AWARD-winning town composer Roger Jones will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of his acclaimed musical with a special performance at a venue close to his heart.
On Saturday, April 22, Roger and his wife Mary will be performing ‘Jerusalem Joy’ at Bromsgrove Baptist Church, where the pair also celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a special concert last July.
The event will be run by Christian Music Ministries, the Bromsgrove charity Roger was made full-time director of in 1984.
Visitors will be able to get involved by learning Roger’s musical during rehearsals on the day as part of the choir or orchestra.
Roger was working as Aston Manor school’s head of music in the early 1970s, and after realising the choir was running out of suitable material to perform at the school’s Easter concert decided to write some of his own.
That decision led Roger on a path to writing his first musical, Jerusalem Joy, which features twelve songs and retells the Easter story from Palm Sunday to the resurrection.
The musical gained national recognition and was performed on both radio and television, featuring as a complete programme on BBC’s Songs of Praise, and is still performed throughout the world.
Since writing Jerusalem Joy in 1973, Roger has written a total of 24 musicals and has performed across the UK as well as in countries such as France, Germany, the US, India and Cyprus.
His hugely successful career has seen him honoured with the Mary Jones prize in 2018.
The annual award recognises those in the UK who have worked to keep the story of Welsh girl Mary Jones alive.
A year later Roger was given the Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of his more than 40 years in the industry.
The Jerusalem Joy anniversary performance will get under way at 7.30pm with rehearsals beginning at 2pm.
The presentation will also feature numbers from the Christian Music Ministries’ latest collection, Songs of Easter.
Tickets will cost £7 each.
Visit https://www.cmm.org.uk/shop/ to book tickets and for more information.
