So, when members of the 91����Ƶ Chamber Singers and orchestra strings got the chance to perform with noted artist Hezekiah Walker on Sunday, the experience is one they will likely never forget.

The Grammy Award-winning singer, whose in Richmond hosted the event, led both 91����Ƶ and VUU choirs as vocalist for the song “I Need You to Survive.”

Walker said on Thursday he was still fielding phone calls from people who were disappointed to miss the show. 

“It was a major success,” he said. “People are still talking about it.”

For Jacob Nissley, a Chamber Singers tenor studying music education, watching Walker sing brought back memories. He was reminded of his time in Canton, Ohio, singing gospel hymns at the Baptist church down the street from his home church.

“That guy can sing,” Nissley said about Walker. “He can belt out all the notes.”

Soprano Reah Clymer, of Collinsville, Mississippi, also remarked on the experience.

“He was incredible,” she said. “It was great to work with him.”

Their song together served as the finale for a concert lasting more than three hours that featured prominent gospel artists Crystal Aikin, Jermaine Dolly and Group Fire. A live recording of the show will be submitted for consideration in the Grammy Awards’ special event category. 

Not only was this the first time VUU has recorded a live performance, but also the first time Walker has performed with the choir for its homecoming gospel concert. He said he intends to shine a light on the two talented choirs. 

“I felt like the world needs to hear what comes out of Virginia,” he said. 

Walker added that as he watched the Chamber Singers during the concert, it was clear that they were well-prepared.

“I was amazed by the looks on their faces,” he said. “They knew the words, they knew the lyrics.”

Using music to connect

As a student majoring in music and peacebuilding, Clymer said she’s learned to use music as a form of connection across differences and cultures.

While 91����Ƶ and VUU are both faith-based liberal arts institutions with strong music programs, the two schools have contrasting racial demographics and musical heritages. 

91����Ƶ has a mostly white student body and VUU is a historically Black university. Traditionally, Mennonites sing in four-part harmony and don’t dance or move around as much when they perform, Clymer said.

But, as the choirs sang “I Need You to Survive,” rows of them linked arms and swayed back and forth. 

“It was a cool breaking of that barrier to wrap our arms around each other and move a bit during that song,” Clymer said. “It’s a song about coming together, so it was a good tangible manifestation of that.”

That scene also left a powerful impression on Nissley.

“It was just a really good experience on stage, just being able to look at each other and sing the words to each other,” he said. 

Walker said the 91����Ƶ singers and musicians were invited to build unity. He emphasized the importance of collaboration across different cultures and races.

“There are groups that are fighting, there are backgrounds that are fighting, but then there’s another group of people,” he said. “We come from different backgrounds but we’re not fighting, we’re loving on each other.”

Clymer said one of her favorite memories from the trip was seeing Chamber Singers Director Benjamin Bergey and VUU Gospel Choir Director Joel Lester hug at the end of their performance together.

“Just to see them embracing each other like brothers, that image is imprinted in my mind,” she said. “That was a really sweet moment.”

A partnership in peace

Plans for the event came together last year when a board member of VUU and the Commonwealth Alliance of Rural Colleges — of which 91����Ƶ is a member — approached the 91����Ƶ and VUU presidents and proposed the idea of a joint music concert.  

Bergey said the 18-student choir received its invitation about a month prior and worked quickly to prepare for the show. He wrote the orchestra part for their nine strings musicians. And the 91����Ƶ and VUU ensembles rehearsed their song together just before the start of the concert on Sunday. 

Those in attendance included President Susan Schultz Huxman; Executive Advisor Amy Springer Hartsell; Dan Ott, dean of the School of Theology, Humanities and Performing Arts; Shannon Dycus, vice president of student affairs and dean of students; Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed; and Music Program Director David Berry.

Huxman has said details are being worked out for 91����Ƶ to host the VUU Gospel Choir in Harrisonburg next year for a concert.

Clymer welcomed the continued partnership between the schools.

“It would be really cool to see some of the same people again and to bring something like that to Harrisonburg,” she said. “It would be a real gift to the community here.”

The recording is part of the historically black university’s Homecoming Gospel Concert, held at 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 15, at United Nations Church, 214 Cowardin Ave., Richmond.

It will feature a special guest appearance from Grammy Award-winning gospel artist Bishop Hezekiah Walker, as well as performances from other prominent gospel musicians.

Walker, known for songs such as “Every Praise,” “God Favored Me” and “I Need You to Survive,” established the Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music at Virginia Union University in 2021. Its programs include Gospel Heritage; Song Writing, Publishing and Licensing; and Business of Gospel Music.

“Hezekiah Walker is as prominent an artist in gospel music as anyone you could imagine in any other field, like Michael Jordan in basketball or Taylor Swift in pop music,” said 91����Ƶ Music Program Director David Berry.

“It’s a pretty big concert,” said Chamber Singers Director Benjamin Bergey. “A lot of really great musicians and a lot of great music.”

“And then, at the end is this culmination-collaboration in sort of a ‘We Are the World’ feel,” added Bergey, referencing the 1985 multi-platinum hit featuring Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder, among others.

Michele Clay, director of the Hezekiah Walker Center, remarked on the significance of the event.

“This is the first time that the VUU Gospel Choir is doing a live recording,” she said. “This is VUU history!”

President Susan Schultz Huxman said details are being worked out for 91����Ƶ to host the VUU Gospel Choir in Harrisonburg next year for a concert.

“It will be exciting,” she said. “We’d love to make this a regular faith-inspired, peace and justice musical partnership!”

Plans came together last year when a board member of VUU and the Commonwealth Alliance of Rural Colleges — of which 91����Ƶ is a member — approached Huxman and VUU President and CEO Dr. Hakim J. Lucas and proposed the idea of a joint music concert.

Huxman said the schools share many similarities. Both schools are faith-inspired private universities with excellent music programs, both have seminaries central to their identities and both value peace, justice and diversity.

“Like VUU, 91����Ƶ is all about opening doors, removing barriers and creating cultures where students can feel they belong and they can become their authentic selves and find their calling,” Huxman said.

But the partnership also recognizes their differences, she added.

“We celebrate what the coming together of these two schools can yield: VUU is an HBCU; 91����Ƶ is a PWI [predominantly white institution]. VUU is in an urban part of the state; 91����Ƶ is located in a rural part of the state. VUU brings the musical heritage of a gospel choir; 91����Ƶ brings a musical heritage of hymns sung in four-part harmony.”

“I Need You to Survive,” which will be the one song featuring the 91����Ƶ Chamber Singers and orchestra strings, is just one of many recorded on Sunday. Huxman said event organizers wish to submit a recording of the entire concert for a Grammy Award.

Chamber Singers is an auditioned touring chamber choir founded in 1979. The mixed-voice choir is made up of more than 15 91����Ƶ students of different majors and ages. The ensemble tours in the U.S. each spring break and abroad every other May.

Virginia Union University is a premier liberal arts institution and publicly serving HBCU with recognition as a private institution through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Founded in 1865, Virginia Union University was originally established to give newly emancipated slaves an opportunity for education and advancement. Today, the university is a center for excellence focusing on preparing and developing today’s students to become advanced leaders of tomorrow.