Celebrate with the Howard Gospel Choir in a centerpiece performance honoring Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist, on view through July 6, 2025. Elizabeth Catlett, a Howard University graduate and DC native, tapped these local beginnings to launch a distinguished career that spanned almost 70 years.
This concert is part of the “Celebrating Elizabeth Catlett” symposium, a daylong event exploring the artist’s life and work, featuring living artists, experts, and members of her family. It is held in collaboration with Howard University’s 35th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium and is made possible by a grant from the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
Selections announced from the stage.
About The Howard Gospel Choir
Founded in the late 1960s, the Howard Gospel Choir (HGC) of Howard University established itself as the first collegiate choir of its kind, earning an international legacy in the gospel music ministry. Its distinctive sound embraces contemporary and traditional gospel, church hymns, spirituals, and classically arranged anthems.
Throughout the years, HGC has toured 25 countries in Europe and the Americas with numerous repeat performances nationwide. It has sung at prominent venues such as The White House, the US Capitol, and the Washington National Cathedral, entertained a wide array of national and international leaders, performed at the Kennedy Center Honors and on national television specials, and shared the stage with such luminaries as Barry Manilow, Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, Fantasia, and Patti LaBelle. In 2016, the choir released a full-length album Glorious God that remained on the top 30 charts for national sales and radio airplay in gospel music for ten weeks, and was nominated for two Stellar Awards, four Rhythm of Gospel Awards, and a Steeple Award.
HGC has an active roster of 70+ musicians, including Howard University students and alumni and members of the community, and is one of the largest religious life organizations on campus. Since its inception, its main objective remains constant: to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ through song and serve Christ with its musical gifts—bringing peace, restoration, healing, and inspiration to all who will lend their ears and hearts. The choir is currently under the musical leadership of two Howard University alumni, director Reginald Golden and assistant director Darrell Brown.