On a mild Thursday evening in May, during the Bennett College Centennial Celebration of Alumnae Weekend, nearly 50 women stood beneath the watchful gaze of Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel’s iconic Black Madonna stained glass installation as the first notes of Belle voices filled the air.
But long before the choir sang a single note, two legendary women had already begun orchestrating the evening’s magic.
The large, appreciative audience had eagerly awaited the return of the Centennial Alumnae Reunion Choir Concert — a cherished Bennett College tradition that was absent from Alumnae Weekend programming in recent years. The event came together through the vision, leadership, and musical excellence of Joyce Garrett ’65 and Valerie D. Johnson, two towering figures in the world of Black choral music and Bennett College history.
For many alumnae, their involvement alone signaled that the evening would be extraordinary.
Garrett, a native of Kinston, North Carolina, is regarded as one of the nation’s distinguished choral directors and music educators. A member of Bennett College’s Class of 1965, she transformed the award-winning Eastern High School Choir in Washington, D.C., into an internationally recognized ensemble that performed throughout Europe and alongside world-renowned artists. Her students performed before presidents, international audiences, and some of the world’s most celebrated artists, while her commitment to excellence earned national recognition and multiple honorary doctorates, including one from her beloved alma mater, Bennett College.
Her choirs became familiar to national television audiences through annual appearances on Christmas in Washington and the Kennedy Center Honors for more than two decades. She also founded Excellence Without Excuses, a youth intervention, scholarship, and values-training initiative that impacted countless young people through music, discipline, and mentorship.
Yet despite national acclaim and a career that reached some of the country’s most prestigious stages, Garrett’s connection to Bennett has remained deeply personal.
At Bennett, she is not simply celebrated as a renowned conductor or educator; she is celebrated as one of their own.
Alongside Garrett stood Valerie D. Johnson, a beloved former Bennett College voice professor, conductor, performer, and mentor whose influence on generations of Bennett singers continues to resonate long after their student years. From 1996 to 2016, Johnson served as voice professor and conductor of the Bennett College Choir, guiding the ensemble through national and international performances that elevated the choir’s reputation far beyond Greensboro.
Under her leadership, the choir toured extensively throughout the United States, performing across the Northeast, Midwest, West Coast, and South. She also oversaw the production of five recordings, including Celebrating Seventy-Five Years and Raising Our Voices in Celebration, featuring the voice of Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole reading the poetry of Mari Evans. The choir’s excellence earned national exposure through television and radio appearances, including participation in the historic Vocal Extravaganza “In Black” in Las Vegas, a performance broadcast on PBS, WFMY News 2, EVT Educational Productions, and National Public Radio.
Former students often describe Johnson’s rehearsals as transformative experiences. She demanded excellence, but also cultivated confidence, poise, musical intelligence, and emotional depth. For many Bennett Belles, she helped shape not only their voices, but their sense of presence in the world.
Together, Garrett and Johnson brought credibility, artistry, and deep emotional connection to the Centennial concert. Their leadership transformed what could have been a reunion performance into something sacred — a multigenerational celebration of music, memory, discipline, sisterhood, and institutional legacy.
The concert itself had become one of the most anticipated moments of the Centennial weekend, drawing excitement not only from returning alumnae, but from the broader Greensboro community as well. For many, the return of the Alumnae Reunion Choir signaled the restoration of something deeply meaningful to the rhythm and spirit of Bennett College celebrations.
For months, alumnae from across the country prepared for the moment through rehearsals that often took place virtually, balancing careers, families, travel schedules, and time zones for the opportunity to return to the Bennett sound they once carried as students. When they gathered on campus for in-person rehearsals, the atmosphere became part reunion, part spiritual revival.
There were embraces and laughter while reminiscing over shared experiences and life since college. Women who had not seen one another in decades slipped naturally back into harmony.
And when the choir finally sang together, it felt less like a performance and more like a homecoming.
The voices, all belonging to women who had participated in the Bennett College Choir at some point in their lives, moved through the chapel with extraordinary emotional force.
Then came the sound.
Rich. Layered. Familiar.
A sound shaped by decades of rehearsal rooms, concert halls, chapel services, and sisterhood.
Selections including “Didn’t Ma Lawd Deliver Daniel,” “Elijah Rock,” “Steal Away,” “Sing to the Lord,” “Holy,” and “Done Made My Vow to the Lord” filled the chapel with a sound that moved fluidly between sacred tradition and celebratory praise.
Women from multiple generations — from the 1960s through recent decades — blended their voices together with astonishing cohesion. Some sang with polished classical restraint. Others leaned fully into the emotionality of the spirituals and gospel medleys. Together, they created something deeply Bennett: intellectually disciplined, spiritually grounded, and emotionally fearless.
Throughout the evening, audience members could be seen mouthing lyrics, swaying gently in the pews, and quietly wiping tears from their eyes. The chapel itself responded to the music, the voices rising beneath the radiant colors of the Black Madonna installation like prayer carried upward through light.
As the program progressed, applause frequently interrupted the performance, with audience members responding not only to the music itself, but to the memories and traditions it represented.
The Bennett College Choir has long occupied a revered place within the institution’s history. Over generations, it developed a reputation as one of the nation’s distinguished collegiate choral ensembles, performing nationally and internationally while nurturing young women whose artistry extended far beyond campus walls.
But on this evening, the concert revealed something perhaps even more powerful than prestige.
It revealed what happens when tradition is not merely remembered but revived.
In a Centennial year marked by celebration, reflection, and historic milestones, the Centennial Alumnae Reunion Choir Concert became a reminder that some traditions carry more than ceremony. They carry identity. Memory. Sisterhood. Legacy.
And as the choir closed the evening with the Bennett College Alma Mater, voices from the risers joined voices from the pews until the entire chapel seemed to sing as one.
Not performers and audience.
Family.
For one luminous evening beneath the Black Madonna, the voices of the Centennial Alumnae Reunion Choir became a single chorus, representing generations of Bennett Belles united through a shared love of music and a common history in the Bennett College Choir.
In a Centennial year dedicated to honoring Bennett College’s past while embracing its future, the return of the Alumnae Reunion Choir served as a powerful reminder that some of the institution’s greatest treasures are the women who continue to carry its songs, traditions, and spirit into the world.
Centennial Alumnae Reunion Choir Roster
First Sopranos included Josefa Bethea Wall, Kyresha Bowman, Kelsie Givens, Amber Harding, BriAnna Holmes, Shaneik L. Isaac, Sasha King, LaVie Totten Leasure, Julia Love Hall, Tracey Raper, April Smith (Byrd), Siera Grace Toney, Adonica Williams (Smith), Dominique Williams (Burchette), and LaLeza Yorn (Harris).
Second Sopranos included Chelsea L. Armstrong, LaMicha Belcher, Alisha Bradshaw (Burt), Miranda Bridges, Meonii Bristol (Holmes), Guila Cooper (Crenshaw), Danielle Jeffries, Betty King (Thompson), Karen Nelson (Ferguson), Hazel Rogers (McQueen), Sharde’ Rogers (Batie), Heather Taylor (Garris), and Rayven White.
First Altos included Diana Alycia Battle, Treda Berry, Angela Bingham (Richards), Vanessa Curry, Sabriyyah Fuller (McCaskill), Jimmie Gravely, Margaret Gregory, Roslyn McLean (Smith), Keyelle Miller (Tyler), Takiyah Starks Broadnax, and Brenda White.
Second Altos included Sada Boyd, Calaya Crockett (Yorn), Janice Granger (McLean), Marilyn King Lewis (McKenzie), Kial Little-Richey, Doreleena Sammons Hackett, Linda Seabrooks (Rivers), and TeLeesha Seigle (Long-Price).
The choir was accompanied by guest accompanist Melvin Bryant Jr., College Organist Fred Mason Jr., former accompanist Rochelle L. Joyner, drummer Nick Hayes, bassist George Perkins Jr., and lead guitarist Stanley Byers.
Together, they helped create an evening that celebrated not only the musical excellence of Bennett College, but the enduring bonds of sisterhood that have defined generations of Bennett Belles.
