Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2014

| www.MountPleasant.Rentals

I moved in, even the roads weren’t completely paved yet.”

Pringle said he liked I’On for the “village feeling,” and

pointed out that Mount Pleasant was a relaxing change

from the bustle of downtown Charleston. When I asked

Pringle if he still loves Mount Pleasant as much as ever,

though the town is hardly “sleepy” any longer, his answer

was a hearty yes.

“This is my home,” he emphasized. “I can’t imagine

living elsewhere. And I’ve lived in Toronto, Charlotte –

many other places in the world.”

Pringle has always felt inspired to bring music to a

diverse audience, even from a young age. His “evolution

in the arts” began in a small place in Berkeley County

known as Pringletown, where he attended the Sunbeam

Choir at Pisgah AME Church. Later, he joined the U.S.

Navy for eight years, but he never stopped producing

music. Today, he is the founder of both the Charleston

Symphony Orchestra’s Gospel Choir and the Charleston

Symphony Orchestra’s Spiritual Ensemble.

The choir came about in 1999 when Pringle was

serving on the board of the Charleston Symphony

Orchestra and chaired a subcommittee tasked with

community outreach. The committee funded the

popular show “Gospel Christmas” and later became

big enough to take its own name: The CSO Gospel

Choir. From that group, another niche project was

born: the CSO Spiritual Ensemble, which focused on

the contributions of African-American classical musical

artists in the United States.

“I felt that the story of music in America needed

to include classical music from the African-American

community,” he said.

At that time, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra had

no money to support Pringle’s newest vision of classical

symphony performances composed by African-American

artists. Thus Pringle got to work raising money because,

he said, “people were interested.” Since the Spiritual

Ensemble is a 501(c)(3), he was able to obtain grants

reserved for nonprofits in addition to private donations.

Ticket sales to the first performance helped as well.

“A lot of classical conductors aren’t aware of African-

American composers,” Pringle mused. “You have to seek

The 2014 Colour of Music Festival will focus on female African-American composers in classical music.