I created great relationships with friends I’ve stayed in touch with: choirmasters, choirs. Over the last four years, I did a trek around Europe, I did a lot of master classes in quite a few of the countries. How many people do you expect to participate in Music + Arts Global and how did it come together? And he needed someone to lead it, become the face of it along with him, to either keep it moving as is or to expand the vision of what it is but still kind of keeping the same principles of it.' 'Yes, it was an event, a concert that he created in 1979. This was asking you to move forward, in some way, what was known as his Music & Art Seminar? I need you to promise me that you will move Music & Arts forward'. 'He made me look him in the eye and said, 'Donald, I don’t think I’m going to be here much longer.

What did he request of you before his death in 2018? Your upcoming event Music + Arts Global aims to continue the legacy of Edwin Hawkins. “I wanted Music + Arts to be a coming together, a gathering of choir creatives, so that when they leave, they go back to their individual countries, and they’re inspired to continue with choir, to look at new ways to do choir, to push their choirs to continue to get better.” - Donald Lawrence Lawrence, a member of an interdenominational church in Chicago, talked to Religion News Service about his mentor, the universality of Gospel music and how it can be a bridge over divides.ĭonald Lawrence in Milan, Italy, in September, 2015. “I wanted Music + Arts to be a coming together, a gathering of choir creatives, so that when they leave, they go back to their individual countries, and they’re inspired to continue with choir, to look at new ways to do choir, to push their choirs to continue to get better.” “It’s really about inspiring the next generation of choir people,” said Lawrence, 61, in a 12th April interview about the six-figure event he is funding himself.

After two days of rehearsals and training, they will sing in a finale concert featuring Lawrence’s music, as well as that of other artists, including Hawkins’ crossover hit Oh Happy Day.ĭonald Lawrence conducts a 500-member Italian choir in front of the Duomo di Milano Cathedral in Milan, Italy, with a crowd of 40,000 filling the square in September, 2015. He’ll be joined by hundreds of choir members from across Europe as well as South America and the United States. Now, he’s continuing the mission of his mentor, the late Edwin Hawkins, and seeking to extend the reach of Gospel music, known widely in America’s Black congregations, to the choirs of Europe and other parts of the world.įrom 27th to 29th April, he is set to present “Music + Arts Global” at a theatre owned by Ruach City Church, a predominantly Black Pentecostal megachurch in London. He was a staff musician for Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s 'PTL (Praise the Lord) Club', the music director for R&B artist Stephanie Mills and the front man for The Tri-City Singers and Donald Lawrence & Company. Donald Lawrence, the choirmaster, conductor and producer known for Gospel songs like Encourage Yourself and The Blessing of Abraham, has had a far-ranging career in music.

Edwin hawkins music and arts seminar