The Baha’i Community of West Hartford and the Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding are hosting the Jan. 12, 2025 event, with the goal of promoting religious harmony in a contentious world.

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To most people, the idea of putting together an impromptu choir of untrained singers in two days – and then having it perform before an audience of hundreds on the third day – would be daunting, if not outright terrifying. On top of that, imagine that the vocalists will come from diverse religious backgrounds.

But for Eric Dozier, it’s the kind of project he’s done successfully many times before – and one he will undertake as the centerpiece presentation to commemorate World Religion Day in West Hartford on Jan. 12, 2025 at the West Hartford Town Hall.

An award-winning composer, musician, and cultural activist, Dozier said the challenges of assembling, training, and directing one-time-only community-based choir are considerable but not insurmountable.

“You never know who is going to show up, and you never know people’s ability,” said Dozier. “But if you make the music accessible and inspiring for the folks you’re working with, I’ve found that music is such a universal experience that it has a way of bringing people together, regardless of their ability or how good they are at singing.”

Co-sponsored by the Baha’i community of West Hartford and the Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding (CCIU), the event will take place at 1 p.m. and will be free and open to the public.

In addition to the interfaith choir being assembled by Dozier, the event will also feature contributions from a Hindu dance troupe, a Hartford children’s choir, an Indigenous flute player, and a group of Sikh musicians. Prayers and sacred readings from the Christian, Muslim, and other religious traditions will also be recited.

“Every contribution is sacred,” said Karen Anderson, the coordinator of the event, who is both a board member of the CCIU and a member of the West Hartford Baha’i community. “Every contribution is some kind of a prayer or call to worship, even the Hindu dances.”

World Religion Day was founded in 1950 by the Baha’i community of the United States as an effort to affirm the beauty, love, and peace of all the world’s religions. It has since taken on a life of its own and is celebrated in numerous countries.

The Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding is dedicated to leveraging the strengths and common ground of various faith traditions across the state, through mutual understanding, dialogue and effective community impact.

“CCIU celebrates the various faith-traditions using various forums,” said Rick Hathaway, Executive Director of the organization. “World Religion Day is a time where we can emphasize our common ground and demonstrate that when we work together we can achieve great impact in our communities.”

Last year’s 2024 World Religion Day commemoration in West Hartford, held at Congregation Beth Israel, drew more than 200 people from around the region.

The theme of the 2025 event will be “The Commonality of All Religions.” Dozier, who has a master’s degree from Duke Divinity School, will also give a keynote speech on this theme.

Mr. Dozier said the idea of assembling an interfaith choir – and training it on music that celebrates human and religious diversity – is aimed at proving the reality of that theme, and that the songs that will be chosen will “speak to the oneness of humanity, the oneness of God, and the oneness of religion.”

“We plan to choose diverse songs – songs that lend themselves to community worship,” Dozier said, adding that he has written many of the songs himself.

“I won’t try to predict what will happen when all these people get into the room but my hope is that the overall outcome for the singers and the people in the audience is that they will experience the joy of being together and building fellowship across religious lines, which is the purpose of World Religion Day,” he said.

Dozier is the historian and co-composer of the internationally award-winning and Broadway-bound production “The Ballad of Henry ‘Box’ Brown.” He has served as the musical director for the World Famous Harlem Gospel Choir, developed curriculum for the National Museum of African American Music, and been a featured artist at the United Nations on several occasions, sharing the stage with the likes of Harry Belafonte, Angelique Kidjo, and even Nelson Mandela.

About 30 vocalist volunteers have signed up, said Dozier, and he would welcome more. Choir members will first meet on Friday, Jan. 10, for two hours in the evening. Then they will train together for four hours on Saturday, Jan. 11. Both training sessions will be hosted at the St. Thomas Church at 872 Farmington Avenue in West Hartford.

Anderson said the contribution of a rehearsal venue by St. Thomas Church reflects the overall interfaith character of the event. She said other specific contributions will include:

• A performance by Rasa Dance Project Group, a Hindu-inspired effort that aims to preserve and promote the 2000-year-old dance forms from India.
• A meditative flute song by Lee Mixashawn Rozie, an indigenous musician in Hartford of Maheekanew/Mohawk descent.
• A performance by the Children’s Choir of the CREC Ana Grace Academy in Hartford.
• A contribution of traditional music from Sikh musicians.
• Mohammed Pasha will recite the Muslim Call to Prayer.
• CCIU board member Tasneem Hussain will be the Mistress of Ceremonies.

The West Hartford Town Hall is located at 50 South Main Street, West Hartford. The program begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. For more information, please email [email protected]

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