RENOWNED GOSPEL VOCALIST VICKIE WINANS PERFORMS AT BAM’S PRAISE MUSIC CELEBRATION FEATURING THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE CHOIR ON JANUARY 22 AT THE BAM HOWARD GILMAN OPERA HOUSE

Independence Community Foundation is the presenting sponsor for Rhythm & BAM

Praise Music Vickie Winans The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Directed by Abdel R. Salaam Hosted by Nicole Brown Music curated by Limor Tomer Rhythm & BAM lighting designed by Roma Flowers

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (The Peter Jay Sharp Building - 30 Lafayette Avenue at Ashland Place) Jan 22 at 7:30pm Tickets: $20, 25 Call 718.636.4100 or visit www.bam.org

For immediate release: January 7, 2005—Stellar Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated vocalist Vickie Winans will perform at BAM’s Praise Music concert on Saturday, January 22. Shirley Caesar, previously announced, will not appear at this event. In its third year, Praise Music, part of the annual Rhythm & BAM series, will also feature the beloved and Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir in an inspirational celebration of hope through sacred music. Hosted by popular KISS- FM personality Nicole Brown, this event will feature Winans performing selections from her latest acclaimed album, Bringing It All Together. Rarely seen in performance outside their church, America’s most beloved gospel choir will present a program that promises to enlighten, including a spectacular finale with Winans.

Praise Music will take place in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on January 22 at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced at $20 and 25, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or by visiting www.bam.org.

The most ethnically and socially diverse choir of its kind, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir helps to pack their church (and an additional viewing area) every Sunday with their glorious spiritual and musical message. The choir will spread their electrifying energy and contagious joy to BAM by performing hits from their Grammy Award winning album He Reigns and their newly released, currently Grammy nominated CD The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Live...This Is Your House. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is an award-winning gospel ensemble that has performed hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs at such prestigious concert venues as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Madison Square Garden. The downtown Brooklyn choir, led by Musical Director Carol Cymbala, who founded the choir in 1973, has recorded three videos and numerous albums earning five Grammy Awards and two Dove Awards. Although she has no formal training in music, Cymbala has been writing performance material for the choir for over 20 years. Today, the world-renowned 275-member choir represents a wide range of races, economic backgrounds, and professions, consisting of mostly Brooklyn Tabernacle Church members with no formal musical training. As a recording group, the choir has sold three million albums; additionally, a core group of soloists called the Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers performs at locations across the country each year. Their Grammy-winning Be Glad, which was recorded days after the September 11th terrorist attacks, continues to resonate. As one of New York’s most acclaimed choirs, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir performs a diverse array of traditional and contemporary gospel styles every Sunday at the Brooklyn Tabernacle on Smith Street.

Vickie Winans first began singing at the International Gospel Center Church in Michigan at age eight and later joined Winans Part II with BeBe, CeCe, and Daniel Winans. She began her solo career in 1985 with Be Encouraged for Light Records and since then, she has recorded a total of nine albums including the Grammy nominated The Lady for MCI Records in 1991. Her highly successful Live in Detroit and Live in Detroit II were both Grammy nominated and the later won two Stellar Awards including ‘Female Vocalist of the Year.” Her newest CD Bringing It All Together was number one on the Billboard Gospel charts for nine weeks and received eight Stellar Award and one Grammy Award nomination. She had two sons with Marvin Winans, Mario and Marvin “Coconut,” and has two grandchildren.

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