Nigerian church to host Mega Choral Concert

More than 400 choristers from a diverse group of denominations will come together for the event, which is affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music in the UK.

According to a statement by the organisers, attendees will be "treated to the best of musical renditions that cut across genres such as classical, contemporary, spirituals, hymns, solos and traditional music. It would be an unforgettable three hours".

The Mega Choral Concert has taken place since March 1998, and this year the theme for the event is Songs of Praise 2018.

“We have successfully gathered all these singers who have been rehearsing for some time," host clergyman SEA Oludare said.

"The floodgate of music will be thrown open on 18 March so the audience can have a total relish of mellifluous voices. We are inviting as many people as possible, there is no gate fee but they are guaranteed the best of times in a serene environment with the Lord."

Asked why the event has been set for March, the head of the planning committee, Shade Jacobs, said the date was chosen “because it coincides with when we started this journey 20 years ago".

"We started exactly March 1998 and this is another March and it is so beautiful now that the programme also falls within the Lent and Easter period and there is no better time for us to do this than now,” Jacobs said.

Although organised by a church, the event's origin is linked to the Music Society of Nigeria. In the 1990s, the music body extended an invitation to the Christ Apostolic Church to perform alongside other choirs in the city.

“That time, our choir was among the selected few because of our excellence," Sesan Taiwo, who has been involved in the event since the beginning, said. "When we got there, we were dealing with one of our pastors. It was then he felt we could have our own version of the programme. By the time we left that performance, we met and resolved to replicate the programme our own way."

The 2018 Mega Choral Concert will take place on 18 March at 13 Odewale Street, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos.

Meanwhile, the World Choir Games takes place in South Africa in July. The games recently announced that a new theme song had been composed by British composer John Rutter, which would be performed for the first time at the games' opening ceremony on 4 July. For more information, visit the World Choir Games official website.