Simmons-O'Neal Memorial Concert

Members of the Chattanooga Boys Choir and the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song will join voices Sunday afternoon, Feb. 9, for the 28th annual Simmons-O’Neal memorial concert honoring two revered Chattanooga area music educators.

The concert will be held at First-Centenary United Methodist Church. Admission is free, and an offering will be collected with proceeds divided between the two choirs' scholarship funds. The program is also presented as part of the annual performance series offered by the Chattanooga Music Club.

Edmonia Simmons, a public school music teacher in the Chattanooga City Schools, was a founding director of the Choral Society. Everett O'Neal was a revered public school music teacher and supervisor and longtime director of the Boys Choir. The two were close friends and contributed richly to the development of music and music education throughout the Chattanooga community. This concert honoring these two tremendous educators remains a favorite annual tradition of members and audiences of both ensembles.

Among its musical selections, the CBC choristers will perform "Song of Myself” by John Michael Trotta, “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God” by Michael Burkhart, a barbershop arrangement of “Over the Rainbow,” and the traditional Sotho song “Mangwani Mpulele.”

To close the program, the Choral Society and the Boys Choir will combine with Andrea Ramsey’s anthem “I Lift My Voice” and Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise.”