UNC Charlotte Voices of Eden Gospel Choir

Voices of Eden's purpose is to inspire and uplift members of the UNC Charlotte campus community and abroad through music. General Information The Voices of Eden Gospel Choir was founded at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in late spring 2005, and held its first rehearsal in September of that same year. The group’s founder, Zacch Estrada-Petersen, a UNCC senior at the time, sought to create an atmosphere where members of the campus community were free to fellowship and worship the Lord through the gift of music. No audition is required to join Voices of Eden, and all are welcome, regardless of previous experience. All that is needed to join the choir is the desire to have a closer relationship with God.

Voices of Eden regularly participates and performs in UNCC events, and at various functions around the Charlotte area. They have performed alongside other church-based and collegiate choirs, including the highly acclaimed New Horizons Gospel Choir of North Carolina State University, the Neo-Black Society Gospel Choir at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Florida A and M University Gospel Choir, and the Littleton H. Mason Singers at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Voices of Eden usually hosts four full-length concerts each school year – two in the fall, and two in the spring. Among them, the choir has hosted an annual charity benefit concert since 2007, which has been in support of the Bethlehem Center of Charlotte, Habitat for Humanity, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Charlotte and Jacob’s Ladder Job Center, Inc.

Voices of Eden has done tours to Atlanta, Georgia; Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. They have traveled on two occasions to Durham, North Carolina. In March 2007, the choir participated in an international gospel choir competition held in Brooklyn, New York. In February 2009, the choir opened up for international gospel recording legend Yolanda Adams, at the 2009 CIAA Gospel Explosion in Charlotte.

Voices of Eden also provided background vocals on the score for a short film by local filmmaker Don Johns, in an original composition. The film, titled “A Mother’s Prayer”, debuted in May 2009. In August 2009, another original Johns composition, “Let the Children Laugh”, was recorded. The song will air on a promotional video for an international charity – Solace for the Children – which provides medical, dental and optical services to children of war-torn Afghanistan. A third original song by Johns, “Can You See Me”, was recorded by Voices of Eden in March 2010. The Voices of Eden YouTube site, www.youtube.com/VOEVault, which features over 65 video clips of choir performances, has a combined total of over 200,000 views.

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