Join us for a special and deeply moving service/concert on
Good Friday, April 7th at 6:45 pm in the Edythe Bates Old Chapel at Festival Hill.
We welcome an extraordinary group of singers and musicians including
Pianist and Conductor Philip Hall, as well as
All-Star Vocalists Barbara Johnson Tucker, Joan Hubert, and April Hubert.
Don’t miss this extraordinary evening brought to us by: THE SAINT CECILIA’S SERIES.
PHLLIP HALL:
Phillip Hall is a proud product of the Roosevelt (NY) public school system. His parental, spiritual and educational nurturing has allowed him to utilize his musical gifts to impact thousands in Houston-area schools, churches and theatres.
Some of his earliest mentors include Mr. and Mrs. Durrell Blank, Dr. Stanley Ralph, Mr. Hillary Hatchett and Ms. Gerri Kaplan, music educators in Roosevelt who honed his skills as a pianist. Phillip began serving in churches at the age of 12 when he became organist for the Union Baptist Church (Hempstead, NY) Youth for Christ Choir. Upon graduating from high school, he relocated to Houston to attend Rice University. He united with the St. John (Dowling) Baptist Church where he worked with Dr. Jacqueline D. Chambers. Phillip has also served at Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and St. Luke the Evangelist Episcopal Church. He was an also an accompanist for the Houston Post Office Chorale and Barbara Tucker and A Chosen Few.
Phillip has performed with Aretha Franklin, Liza Minnelli, Delfeayo Marsalis and for Presidents George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton. He frequently served as an accompanist for the late Glenn Burleigh, who composed the gospel favorite, Order My Steps. Phillip has served as musical director for Ain’t Misbehavin’ on elevenoccasions, most recently at The Depot Theatre in Westport, New York. In 2008, he traveled to South Africa to accompany a choir of students assembled to commemorate Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday. Phillip has also lent his talents to Every Child Counts, a school providing services for Bahamian children with special needs. He has also traveled to Japan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the International Trade School.
Currently, Phillip is the director of Music Doing Good in Service, a non-profit program dedicated to using music to reach the whole child. In this capacity, he provides piano accompaniment for ensembles and individual students participating in UIL competition. He is also the founder/artistic director of The Phillip Hall Singers, an amazing chorale which performs varied repertoire. (www.thephilliphallsingers.net).
JOAN HUBERT:
Joan Holbert Hubert was born and reared in Waco, Texas, and is married to her childhood sweetheart, Alvin W. Hubert. She began piano lessons at five years of age, and later (in high school) sang in the H. T. Burleigh Concert Choir under Mrs. Henrietta Miller Yancy’s direction. She was crowned Miss Texas Teen Talent of 1964. Joan entered Prairie View A&M University and received her Bachelor and Master of Arts Degrees. She later received Certification in Elementary Education with joint studies at Prairie View and at the University of Houston – Clear Lake.
Joan taught choral music in Bellmead, Texas, for three years, then moved to Houston and taught in the La Marque Independent School District for twenty years. She was the Choral Music Director at Kashmere Magnet High School of Music and Fine Arts in Houston, from which she retired in May of 2005. Joan sang with the Houston Grand Opera Chorus for 19 years, and with international performances including England, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, and in numerous cities in the U. S. She was often a guest soloist on the S.S. Norway with the Fred Sample Jazz Combo.
She is a Charter Member of Houston Ebony Opera Guild Chorus. She served as soprano soloist for Central Presbyterian Church, and Trinity Episcopal Church’s Jazz Service. She was often a clinician and soloist at many churches in Texas and across America. She served as Minister of Music at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in the historic Fourth Ward for four years. She serves as the Artistic Director/Conductor of the Spirit of Sankofa Chorale, the Chairperson of the Southeast Texas Middle Passage Committee, and the Redland Community Ancestry Community. She is the Advisor for the Biloxi, Mississippi and Port Arthur, Texas Middle Passage Port Marker Projects. She retired from Education again after serving as an Adjunct Professor of Music at Texas Southern University.
Joan loves to sing for The LORD, and gives all of the praise and glory to CHRIST for HIS loving kindness to HIS people.
APRIL HUBERT-SLOAN:
April Sloan-Hubert grew up in Galena Park, Texas, in a house filled with all genres of music seven days a week. The youngest of five children, she was blessed with her Grandmother’s and Mother’s gift of song.
After graduating from Galena Park High School, April matriculated to Texas Southern University where she would become a student of the world renowned Ruth Stewart and a member of the University Opera Workshop and Concert Choir. After graduating from TSU, April began her teaching career in HISD. She later joined the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, became a main stage artist at the Ensemble Theatre and is currently the Lead vocalist and Director of the Trinity Jazz Ensemble at Trinity Episcopal Church in Midtown. She is a published author for Curriculum and Instruction, University of Houston and post Graduate studies at Rice University with a certification in AP Art History.
She has been the guest soloist for the Democratic National Party singing for the late Governor Mark White, former Virginia Governor, Chuck Robb, then Governor Bill Clinton, and the Dalai Lama. April has also been blessed to perform with such artists as Yolanda Adams, Rev. James Cleveland, Kirk Whalum, Patti Labelle, Kurt Carr, V. Michael McKay, Donnie McClurkin and Kirk Franklin.
In her own words, “I owe all that I am and all that I have to God, and to my Mother and Grandmother for raising me in the church and instilling in me the love of God and song.”
BARBARA JOHNSON TUCKER:
Soprano Barbara Johnson Tucker has a long history of excellence in and out of her home town of Houston, Texas.
She is a popular Gospel soloist, a favored, capable Anthem singer (Sang for Houston Oilers 14 yrs), and a featured Christian concert artist worldwide, having performed at Carnegie Recital Hall, NYC; The Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, Washington, D.C.; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Wesley’s Chapel, London, England; the deck of the USS Arizona Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii; Manger Square, Bethlehem, Israel. She has toured throughout Russia, Poland, & The Czech Republic; in many churches, schools and halls in the U. S.; and performed on Broadway in The Great White Hope which starred James Earl Jones.
She has thirteen self-produced recordings including her last two: Cherished and Look To The Blood, and is the original artist of the popular Glenn Burleigh favorite, Order My Steps. On DVD, her lecture, A Glimpse Of History, is a 35-Minute chronology of African-American music contributions (A must for every school library!). And this past Christmas, she co-produced a Christmas single, Drummer Boy, with her church as, Pleasant Hill Music Ministries. (Most recordings are available at Amazon.com)
