Our life, Our history
All about the Sunshine Gospel Choir
Our life, Our history
Founded and directed by Alex Negro, the Sunshine Gospel Choir has been the most representative and one of the best Gospel music choirs in Italy for 20 years.
On the scene since 1998, although the first appearances of the same group date back to 1996 as MDV Gospel Choir, he has nine albums and a DVD, hundreds of concerts in Italy and abroad, where he has performed in churches, squares, television programs, theaters, everywhere with great success with audiences and critics.
From the most prestigious locations - Sinopoli Concert Hall in the Parco della Musica and the Teatro delle Vittorie in Rome, the Sporting Club in Montecarlo, the Ruhl Casino in Nice, the Filarmonico in Verona, the Duse in Bologna, and all the major theaters in Turin, to arenas and sports halls - Brescia, Cortina, Chatillon, Diano Marina, Pisa, Verona, Vicenza, Taormina, to atypical locations such as Cottolengo and the Vallette prison in Turin, Cardinal Massaia Hospital in Asti.
He participated as a guest at opening ceremonies: FNAC and Centro Commerciale Dora in Turin, Discoteca XO in Cremona. He also contributed, interpreting his own repertoire, to university teaching at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Turin by participating in the seminar "In obstinate and contrary direction: American paths between words and notes" which explored the intertwining between literature and black music North American.
The concert activity is accompanied by participation in prime time television broadcasts on the main national RAI networks (Telethon 2006, Trebizond 2008, Gran Concerto 2010), Mediaset (A voice in the sun, 2001, New Year on Ice 2011- 2013-2014), SKY (Cortina Incontra 2007), Final Euro League Basket Macabi Vs Barcellona 2014 world vision - Forum Assago, radio broadcast in Italy (Radio DJ, Radio RAI, GRP Radio Montecarlo) and in the United States, participation in festivals and music reviews (Biennale Giovani Artisti 1997, JVC Jazz Festival Turin 1998, Convention Heineken Montecarlo 2001, Gospel Jubilee Festival 2001, Chicobum Festival 2002-2006, Music Season Ivrea 2003, Moncalieri Jazz 2004, Jazz au Cap 2004, Sounds from Monviso 2006, Cortina InContra 2007, Beyond the Festival 2007, Eyes on Ice Festival 2009, Pisa Gospel Festival 2010, Varese Gospel Festival 2006 and 2011, Gran Galà del Ghiaccio "Golden Skate Awards" 2011, Theater Season of Il Contato del Canave if 2013-2014-2015.
Alex Negro, the brilliant artistic director responsible for the choice of the repertoire and the arrangements, has created a multi-ethnic formation of 60 choristers (professionals and amateurs) including sopranos, altos, tenors and baritones, accompanied by tenor Joe Nicolosi, soprano Rosanna Russo and by a professional band of four stable elements: Paolo Gambino on piano, Michele Bornengo on bass, Federico Memme on guitar and Mario Bracco on drums.
In concerts of particular importance SGC has the honor of sharing the stage with some internationally renowned musicians:
Alberto Marsico (hammond), Silvano Borgatta (piano-keyboards, collaborates in records and concerts as musical director), Luvienne (violin), Michele Lazzarini and Piero Vallero (sax), Sergio Bongiovanni (trumpet), Carlo Bellotti and Emanuel Miller ( percussion).
Rev. Lee Brown
SGC's artistic authorship unquestionably belongs to Rev. Lee Brown, an international authority on Gospel music. The Reverend, originally from Topeka Kansas, is a beloved character in Europe, where he has established himself as a charismatic interpreter and fervent voice of the secrets of the most genuine Gospel, with influences in a funky key. Lee Brown has maintained over time a solid artistic and human relationship with Alex Negro and his choristers, encouraging their choices and the evolution of style.
Alex Negro Artistic Director SGC
During his artistic career he has spanned 360 degrees in black music and its most extreme suburbs: he has shared and absorbed the deepest moods working alongside some of the greatest international performers. He directed and sang musicals, performed in rock arenas, collaborated with symphonic and pop music orchestras, shared the stage with some big names in pop and Italian song, from Vasco Rossi to Milva, from Irene Grandi to Elisa.
The Music
The repertoire includes a reference scenario that spanned more than a century: from the ancient “work songs”, to the very current lines with contaminations derived from the hip-hop lexicon pursued by the stars of the contemporary Afro-American Gospel. The artistic boundaries of the Sunshine Gospel Choir are borderless and often the choir makes forays into musical territories that do not belong to the Gospel genre.
The “amazing” Sunshine Gospel Choir
Alex Negro, the brilliant artistic director responsible for the choice of the repertoire and the arrangements, has created a multi-ethnic formation of 60 choristers (professionals and amateurs) including sopranos, altos, tenors and baritones, accompanied by tenor Joe Nicolosi and a professional band of four stable elements: Paolo Gambino on piano, Michele Bornengo on bass, Federico Memme on guitar and Mario Bracco on drums, plus numerous international guests.