A few days ago, I had the pleasure of visiting with a very intriguing and charismatic gentleman in Fort Wayne, Ind.\u00a0 I made the trip to Fort Wayne to visit Marshall White, director and founder of the Unity Performing Arts Foundation.\u00a0What we both thought would be a 30-minute visit turned into two hours!<\/p>\n
I knew of Mr. White because we have the Voices of Unity Youth Choir coming to the Niswonger PAC in two weeks to perform with Livingston Taylor.\u00a0 It is a concert uniquely prepared for you, our NPAC audience.\u00a0 Livingston Taylor was here in 2008 and I enjoyed him so much I thought it would be nice to bring him back someday.\u00a0 At the same time, Chuck Koch, my board chairman mentioned he had heard the Voices of Unity Choir and felt we should bring them in for a performance some time.<\/p>\n
My mind started racing. \u00a0From the limited knowledge I had of the Voices of Unity Choir, I knew they sang Gospel style music quite well.\u00a0 A couple of my most favorite songs on Livingston Taylor\u2019s CD, There you are Again,<\/em> are songs in that style.\u00a0 Well, you can see where I was going with this.\u00a0I thought about how cool it would be to combine these two musical forces for one fantastic evening at the NPAC.\u00a0 And now on Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. you will have the chance to hear this amazing one-time collaboration only at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Van Wert!<\/p>\n As we started drawing closer to the concert date, I knew I needed to learn more about the Voices of Unity Choir.\u00a0I heard two different interviews Marshall White did with WOWO and WBCL radio just a couple weeks ago.\u00a0I think that\u2019s when I decided I needed to meet face to face with Mr. White and find out more about what\u2019s behind this organization.<\/p>\n What I found is quite an amazing story!\u00a0 This man is the son of the Rev. Jesse White, who during the 1960\u2019s and 1970\u2019s led the black community of Fort Wayne during the racial tensions.\u00a0 He told me stories you wouldn\u2019t believe while growing up on the south side of Fort Wayne. When his father passed away several years ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson preached his father\u2019s funeral service in Fort Wayne.<\/p>\n While a child in his father\u2019s church, it became obvious this young man had a gift for music.\u00a0 During our visit, we talked about having the gift of music, but still needing to nurture it.\u00a0 Upon graduation from high school, Marshall attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music and learned how and why he was naturally able to play the piano the way he did.\u00a0 He realized it was important to know this information himself so he could teach others.\u00a0 He never graduated from college because his father felt he was learning too much of the \u201cDevil\u2019s music!\u201d<\/p>\n But he had a gift.\u00a0He became very involved in church music at his father\u2019s church.\u00a0Eventually that led to a position with Northrop High School Contemporary Chorale Choir and then on to Purdue University, where he made a name for himself as the director of the Purdue University Black Voices of Inspiration.\u00a0 Following a performance at Ohio State University with his Purdue chorus, a gentleman who he only knew by the name of \u201cProfit\u201d (Prophet?) came up to him, congratulated him, looked him squarely in the eye and said, \u201cGod has called you to lead the children.\u201d\u00a0 Marshall thought he was kidding and the man looked him in the eye once more and repeated the message.<\/p>\n Marshall told me that for two years previously, he had visions waking him up in the middle of the night, but he wasn\u2019t sure why.\u00a0 Now, it all made sense.\u00a0 In 2000, Marshall returned to Fort Wayne and established the Unity Performing Arts Foundation.\u00a0The rest is pretty much history.\u00a0In 10 short years, he had a Gold-Medal winning chorus at the World Choir Games held in Shaoxing, China.\u00a0The group is now preparing for the 2012 games that will be held in Cincinnati, USA!<\/p>\n There is so much more I would love to tell you about my two-hour interview with Mr. White, but I know my space is limited.\u00a0 The chorus you will hear on April 28 consists of youths ages 8-19, along with a few adult mentor singers.\u00a0 Keeping with the mission of the Unity Foundation, they try to reach across racial lines and although the music is what Marshall calls \u201csoulful\u201d, you will see all races singing in the chorus.\u00a0They will open for Livingston by performing about 35 minutes of their own music (and you just have to see and hear them!) and will return to the stage later that night and perform with Livingston on three tunes I can\u2019t wait to hear.\u00a0They have been arranged just for us!<\/p>\n