BYU Idaho Choral Director Conducts Kumasi Evangel Choir at the Ashanti King's 25th Anniversary Celebration in Ghana 

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On 8 May 2024, Dr. Randall Kempton, the Director of Choral Activities at Brigham Young University-Idaho, conducted the Kumasi Evangel Choir in the Coronation Anthems to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the ascendancy of His Majesty Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the King of Ashanti.

The concert was held at the Great Hall on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, and was part of a month-long celebration of the King’s reign.  Over 1200 friends and well-wishers joined the King and his wife, Lady Julia to enjoy the celebration concert.

Dr. Kempton was asked to lead the choir as a special guest conductor.  He has been to the Kumasi area many times in the past, having led a tour of the BYU-Idaho choir to Ghana in 2013, and having acted as a guest conductor during the Kings 17^th anniversary celebration.  Over the years, Dr. Kempton has instructed choir members and leaders throughout Ghana. 

The musical concert, titled ‘An Evening with the Chancellor’, (the Ashanti King is also the Chancellor of KNUST), included performances of traditional and religious music by the University Choir and the Kumasi Evangel Choir.  Messages of appreciation were delivered by Dr. Kempton and university officials.

Four coronation anthems by Georg Friedrich Handel were performed by the Kumasi Evangel Choir under the direction of Dr. Kempton.  The featured soloist for the performance was American soprano, Brenda Marie Turner, also a special guest of the King.

In his remarks, Dr. Kempton thanked the King and asked that each year of his reign be blessed with peace and prosperity.  “Choral music has the power to unite us as people,” he said. “When we sing together, we literally breathe together, and express the same thoughts at the same moment.  When we are singing together, we cannot be enemies.

“So, please keep singing together.”

While in Kumasi, Dr. Kempton attended a thanksgiving event for the King at St. Cyprian’s Anglican Cathedral and led the Kumasi Evangel Choir in a performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.   

During his time in Ghana, Dr. Kempton also took the opportunity to instruct local choir leaders in Accra and Kumasi.  A concert was also held in his honor at the Christianborg Stake Center in Accra featuring local stake choirs and soloists.