2023

Muhlenberg in Photos: Gospel Workshop Weekend

A beloved tradition returns for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

By: Meghan Kita  Wednesday, May 3, 2023 04:44 PM

Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Access, Inclusion & Diversity Initiatives Eric Thompson ’10, Marc Johnson ’19 and Carese Grant ’21 sing during the 2023 Gospel Workshop Weekend performance. Photos by Joe Romano ’23

Last month, a group of Muhlenberg students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered in Egner Chapel to rehearse and perform music from the African American Gospel tradition.

Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Access, Inclusion & Diversity Initiatives Eric Thompson ’10, who serves as the director of Rejoice! The Muhlenberg Gospel Choir, organized the event with support from the Offices of Religious & Spiritual Life and Multicultural Life. He remembers participating in the first Gospel Workshop Weekend in 2007.

“As a student, I enjoyed how the program lifted my spirits and gave me energy to persist through the rest of the semester,” he says. “Workshop participants and audience members are welcome to embrace a genre of music that isn't often heard on Muhlenberg’s campus. The event was joyous and inspirational and it was amazing to revive this decade-long tradition.”

Two open rehearsal sessions preceded the concert in Egner Chapel on April 1. Two guest artists from Atlanta joined the event: the pianist Rev. Edward "Chief" Menifee Jr., who has served “as the Gospel music expert ever since” the tradition's first year, Thompson says, and Menifee's son, the drummer Evan “Youngsir” Menifee. See photos from the performance below.