Jackson to perform with Musser at Sunday’s pre-Vespers service

Chautauquan Juanita Wallace Jackson will perform a short program of Spirituals, accompanied by organist and Chautauquan Joe Musser, for the pre-Vespers service at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hall of Philosophy.

Jackson, an operatically trained contralto, has been singing in public since she was 5 years old. Born in Cincinnati, she holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Miami University of Ohio. She has performed in concert throughout the East Coast and the Midwest. She regularly performs with the Motet Choir at Chautauqua, where she also served as vice chair of the board of trustees and as chair of the Development Council. She is the founder and first president of the newly formed Chautauqua Area Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Musser is a member of the Motet Choir and Chautauqua Choir and served as an Institution trustee from 1996 to 2004. He studied organ with Hugh Allen Wilson at Union College and with Charles Bradley in Charlottesville, Va. He served as accompanist for the Union College Glee Club and for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Choral Society.