For Immediate Release

Event Time and Location:
Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 5:00 PM
St. Martin de Porres Church
1119 West Bancroft Street, Toledo, Ohio

Contact: Sister Virginia Welsh (419) 241-4544

St. Martin de Porres Parish is welcoming back to Toledo Maestro Chelsea Tipton II for the 29th Annual Black History Month concert and is dedicating the concert to the memory of Rev. P. Martin Donnelly, who was pastor of St. Ann’s Parish and instrumental in the first Black History Month Concert twenty-nine years ago.

Six months after the first concert at St. Ann’s Church, the parish and St Teresa of Avila’s closed. A new parish, St. Martin de Porres developed. The annual concert continues in the same location, now St. Martin de Porres Church. The concert will be on February 24, 2019 at 5:00 PM at the Church located at 1119 West Bancroft Street in Toledo, Ohio.

De’Ron McDaniels

The concert, part of Black History Month observance, features baritone De’Ron McDaniels as soloist. A Cleveland native, Mr. McDaniels is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and also the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Earlier in his career, he performed with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and is eager to return to Toledo. The Black History Month Concert offers a variety of music that reflects upon the African American experience both through the composers and the style of music.

Chelsea Tipton II

Maestro Chelsea Tipton II, former Resident Conductor of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, will conduct a program that will invite the audience into the depths and the exhilaration of African American Music. This year’s concert will highlight music by Hailstork, Higdon, and Still. In addition, there will be an arrangement of Grainger’s Danny Boy dedicated to the memory of Fr. Martin Donnelly.

Rev. F. Anthony Gallagher

Rev. F. Anthony Gallagher will receive the St. Katharine Drexel Award. Fr. Gallagher, a retired priest from the Diocese of Toledo, is a supportive presence to marginalized persons and a voice for justice. He is active at the Milan Federal Prison, Jobs with Justice, FLOC, United Pastors for Social Empowerment, and is a founding member of the Association of United States Catholic Priests. He is also a member of St. Martin de Porres Parish. His hopes are to melt silos, build bridges, listen, accompany and support. He follows in the spirit of St. Katharine Drexel who used her resources generously in creating opportunities for children. St. Katharine Drexel founded over sixty schools for Black and Native American children. She also founded Xavier University in New Orleans.

Tickets for the Concert are on sale for $20 at St. Martin de Porres Parish, or $25 at the door. Student tickets at $10. Shuttle parking will be available at Swayne Field.

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