Mississippi musicians to perform free patriotic concert June 22 at Christ Church in Church Hill

Published 11:03 am Monday, June 9, 2025

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CHURCH HILL — Three nationally-known Mississippians will perform a wide range of music in a free patriotic concert called “Let Freedom Ring.”

The concert will be at 2-2:45 p.m., Sunday., June 22, at Christ Episcopal Church, Church Hill, Miss. The historic church, recently restored to its 1858 origin, is located 15 miles north of Natchez on Miss. Highway 553.

“The concert heralds Independence Day on July 4 and the 250th anniversary next year of the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence,” said John Norris, a member of Christ Church.

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“Musical selections range from ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’ a salute to religious freedom, to ‘Somewhere’ from Broadway’s ‘West Side Story,’ which honors personal freedoms,” Norris said.

The musicians are soprano Dr. Maryann Kyle, tenor John Christopher Adams and pianist Dr. Ellen Price Elder.

“All three are well known to southwest Mississippi music lovers,” said Dr. Jay Dean, director of the Natchez Festival of Music. “They have performed in the Natchez area numerous times.”

Kyle, a former associate professor of music at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, is Director of Opera Theater and Associate Professor of Music at Shorter University, Rome, Ga., as well as Director of the Opera and Musical Theatre Program and visiting faculty member at Capital University Conservatory of Music, Columbus, Ohio.

She is also a mentor to more than 30 voice and theater teachers at universities across the United States.

Her career includes both teaching and performing. Her most recent multimedia performance, “La Divina,” celebrated Maria Callas’s centennial to rave reviews.

Adams, a Jackson native, is a versatile performer of opera, jazz, gospel and musical theater. He has appeared on stages in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland and Israel and in Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Seattle and other cities across the United States.

Adams earned degrees in Vocal Performance and Opera from Mississippi College, Clinton, Miss., before studying at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music.

Elder, an Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Southern Mississippi, is also a musical soloist, collaborator and clinician throughout the United States and South America.

She holds a degree in piano from USM and two graduate degrees in piano from the University of Michigan. She has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Eastern Michigan University, Schoolcraft College and William Carey University.

Elder is the winner of numerous music awards in the United States and abroad for solo performance and teaching. She has been a featured soloist with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the University of Michigan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.

Following the concert, at 3 p.m., a worship service will be conducted by the Rev. Samuel B. Godfrey. Afterward will be church tours and refreshments.