Gospel Choir director Shelley Ensor awarded Maryland State Arts Council award

Traditional folklife art lives on through accomplished gospel vocalist Shelley Ensor, a McDaniel lecturer and director of the McDaniel College Gospel Choir.

Ensor was awarded the Heritage Award from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). Her contributions to traditional gospel music as an educator and performer have enriched the folklife heritage in her communities both locally and abroad.

The annual MSAC Heritage Awards recognize long-term achievement in the traditional arts and include grant funding for awardees to continue their efforts at preserving the heritage and traditions of their art.

In 1995, Ensor began teaching and directing choir at Common Ground on the Hill, where she served as the choral director for the Common Ground Gospel Choir for over 20 years, and where she continues to teach and sing today. Common Ground on the Hill is in residence at McDaniel College and is the Mid-State Folklife Center for Carroll, Frederick, and Howard counties. Maryland’s folklife centers are run by MSAC and offer continuing programmatic or educational efforts to support traditional arts, or community-based living cultural traditions handed down by example or word of mouth.

For the past eight years, Ensor has served as the director of the McDaniel College Gospel Choir, an ensemble that includes both students and members of the greater community. The Gospel Choir performs traditional and contemporary gospel music, as well as spirituals. In 2019, Common Ground awarded Ensor with the Robert H. Chambers Award for Excellence in the Traditional Arts.

Since childhood, Ensor has sung with her siblings in The Sisters in Harmony, with whom she released an album. She was the vocalist for the Howard Burns Quintet and performed at the legendary jazz venue Blues Alley. She is featured on the Ron Kearns CD “Live at Blues Alley” and was the soloist with the Frederick Community College Jazz Band for several years. Ensor has also served as director for the Voices of Faith and the Men’s Choir of First Baptist Church of Baltimore, the Trinity Baptist Gospel Choir, the Men's Choir of St. Luke’s UMC, the Bertinna Randall Gospel Choir of St. Mark UMC, and the Westminster Church of the Brethren.

“Music has allowed me to express the happiest times in my life,” says Ensor. “It has given me comfort in the most trying times, and it has calmed in chaotic times. Being able to share the gift of music either by performing or teaching has been a blessing to me. My hope is that something I have done has touched someone to the point that they have the desire to pass the gift of music on to someone else.”