About MCGC
Opening hearts.
Taking Chances.
Witnessing the Spirit.
Since 1994
The Montpelier Community Gospel Choir debuted in 1994 under the direction of the late Rev. Fred Shapiro and the late Andy Shapiro. From its beginnings as a loose-knit group of about 20 people, the choir has since grown to over 60 members.
In 2022, John Harrison retired after 26 years of leadership and was named Artistic Director Emeritus. We are indebted to him for his years of service, commitment, and legacy.
For the 2022-2023 Season, MCGC welcomed its second Artistic Director, Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson, who will continue on the legacy and mission of the choir as its Executive Director.
In addition to our main concerts twice a year, we sing for benefits, church services, prisons, nursing homes, and memorial services, but the heart of what we do happens at our Monday evening rehearsals. It’s there that we share with each other, open our hearts, take chances, and witness the movement of the spirit. When all of that carries over into our concerts, we are all blessed.
Over the years we have performed under the Gospel Tent at the Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, Vermont; at Montpelier’s First Night New Year’s Eve celebration; and at the Farmer’s Night concert series at the Vermont State House. We have been privileged with the opportunity to sing with Tammy Fletcher, Vermont’s homegrown blues great, and with gospel legend Fontella Bass and jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie.
Sharing the Hope, Joy, and Inspiration of African-American Gospel Music. Love in Harmony!
Our Mission:
We come together in harmony and with reverence for the tradition of African-American Gospel music — its artistry, history, strength, and resilience. We see the power of music to inspire and manifest love and connect to the divine in all of us. Our choir is a community that heals by lifting the human spirit.
Our Vision:
Why are there so many white people in a gospel choir?
We are a multiracial choir singing African-American Gospel music. We have a deep love and respect for Black Gospel music because it is incredibly powerful, joyful, painful, real and emotional. We believe it is the foundation of much of what is great in American music, and are honored to bring this true American art form to the Vermont community. We strive to be respectful and intentional in publicly acknowledging the rich and historic African-American origins of this music and its creators. We are also passionate about offering and supporting anti-racism opportunities in our community. Please be in touch if you have any suggestions for us and to share your thoughts about how to build an anti-racist, multicultural community.
Artistic Team and Staff
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In the 2022-2023 Season, MCGC welcomed its second Artistic Director, Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson (he/they), who will continue on the legacy and mission of the choir as its Executive Director.
Rev. Verdis is a Unitarian Universalist minister who holds degrees in Vocal Performance from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, in History from SUNY Brockport College, and African-American Studies from SUNY University at Buffalo.
Rev. Verdis recently graduated with a Master of Divinity from the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago where he was the Lenora Montgomery Scholar of Excellence.
Rev. Verdis was a confirmed local minister in the African American Holiness-Pentecostal tradition prior to joining the First Universalist Church of Rochester, New York, in 2008. Verdis has served as a Worship Associate/Coordinator, Lay Preacher, Committee on Ministry, Choir Member/Soloist, Religious Education Instructor, and a member of the Social Justice Team.
During his career, Rev. Verdis was the National Director for The Democracy Commitment, the Director for Community College Engagement at Campus Compact, and is currently an Associate of the Kettering Foundation specializing in deliberative democracy in community colleges and interfaith institutions. Prior to leading community college civic engagement nationally, he was a tenured Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester for ten years.
Rev. Verdis brings to the choir his spirituality, gifts, knowledge of African American music and culture, and passion for justice and wholeness through the healing power of the arts and African American spirituality.
When not directing the choir, Rev. Verdis serves as Minister for Growth at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester and Acting President of the National Issues Forums Institute.
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A member of the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir for several years, for the 2023-2024 season, Donia Prince joins the Artistic Team as the Assistant Rehearsal Director, filling in for Executive Director Verdis LeVar Robinson when he is fulfilling his ministerial duties in Rochester, NY.
As a young person, Donia Prince (she/her) was immersed in a musical life. As a teenager, she regularly played French Horn with semi-professional chamber and theater orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area, and received numerous awards and honors. She received her formal music training at Northwestern University’s School of Music, with a specialization in French Horn performance, studying with members of the Chicago Symphony.
Later, she joined an intentional community in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, where she became the music teacher for the community’s registered home school, the director of musical theater productions, and the organizer of musical activities for the community as a whole.
Following that experience, Donia has taught choral music in public schools, co-founded and directed a hospice choir, been music director and coach for the annual variety show at Montpelier’s Westview Meadows Senior Residence, has filled in as director for a number of area choral groups and is currently the music director of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier.
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Forthcoming
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Elaine Ball (she/they) joined MCGC as a choir member and administrator during the 2022-2023 season, and we are glad to have Elaine this season as well.
Elaine studied French and Linguistics at the University of Utah, earning a BA in each, along with a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certificate. Before transferring to the University of Utah, they received an AA in English from Salt Lake Community College in 2007.
In addition to her part-time work as Choir Administrator for the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir, she works at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier as the Congregational Life Coordinator and as a private Beginning French teacher; child-care provider; and home, pet, car, and plant/garden care-giver for traveling families throughout Central Vermont.
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The MCGC Band is composed of Vermont area musicians. They rehearse with the choir in the weeks leading up to the concerts and have been playing with the choir for many years.
Ira Friedman, piano and rehearsal pianist
Jay Ekis, guitar
Keith Gibson, drums
John Ryan, bass
Andric Severance, organ
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John M. Harrison was Artistic Director of MCGC from 1995-2022; A 36-year legacy worthy of his emeritus status. John is a composer, choral director, singer, and teacher who has been performing professionally since he was a lad. He performs and teaches in a variety of styles that reflect his eclectic background in music. He sang professionally as a youngster in Men & Boys choirs. He formed his first band in high school, performing in cabarets at Princeton University (not a Tiger, but a Townie). He then spent 13 years in New York City, where he led his own bands, and performed with Otis Rush, Buster Poindexter, The Uptown Horns, and Bobby Radcliff, among others. He spent several years there writing and performing in an improvisational musical-comedy group with Denis Leary before moving to Vermont in 1992. Currently, he directs Rock City!, Vermont’s rock and soul chorus, in Barre VT; Reelin’ & Rockin’, a rock and roll choir at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center in VT; World Music choruses in central Vermont for grades K-4. He has worked for the last 24 years teaching music to teenagers and adults through Village Harmony, and leads workshops for school and community choirs throughout New England and abroad. He taught choral and elementary music at Twinfield Union School in Marshfield, VT for 10 years. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by The Boys Choir of Kenya, Loud & Proud (Scotland’s LGBT choir), Revels North, Mystic Chorale, River Singers, and Social Band, as well as school and community choirs in New England and points beyond. John lives with his wife Scottie in Plainfield, VT.
Board of Directors
The Board is primarily responsible for the choir’s financial and legal health, and supervising staff. The Board upholds the choir’s mission and ensures its future. Board terms are for two years, and Board members are also members of the choir.
To contact the Board, send an email to the Interim Board President, Kimberley Pierce.
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Doug Castle was born in Bennington, Vermont, and now lives in Bradford. He is a Chemical and Environmental Engineer, and has performed in musicals, and rock and reggae bands. Doug has sung in the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir off and on since 2013, and would like to start a small street performance a capella group.
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Amy Cavanagh is a retired educator and has served on the MCGC Board for four years: She served as President for nearly three years, and is now a member at large. Amy sings in the Acapella and Mass Choirs, as well as the Unitarian Church of Montpelier Choir. She spends several weeks every summer on the coast of Maine, is an avid reader, and enjoys walking.iption text goes here
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Jon Gailmor was born in New York and failed to grow up in the Philadelphia area. Choral singing is his musical roots, having sung in choirs, barbershop quartets, and everything in between, from elementary school through college and beyond. Since 1971, Jon has been performing in schools, colleges, resorts, restaurants, and folk clubs around the country; serenading at child care and senior centers, singing at prisons, hospitals, corporate and private parties. He has sung among the grapevines of southern France, in Athens and the Greek Islands, Italy, Russia, Latvia, and elsewhere. Jon presents songwriting residencies and workshops for students in preschool through college, as well as in senior centers. In other words, he makes music for and with humans, prenatal through prehistoric!
Jon has been honored as an “Extraordinary Vermonter” by the governor, received the Mayor’s Peace Prize in Burlington, and was awarded a Silver Citation by the Vermont Arts Council. He sang as Vermont’s representative at the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and, in 1996, was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch through Brattleboro, on its way to Atlanta. Jon was a recipient of the Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Award for Arts in Education, has toured with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and has released six solo albums. He lives with his family in Elmore, Vermont.
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Gael Hanna has been an elementary school teacher for 23 years, specializing in teaching reading to students with learning challenges. The relationships she builds with these students are the most meaningful reward of this work. Gael has visited Vermont periodically since birth, and moved here in 2000. She loves to garden, and is always digging up more and more lawn, much to her husband’s dismay. She also loves spending time with her two dogs, and has taken up African dance. Having served on the MCGC Board for one and a half years, Gael loves singing Gospel music as it brings her the opportunity to worship God.
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Diane Marie is currently singing in three choirs: MCGC’s Acapella Choir, Onion River Chorus, and the Unitarian Church of Montpelier Choir. Many years ago, she sang in the Humboldt Light Opera Company in Northern California. Diane has 30 years experience in the area of nonprofit finance, including working in administrative services, at several California school districts and cities. She is currently serving as Interim Board Treasurer for MCGC, and would like to continue as the Board Treasurer for this season.
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Kimberly Pierce has served on the MCGC Board for over five years. She brings her perspective as a medical provider trained in trauma. Kimberly joined the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir as she could see the possibilities for collective community healing through the music.
Kimberly self-produced a documentary about healing childhood adversity and then helped to produce a second film, with more to come. She founded The Vermont Kindness Project in 2019, to educate and empower the public on breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma. In 2020, Kimberly initiated and coordinated anti-racism training for MCGC Choir Members and the Board, and is now a facilitator for ongoing community training. Kimberly sees Gospel music as bridging entertainment, community building, education, and healing.
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Item descripOlivia Tyler grew up in Kilkenny Ireland. She lives in Montpelier, VT with her teenage children, and works as a nurse in our community. Music has always been part of Olivia’s life growing up, being in church choir and now this community-based Choir, with the healing it offers which our world needs. She has been a member of MCGC for several years, and has served five years on the MCGC Board.tion
