Nearly 200 vocalists, a 50-member orchestra and participants from about 16 churches will come together at Crown Theatre for a free concert celebrating America’s 250th birthday through faith, music and community.
One of the defining elements of a choir is harmony — different notes coming together to create one unified sound. So what better way to demonstrate harmony than to bring together nearly 200 vocalists from churches across Fayetteville and a 50-member orchestra to celebrate America’s 250th birthday?
What began as a conversation among three church music leaders is growing into something much larger.
Voices of Freedom will bring the combined choir and orchestra to Crown Theatre at 1960 Coliseum Dr. on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 6 p.m. for a free concert built around faith, patriotic music and community collaboration. Organizers are working toward a total of approximately 250 performers.
The idea began when Marty Spina approached Chris Ferger, pastor of worship and arts at Village Baptist Church, about combining choirs for a concert marking the nation’s 250th. The two began talking through the possibilities before inviting Richard Suggs, minister of music at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, into the conversation.
What started with those three music leaders has since expanded to include vocalists from about 16 churches, with new participants continuing to join as the concert approaches.
Suggs is no stranger to bringing voices and musicians together through Snyder Memorial’s music ministry and its long-running Singing Christmas Tree. But coordinating vocalists from 16 churches alongside a 50-member orchestra presented a different undertaking.
It required significant communication, summer rehearsals and careful music selection. Suggs said organizers knew participants would be traveling and schedules would not always align. The music also needed to be accessible to the vocalists, reflect the churches’ theology and accomplish the larger goal of honoring the country.
For Suggs, the collaboration itself has been significant. In his 12 years at Snyder, he said this is the first event he has participated in that combined his church with others in this way.
“It was an opportunity to plug in a community, a larger community than just my church,” Suggs said.
Fayetteville’s connection to the military is also reflected in the program. Voices of Freedom will include an armed forces medley featuring the songs of each military branch, including the relatively new Space Force song. Organizers are also working to have uniformed members of each branch carry their corresponding flag during the medley.
For the organizers, freedom means more than the concert’s patriotic selections.
“We have the freedom to express ourselves in any way here in this case. And that freedom is not free,” Suggs said.
He added that freedom comes with responsibility and that the concert provides an opportunity for people to celebrate that freedom together.
“We have the freedom to be able to sing, to be able to gather, to be able to participate,” Ferger said.
That emphasis on community carries through to the event itself. Admission to Voices of Freedom is free, and no ticket is required. After months of vocalists and musicians from churches across Fayetteville preparing to share one stage, organizers want the audience to feel just as welcome.
“We want it to be open to anybody and everybody,” Ferger said.
For more information, visit https://www.crowncomplexnc.com/events/detail/voices-of-freedom-250