Texas-born singing sensation Kim Burrell will warm hearts and lift spirits on opening night of the 24th annual Festival of Black Gospel at Cornell University, Friday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Burrell is joined by a powerhouse twin bill: gospel artists Blessed Hope and Donna Ware & Harambee.

Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for those with student IDs or people in groups of five or more. Advance sale tickets are available locally at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., and at Logos Bookstore Emporium on the Ithaca Commons. Tickets also will be available at the door.

Burrell is a recent winner of the Stellar Award, the "Grammy" of gospel music. Billboard magazine describes her latest CD, "Everlasting Life," as featuring "strong songs" and "soaring vocals" that deliver a Gospel message "with a life-in-the-real-world honesty that is powerful without being preachy." Burrell excels in the gospel tradition and has complementary crossover stylings that slide easily into contemporary R&B and jazz, a la Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald.

The festival continues Saturday, Feb. 19, with a Mass Choir workshop open to the public at 10 a.m. in Bailey Hall, followed by a free "Gospel Explosion" at 7 p.m., featuring gospel choirs from Cornell, Ithaca and the Northeast rattling the rafters under the direction of Elder Jay Nixon from Dunamis Ministries of Brooklyn, N.Y. The festival concludes Sunday, Feb. 20, at 5:30 p.m. with a worship service in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room. This year's festival sponsors include: Cornell United Religious Work, Student Assembly Finance Committee, Minority Finance Committee, Africana Latino Asian Native American Program (ALANA), Cornell Board of Minority Educational Affairs, Cornell Concert Commission, Cornell University Program Board, class councils, Ithaca's St. James A.M.E. Zion Church, Presbyterian Church Cooperative and Ithaca's Calvary Baptist Church.

For more information, contact the Festival of Black Gospel office at (607) 255-6514 or Alishia Green, festival coordinator, at (607) 272-2738, or the Rev. Cleveland Thornhill, (607) 255-0626.