Rsing young mezzo-soprano Ruth Crumley-Perry will perform in concert with the CSO Gospel Choir during Piccolo Spoleto.The concert is May 25 at 5 p.m. at Mount Zion AME Church, 5 Glebe Street, downtown Charleston.It’s free.
Ms. Crumley-Perry will perform a selection of classical, gospel and spirituals, and selections from the American song book including works by Saint-Saens, Mozart, Menotti, Kern and Hammerstein and will conclude with a performance of “Amazing Grace” sung in Swahili.
The 29 year old South Carolina resident notes, “As a vocalist, I strive to expand my repertoire, search new venues and experience new cultures. It is my goal to connect a community through music just as I was connected to a larger world through my own past.”
Ms. Crumley-Perry was born Lega Biku Busio (translation: “we do not know what is ahead”) in 1978 in a small village in Zaire, known today as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Five days later during massive rainstorms, flash floods took her mother’s life while she was crossing a river.
She fell ill. Her father, who was struggling to take care of her, heard that an American missionary family would be passing through a nearby village. The missionaries took the sick 5-week-old baby back to Kenya to receive medical attention. They named her Ruth and when she was 10, her American parents brought her to the United States. Ruth participated in choir and orchestra at Oakland Elementary School in Royal Oak, Mich., and went on to study music at Bob Jones University.
She has studied with opera singer Jerome Hines and vocal coach Eugene Bossart. In 2002, she joined the Brazile Dennard Chorale. She performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and CSO Gospel Choir in January at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Concert at Gaillard Auditorium.
The CSO Gospel Choir will also perform “Homecoming: Rediscovering Roots” as part of Piccolo Spoleto Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24 at Citadel Square Baptist Church. Tickets $10 at www.piccolospoleto.com or at the door 1 hour before concert time.
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