole Heritage Center.

Wynder is seeking support from local patrons of the arts, businesses, and the community for the event. For more information on the concert, to purchase tickets or for sponsorship information, contact Wynder at (318) 357-6685 or email wynderl@nsula.edu.

For information on the New Orleans Black Chorale and to hear performed selections, visit neworleansblackchorale.com. For information on the Creole Heritage Center visit creole.nsula.edu.