For 15 years, the Akron Symphony Orchestra has been joining forces with local gospel choirs to present Gospel Meets Symphony, a blending of two seemingly disparate musical genres, designed to bring folks of seemingly different backgrounds and interests together for at least one evening.

But after a decade and a half, part of the challenge for the orchestra and Gospel Meets Symphony organizers is to find new ways to make the program more than just a classical piece followed by a gospel song.

Last year, the group brought in Columbus conductor/composer the Rev. Ray Wise to assist music director Christopher Wilkins, and the results were so impressive that Wise is back.

''I think we've finally hit our stride, and Dr. Wise is a very talented musician, and had an outstanding concert,'' said Gospel Meets Symphony chairwoman Virginia Robinson, who has been involved
in all 15 concerts.

''Dr. Wise brought a new energy, and the choir so absolutely enjoyed working with him and he brings quite a lot of musicianship to the process. (The choir members) are primarily untrained people who sing for the joy and their home churches, so you're bringing a lot of different people and styles together to make something whole and complete, and he did that last year.''

Wise worked with Wilkins many years ago on a piece called African Portraits, and has participated in variations on the Gospel Meets Symphony concept in Columbus and with other orchestras around the country. He said the conceptual blending of the two genres often does not happen onstage, saying he has attended concerts and seen orchestra musicians reading magazines during the gospel portions of the evening.

''My concern was that gospel is a music of improvisation, a music that is spontaneous, and what I had seen so often was that when you blend the symphony with the gospel music, due to the fact that most of the music is written on the page, once you get to that level of excitement . . . where the improvisation usually happens, there's nothing on the page,'' he said.

''So my goal was, how do we bring the energy and excitement, the repetitive nature of gospel to the symphony, but then also keep and maintain the level of musical excellence in the gospel realm?''

Wise felt last year's concert was such a success in part because ''the orchestra was able to emphasize and create many new things that they had never done before, and they were just exciting, spontaneous, improvisational moments and that's exactly what we were trying to do.''

This year's program features four pieces written by Wise, as well as classical music, including Goin' Home, adapted from Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, and Josef Haydn's The Heavens Are Telling. Divine Hope, a local gospel group, will return to perform Here's My Heart and Victory, written by group leader and playwright Charles Myricks Jr.

Wise, who said he'll continue working with Gospel Meets Symphony as long as he's welcome, hopes to use the annual concert to develop techniques and ways of truly blending the composed nature of orchestral music with the improvisation of gospel, including adding notes and space in the written scores for the orchestra's musicians to create what he called ''planned spontaneity.''

''What needs to happen is literally developing a new paradigm, and that's what we were looking at last year. And the point is, if you can continue to do that and demonstrate that, yes, orchestras can do gospel and they can improvise and go with the flow, and then gospel folks can come in and do the cool things, the more traditional-type things with excellence, it now means that there really is a coming together of the two worlds as opposed to just two worlds being in the same place.''

Wise said last year was the beginning of a process that may take some time to perfect, but with the help, energy and dedication of Wilkins, the orchestra and the volunteer choir, he hopes to create something that can become a template for similar events.

''It worked last year, and let's see if it works again this year. If so, then we are on the way to saying, there is a new paradigm.''