The Amazing Grace Gospel Choir
The American University of Rome is proud to sponsor The Amazing Grace Gospel Choir, founded and directed by AUR Professor of Music, Timothy Martin.
Ready to Sing?
Students with a singing talent interested in joining the choir should contact Maurizia Garzia, Executive Assistant to the President and Choir member, to arrange for an audition with Prof. Martin.
Email: m.garzia@aur.edu
Tel: 06 5833 0919, ext 209.
In 2005, Professor Martin organized a six month long seminar on the history and performing practices of Gospel music, taught at AUR. Participants were made aware of various African and European cultural elements that influenced this uniquely American religious and musical art form.
Since then, the choir has become an eclectic group of individuals from seven different countries, representing three different continents, giving AUR students a richly diverse opportunity to share with other nationalities this universal message of music. The Amazing Grace Gospel Choir has fulfilled Professor Martin’s goal to promote authentically the Afro-American gospel tradition in Rome, Italy.
The Choir is named after the title of one of the oldest and most popular Afro-American spirituals, written by English poet and clergyman John Newton, published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, “Amazing Grace” is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world, a free man’s hymn to God’s grace.
Now part of Prof. Martin’s ‘In Production’, a cultural association promoting American and European artistic exchange, The Amazing Grace Choir intends to be a reference point for the study of gospel music, singing style and culture, and the first step towards the establishment in Rome of a professional, permanent, nondenominational and apolitical gospel choir.
The Amazing Grace Gospel Choir, performs nationally and abroad, and has been hosted by the Vatican City, the American Embassy to the Holy See and performed for numerous functions for the City of Rome.
Follow the Amazing Grace Gospel Choir on Facebook
About Timothy Martin
Native of Pennsylvania (USA), Timothy Martin, adjunct Professor of the Fine Arts Area at AUR, has been teaching music for over 20 years and is also a professional singer and actor. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and The Curtis Institute of Music.
His work as a performer spans the entire spectrum of the performing arts: Theatre, Opera, Concert Stage, Television and Cinema.
Director Timothy Martin and The Amazing Grace Gospel Choir in action.
