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The Apostolic Faith
church must share sentiments with Franz Alexander von Kleist who was
quoted as saying “Mozart’s music is so beautiful as to entice angels
down to earth.” And the church might have achieved just such a feat,
when on August 7, its 1000 member choir and orchestra raised voices to
the heavens, performing symphonies from Mozart and other famous
composers.

As part of
activities marking its annual convention, which holds till August 22,
the Apostolic Faith Church held its classical music concert tagged
“Behold, He cometh” at its ‘Faith City’ in Igbesa, Ogun State.
Resplendent in navy blue and white, the impressive choir performed 18
musical offertories to God, and the large congregation consisting of
monarchs, foreign visitors and church members.

The church’s
District Superintendent, West and Central Africa Headquarters, Reverend
Emmanuel Adebayo Adeniran, in his opening remark, stated that the
concert was “set aside to remind the world of the great time set aside
by God to create the world.”

And we were
reminded where we were when the choir, with its impressive collection
of orchestral instruments opened the concert with a rendition of
Mozart’s ‘Praise the Lord for He is Gracious’. A choir and orchestra
piece led with cello strings and accompanied by violins and piano tones
to create an uplifting spiritual feel that set the tone for the evening.

A clarinet quartet
by Beethoven complemented by the keyboard notes and produced delicate
notes that evidenced the precision of the instrumentalists. Various
other musical renditions followed in quick succession: Mozart’s ‘Werke
No 3 in G Major’, ‘Carest Thou Not’ by Lance Nathan, and ‘I’ve anchored
my Soul’ by K. Oje, performed by a combination of choir, string
instruments and keyboard.

Songs from the realm of peace

Two songs from
Joseph Haydn’s oratorio ‘The Creation’, a masterpiece which depicts and
celebrates the creation of the world as described in the biblical Book
of Genesis, were performed. In a mélange of voice and sounds from
violins, cellos and keyboards, the triumphant history of God’s creation
of the earth and its creatures, was retold.

The concert was
broken briefly with a sermon from Adeniran, who proclaimed the theme of
the concert thus: “One glorious day, the saints of God are going to
break the law of gravity and meet with the Lord.” He enjoined his
congregation to “desire to leave the storms of this earth for the realm
of peace.” And advised that they not allow money to stand between them
and God; “the greatest mistake of our age”, he said, “is raising
another god (money) before our God.”

The second part of
the concert kicked off with Schubert’s ‘Symphony No 5’; followed
immediately by violinist Dare Ogunsanya’s performance of ‘Czardas’ by
Vittorio Monti. The performance, possibly the most riveting of the
evening, was heralded by almost pin drop silence. Holding the audience
spellbound, Ogunsanya spoke the gospel in different tones, starting
with measured strings, then quickening to a canter and finally slowing
down to be interspersed with keyboard notes before culminating in a
crescendo worthy of a virtuoso. His performance, which included an
offering of the popular hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’, received the loudest
ovations and elicited several shouts of Hallelujah.

Local airs

Though mostly
classical, the concert did not neglect to bring in the Nigerian
flavour, in a section tagged ‘local airs’. Ethnic hymns in Igbo, Efik,
and Yoruba were performed with the audience joining in song. The event
ended with a final performance from Creation, by the thousand member
choir, with every chorister playing an instrument in accompaniment.

Music Director for
the church, Dotun Ewumi, speaking after the concert, attributed the
church’s preference for organising classical concerts to the foundation
laid by its founders. According to him, “Our founding fathers brought
up the church with music from America, and we have continued the
tradition since then.” Should we be looking out for any such concerts
soon? “Yes,” he said, “this is the second classical concert this year.
We usually hold three every year: during Easter, during our camp
convention and at Christmas.”

No doubt due to the
technical difficulties of assembling a choir this large, the
preparations for the concert had taken four months, with rehearsals
beginning in April. And the performances, conducted by Ewumi, and the
church’s director of worship, Kayode Oje, evidently benefitted from
this painstaking effort as the two-and-half-hour concert progressed
without any glitches.

Surgical precision

The sound quality
was wonderful, and the change of choir and instrumental for each song
proceeded with almost surgical precision. Also, the concert had all the
choristers reading sheet music, and boasted an array of instruments:
strings such as violins, violas, cello and double basses; brass such as
trumpets, trombones and French horns; clarinets; a grand piano; and a
giant keyboard.

Speaking on the
success of the event, Reverend Dwight Baltzell, Director of Africa
Works, attributed the hitch-free performance to the Almighty, and to
the efforts of the choir, whom he prayed will be paid with blessings
from God. Reverend Adeniran promised happily that the concert is
“growing from strength to strength. This is bigger than the last
concert; Next time, it will be even better.”

Classical music is perhaps the most tranquil and inspiring music one
can hear, small wonder it spoke the gospel so fluently, as performed by
the Apostolic Faith Church choir. One cannot but be impressed by the
church’s wonderful execution (save for an alto solo in ‘I’ll fly away’
that went awry briefly) of gospel masterpieces. The performance, is
undoubtedly one of the most remarkable one might be privileged to
attend in Nigeria. One expects that The Apostolic Faith Church
continues to, through the expression of classical music, propagate its
message of the love of God.