The Making of Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration—A Listening Session

Admission to this event is free. Help us continue to offer free events by making a tax-deductible donation at https://visionsandvoices.usc.edu/support.

In 1992, , five-time Grammy Award–winning composer-arranger, original member of Take 6, and longtime collaborator of Quincy Jones, spearheaded a soulful rendition of Handel’s Messiah. Featuring an incredible array of special guests, the album spanned spirituals, blues, jazz, ragtime, big band, fusion, R&B, and hip hop, and won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. The album was executive produced by Quincy Jones.
This special event will include a close listening of the album in its entirety and a panel with Warren and special guests, including platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated singer and , lead tenor and founder of Take 6, the most awarded a cappella group in history, who will reminisce and share captivating stories about the album’s unique creation and recording near USC during the Los Angeles uprising and riots.
Schedule:
6:30–7:45 p.m.: Audience members are invited to participate in a close listening of the album. Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration will be played in its entirety, in sequence. If you have never heard the album, want to re-hear it, or want to be part of a collective listening experience of the album in a public setting, please join.
7:45–8 p.m.: Intermission
8–9:30 p.m.: The close listening session will be followed by a conversation and Q&A with Warren moderated by , dean of USC Thornton School of Music, with , chair of the USC Thornton Department of Choral & Sacred Music, Tevin Campbell, and Claude McKnight.
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Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by the USC Thornton School of Music in collaboration with the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

USC Thornton School of Music, Carson Soundstage, 3450 Watt Way, Los Angeles, United States