ANDOVER, Mass.—Gospel choirs from around New England will fill Cochran Chapel in Andover with joyous music at the annual Gospelfest concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7, to benefit the Sojourner Truth Scholarship Fund. The performance is presented by the Phillips Academy Music Department. Suggested donation is $10 for adults.

The program will include performances by the The New England Gospel Ensemble, “Just 4 Praise,” Joyful Voices of Inspiration, the Boston Community Chorus and various guest artists. Hosting this concert is the Phillips Academy Gospel Choir, with Hobert Yates, director; William Thomas, faculty advisor; and Terrance Rubin ’05 and Mary Rockas ’05, student coordinators. This was the only ensemble of that age group invited to perform this year in the New England Conservatory’s annual Gospel Jubilee.

Established in 1994 by the Phillips Academy faculty of color, the Sojourner Truth Scholarship Fund supports one of the academy’s essential purposes: to open doors for talented “youth from every quarter.” It is named in honor of the moral commitment and compelling personality of the great American pilgrim, Sojourner Truth, who in 1863 visited Harriet Beecher Stowe at Andover. Born a slave and given the name Isabella, which she changed upon her escape to freedom, Sojourner traveled the country preaching and speaking for the abolitionist movement and the cause of women’s rights. The fund committee plans to support a full scholarship for a boarding student.

The current Sojourner Truth Scholar is Hope ’05. From the Bronx, N.Y., she is president of the African Latino American Society (AfLatAm), which plans and implements numerous celebrations, forums and social functions for the community. On the honor role during each of her four years at Andover, she received the Eaton Prize for Mathematics in 2002. A member of the Academy Gospel Choir for several years, she will be performing in this concert. She will attend Cornell University next fall in the human ecology program.

Cochran Chapel, located at 2 Chapel Ave. on the Phillips Academy campus, is handicapped accessible. For more information, contact the Music Department at 978-749-4995.