About The CSO Spiritual Ensemble
Under the direction of Nathan L. Nelson, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Spiritual Ensemble is a long time dream come true of its founder and President Lee Pringle. The newly formed Ensemble is the organic outcome of its sister organization, the CSO Gospel Choir’s broad vocal talent focusing on African-American spirituals and sacred music in a variety of performance settings.
Now in its second season, The ensemble strives to honor the devout musical tradition that African-tAmericans formed as slaves after arriving in this country and in particular its relevant history here in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
The Spiritual Ensemble will perform concerts to include the upcoming Second Annual Charleston International Festival of Choirs, April 22-25, Dr. Andre Thomas, Guest Conductor, the 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Festival, regional performances throughout the tri-county area, and other special events.
About The Director
A native Charlestonian, Mr. Nelson began playing drums at his church at age eight. Seen as a child prodigy in local church circles, by the age of thirteen, his choral music calling took form when he began organizing and directing local gospel and school choirs.
Mr. Nelson served as Minster of Music for the Tri-County Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America and is a member of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, founded by the late Rev. James Cleveland, where he studied how to organize a music department and direct audio technology and music productions.
Currently he teaches in the public school system and is called upon to conduct choral clinics for church musicians and choral groups throughout the southeast. He served as a vocal trainer and choir director for many renowned gospel singers and has shared the stage and worked with the late Rev. James Cleveland, Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Daryl Coley, Hezekiah Walker, Donald Malloy and Larnell Harris.
His professional memberships include the Gospel Music Workshop of America and the National Associations for Music Education. He is Chairman of Perpetual Praise Ministries and a member of the Singers of Summerville, Summerville, SC.
Nathan holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education from Charleston Southern University. He currently serves as a vocal coach for studio singers, local choirs and volunteers with various community choirs.
About The African-American Spiritual
In July 1999, the General Assembly of South Carolina proclaimed the spiritual the official music of the state. The term spiritual is derived from spiritual song. The King James Bible translation
of the term refers to it as “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Spirituals were created out of the suffering and survival, pain and celebration, history, ingenuity and faith of Africans held in bondage on the Sea Islands, people whose spirituals became a major force in the building of this country.
Negro spirituals (now termed African-American spirituals) may also have served as socio-political protests veiled as assimilation to the white American culture, religious songs sung sitting or standing in place, or shouted for more dance-like music.
Although many elements of the spiritual can be traced to Africa, spirituals are truly a musical form indigenous to the religious experience of Africans transported as slaves from Africa to America combined with the American musical and religious experiences brought from Europe. This interaction of the cultures occurred only in the United States. Interestingly, Africans who converted to Christianity in other parts of the world did not evolve the musical form called the spiritual.