SANCTUARY: A Reimagining of Black Sacred Music builds on Gateways Music Festival’s longstanding connection to Black churches and the communities that have welcomed its musicians for generations. Bringing together hymns, spirituals, gospel, sacred jazz, classical repertoire and contemporary devotional music, SANCTUARY explores the breadth of Black sacred musical expression through the distinctive voices of Gateways artists.

Rooted in classical artistry but moving freely across traditions, the program features Queen of the Violin Kersten Stevens, a Yale alumna, six-time winner at the Apollo Theater, and JazzWeek Top 40 recording artist; trumpeter, composer, and conductor Herb Smith, a 35-year member of of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, longtime member of the Gateways community and founding member of the Gateways Brass Collective, and concert pianist Dr. Myron D. Brown, winner of the Cincinnati Symphony’s “Piano Idol” competition, soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and Chair of the Department of Music at Winston-Salem State University.

Stevens brings her genre-defying talent to beloved sacred works including Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise” and “’Tis So Sweet,” in an arrangement by Regina Carter created for Stevens, alongside additional repertoire to be announced. Smith contributes original arrangements shaped by a musical language that moves fluidly between orchestral tradition, jazz improvisation, and sacred expression.

Across the program, familiar and newly imagined works draw from the Black church, the classical canon, gospel, jazz, and personal traditions of faith—illuminating the many ways Black artists have carried sacred music across generations, communities, and musical forms.

SANCTUARY is a celebration of the music that has sustained Black communities, exploring the intersection of Black sacred music and Black artistry in classical music. 

Following the program, festival artists and audiences are invited to gather for a Community Fellowship Reception at 12:15 pm in the Hatch Recital Hall Lobby.