September Penn
An International Voice
A singer, songwriter and performance artist, September Penn has emerged as a leading expert on the music of the Civil Rights Movement. For more than a decade, September has fulfilled the role of as a music director for Dr. Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University history professor who was commissioned by Coretta Scott King to edit Dr. Martin Luther King’s papers. Dr. Carson performed that work for more than 30 years and wrote a play, called Passages of Martin Luther King, for which September was music director in Beijing, China in 2007 and East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2011.
From her work with Dr. Carson, September wrote her own production, Sounds of the Civil Rights Movement: The Power of Song, which served as the official kick-off event for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in St. Petersburg, Fla. That led to the creation of The Power of Song Inc., in Florida and California.
September is co-founder as well as CEO and artistic director of The Power of Song Inc. In 2020, she earned her Masters of Divinity Degree with a focus on Worship, Theology and the Arts from Fuller Theological Seminary, where she directed the Kaleo Choir and was named a Fujimura Fellow. September is the pastor of Angeles Mesa Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, Calif.
She is frequently sought after as a worship leader, public speaker and expert on social justice issues at schools, colleges, universities, churches, conferences and various other contexts throughout the United States and internationally. In addition to China and the Middle East, she has spoken and performed in Japan, Africa and England.
September has recorded two music albums and is a national award-winning artist. A Virginia native and communications graduate from Virginia Tech, September is a wife and mother three. They currently live in Southern California.
“You will be moved. You will be thrilled. And you will walk away feeling different.”
Get September for Your Event?
September Penn has rapidly become a leading global voice in social justice through her international experiences in theater arts and cultural exchanges, through scholarship as a Master of Divinity student at Fuller Theological Seminary and through music as a vocalist, songwriter, recording artist and choir director.
What She Offers:
Vocalist and Arts Director/Producer
September’s heart is as a worship leader and choir director, but she’s known to have melted hearts with an R&B tune or two. She also works with children in public and private schools. September has written, directed and acted in theatrical performances with the some of the world’s premiere performers, including members of the National Theater Company of China.
She performs as a soloist, with ensembles and with dozens of members of her own casts.
Speaker
September has lectured and sat on panels at colleges and universities, churches and conferences across the globe on the music of Civil Rights Movement and its connection to the church. She has slept on the streets with the homeless to aid her writing of music about the faces of homelessness. Her own personal story of domestic violence in college and early adulthood, give her the empathy to connect with the plight of women confronting life’s tragedies.