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The historic Good Shepherd Episcopal Church is honoring the many women who played a pivotal role in founding the church and ensuring its legacy as a place of worship and learning for the Eastside community by hosting a concert, quilt and art show, and Lowcountry/Gullah Geechee feast. The event will take place on Saturday, April 27 at 3:30 p.m. 

Titled Spring Tide Rising: A Celebration of African-American and Appalachian Women, the event will open with a program of music by award-winning composers and arrangers performed by Constance Green (formerly of the Metropolitan Opera), Sher Harris (a repeat winner of the best up-and-coming soprano voice in NATS competitions, and a frequent performer in the Upstate), Christine de Michele (an award-winning vocalist and published songwriter who has collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Malcolm Burn), Peter Kutt (a concert pianist with the Asheville Symphony for two decades and chamber musician), and Mari Hashimoto (a violinist who recently performed with the Vienna Light Orchestra). Our composers/arrangers include Nina Simone, Jean Ritchie, the “Mother of Folk,” Betty Jackson King, Margaret Bonds, known for her frequent collaborations with poet Langston Hughes, and Florence B. Price, among others. 

The program will also feature four monologues by women educators and theologians of North Carolina, including one by Anna Julia Cooper, who is quoted in U.S. passports. Noble Julz, a performance poet and writer/director of short films who recently moved to the area from New York will be delivering these short speeches. Thanks to the stunning generosity of Georgia Bonesteel, master quilter from Hendersonville who has written many books on quilting and appeared frequently on PBS programs, there will be a quilt show in the Homework Center after the concert and during the meal. Also featured will be paintings and textiles by women artists from North and West Africa. 

Tickets are $20 for the general public and $15 for members of Good Shepherd Church. They can be obtained by calling 828 329-2217. 

The event is at 814 Markham Road in Tryon; more information is available at goodshepherdtryon.org. 

Since the Appalachian Mountains, the Scottish Highlands, and the Atlas Mountains of North Africa were all formed at the same time and were once part of the same mountain chain, it pleases the church to open its sanctuary and grounds, to which the church has recently added many native plants, with an event that celebrates things from these three geographical areas; this on the heels of African-American and Women’s History months and also on the heels of Earth Day.

 

Submitted by Cathy Jones