Gwinnett Daily Post

Photo by Kristen Ralph

DULUTH -- The chancel choir at Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church will be accompanied during its spring concert Sunday by a former U.S. secretary of state.

Condoleezza Rice will play piano during the 11 a.m. worship service at the Duluth church, accompanying the choir on several anthems, spirituals and other pieces.

Rice has attended services at the church in the past. Her father was a Presbyterian minister, and her cousin, Duluth resident Lativia Ray-Alston, is a member of the choir at Pleasant Hill Presbyterian.

Rice is one of three musicians set to perform a piece commissioned by a church member. The arrangement of the hymn "Morning has Broken," arranged by composer Joel Rainey, is for four-hand piano and organ. Rice will play alongside Kathy Cunningham on piano and Hyoun Joo Song on organ.

Rice will also perform a duet, Brahms's Violin Sonata in D Minor, with cello.

She performed the same piece with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Constitution Hall in April 2002 for the National Medal of Arts Awards.

Sunday's service is open to the public and Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church is at 3700 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth. For more information, call the church at 770-497-0233 or visit www.pleasanthillpc.org.