Kern's Food Hall is ready to spill some secrets - restaurants, rooftops, brewery and all

Soaring music, faithful sounds: Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir can rock, witness

Amy McRary
Knoxville
The Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir music director Jeanie Turner Melton leads rehearsal at Mt. Olive Baptist Church.

The Saturday afternoon musical praise soared to the ceiling and filled the sanctuary of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church. 

The words "The Lord's high above the heavens ... Halle, Halle, Hallejuah" ring out, punctuated by the sounds of hands clapping and drums beating. The Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir, led by director Jeanie Turner Melton, is starting an October rehearsal.

When two hours are done, it feels like a practice that could bring an altar call.

Pamela Deathridge of the Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir rehearses at Mt. Olive Baptist Church on Saturday, October 14, 2017.

The choir was preparing its ninth annual free concert with Knoxville Opera, an event that incorporates the two styles of music.

"Knoxville Opera Goes to Church … A Celebration of Talent!" is at 5 p.m. Oct. 22 at Overcoming Believers Church, 120 S. Bell St. Admission is free. The concert presents music from both the choir and from performers with the Knoxville Opera. 

Members of the Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir, From right, Terry Lomax, Shirley Herbert, Melinda Kirkland, Carmen Blue, and  Cassandra Spam rehearse on Saturday, October 14, 2017.

Knoxville Opera Maestro Brian Salesky will accompany the opera's performers. Salesky, who helped begin the concerts, says the events are "about the marriage of these two cultures."

Plenty to sing about: Knoxville Opera celebrates 40 years of vocal success

This year, the 32-member gospel choir's selections range from the solemn and moving spiritual "A City Called Heaven" to the upbeat contemporary "I'm Chasing After You." They'll also accompany an operatic performance. 

Singers from the opera will perform excerpts from "Porgy and Bess" and  "Turandot." The opera is performing "Turandot" in February at the Tennessee Theatre. 

Melton, who's also Mt. Olive's minister of music, has directed the choir since its start. Initially many of its singers came from Mt. Olive and other traditionally black East Knoxville churches. Now members also come from churches in Knox, Blount and Anderson counties.

Auditions for the choir aren't required, but these aren't songs just anyone can sing by picking up a hymnal. Arrangements are difficult, with frequent solos. Melton provides singers with packets that include basic music theory. She selects the music, from gospel to anthems to some crossover music that "if you listen to it one way it can be secular and if you listen another way it can be sacred."

Rekeenya Cunningham is one of the soloists in the Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir.

The first Knoxville Opera Goes to Church at Greater Warner Tabernacle Church drew 1,000 people, Salesky said. Some 500 to 750 people are expected for the Oct. 22 concert. In addition to this concert, Melton and the choir also perform several concerts throughout the year.

For Salesky, the Knoxville Opera Goes to Church concert is one of the opera's community outreach programs. "People should not view an opera or a symphony or a ballet as being for just a small slice of the pie," he says.

"This music is equally thrilling," Salesky says. "You don't have to believe in opera or believe in any particular religion in order to appreciate this."