The annual Festival of Black Gospel (FBG), a 30-year tradition at Cornell University, will put the spotlight on one of its perennial performers this year. Lifelong Ithaca resident Stephanie McClain, who has sung in the FBG Mass Choir since the event began in 1976, will headline the three-day festival's opening concert, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in Cornell's Anabel Taylor Hall Auditorium.

McClain, who was in sixth grade when she first sang with the Mass Choir, is now the choir director of Ithaca's Calvary Baptist Church. This is her first time as a featured performer at the festival.

"I'm very excited -- I was actually shocked when they asked me," McClain said. "They usually have famous people, and I don't think of myself as famous by any means."

McClain will be backed by a group led by her longtime accompanist, keyboard player Marcus Graves. She will perform some of her favorite gospel songs, including "My Soul Has Been Anchored" and "I'm Available to You."

The concert also features the Cornell gospel choir Chosen Generation.

"Gospel is the music of the good news, and we've had some of the best gospel artists in the country and Grammy-winners here," said Rev. Sonya Hicks, FBG's adviser, referring to such past performers as Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker and Witness, a contemporary female vocal group.

The festival weekend also includes a public rehearsal for the Mass Choir, under the direction of FBG treasurer John Rawlins, on Saturday, Feb. 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Robert Purcell Community Center Multi-Purpose Room. The Mass Choir, a community ensemble, encourages choir members from area churches and members of the public with an interest in singing gospel music to join the weekend rehearsal and performance.

"We had an increase last year in local churches in the Mass Choir," Hicks said. "It seems to be on an upswing of participants from the community."

On Sunday, Feb. 26, the festival's ending service at 4 p.m. in Martha Van Rensselaer Auditorium will feature the Mass Choir and guest speaker Jean Price, minister of Bethel Christian Church in Massapequa, N.Y.

The festival, a traditional part of Black History Month events at Cornell, is a Cornell student-led organization founded in 1976 by the late Rev. W. Jack Lewis, director of Cornell United Religious Work from 1965 to 1981. FBG was part of Lewis' "longstanding commitment to fostering an inclusive interracial community," said Rev. Kenneth Clarke Sr., the current Cornell United Religious Work director.

Admission to the Feb. 24 concert is $5, with discounted admission for students and senior citizens. Advance tickets are available at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office.

For more information, contact Sonya Hicks at (607) 255-0626.