× Upcoming Events Donor List Donate WUOT Broadcast Schedule About the KSO Conductors Staff & Board Orchestra Roster Past Events
Image for MLK Celebration Concert: She Sings for Freedom
MLK Celebration Concert: She Sings for Freedom
Jan. 14, 2024 | 3:00 PM
Program

MLK Celebration Concert

She Sings for Freedom

Jan. 14, 2024 | 3:00 p.m.
Bijou Theatre
 
sponsored by
 
 
 
This performance is presented in partnership with the Bijou Theatre and Beck Cultural Exchange Center
 
 
 

As president of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, the place where African American history and culture are preserved, it is my pleasure to welcome our entire community to this special MLK weekend concert, “She Sings of Freedom.” This year’s program explores the lives and music of six extraordinary female musicians of the Civil Rights Movement. Music ignited the Movement and its sound forced the conscience of America to be “woke.” These women along with many others lifted their voices and sang the message of freedom, declaring, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round.” The history books are often silent on the significant role African American women have played in the struggle for freedom. This moving tribute gives voice to the legacy of some of these influential women. It deepens our understanding of the vital role and impact of women in the fight for justice and equality during the mid-twentieth century. Willing to risk it all, these women helped to carry the Civil Rights Movement forward through their music and activism. Diane Nash, Civil Rights activist and a leading figure in the Movement stated, “People understood very well what could happen.” Despite the cost, these women chose to act demonstrating their unwavering commitment to justice for all as they changed history. Beck is honored to support this concert featuring KSO Music Director Aram Demirjian together with a group of remarkable women who are unsilencing the voices of these pioneering icons of the Civil Rights Movement. Thus, we are honored to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by honoring the legacy of all who stood for freedom. Welcome.
 
- Reverend Reneé Kesler, President
Beck Cultural Exchange Center

 

PROGRAM
 

Aram Demirjian, conductor
Dr. Dasha Lundy, speaker
Phyllis Y. Nichols, speaker
Rhea Carmon, poet
Evelyn Jack, vocals
Kelle Jolly, vocals
Teyah Young, vocals

 

FLORENCE PRICE
Excerpt from “Andante moderato” from String Quartet in G major
 
TRAD. (arr. DEMIRJIAN)
America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)

FRANZ SCHUBERT
Ave Maria
TRAD. (arr. PRICE)
My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord

VALERIE COLEMAN
Portraits of Josephine
   I. Ol’ St. Louis (excerpt)

COLE PORTER (arr. SCHACHTER)
Easy to Love

VALERIE COLEMAN
Portraits of Josephine
   IV. Thank You, Josephine

TRAD. (arr. SCHACHTER)
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

TRAD. (arr. SCHACHTER)
Take My Hand, Precious Lord

TRAD. (arr. SCHACHTER)
Down by the Riverside

TRAD. (arr. DEMIRJIAN)
Spiritual Trilogy

FLORENCE PRICE (arr. FINE)
Adoration

HARRY BURLEIGH (arr. TYZIK)
Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit

GENE TAYLOR (arr. DEMIRJIAN)
Why? (The King of Love is Dead)

TRAD.
We Shall Overcome

J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON (arr. CLARK)
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing
 

Latecomers will be seated during the first convenient pause in the performance.
The use of recording devices and/or cameras is strictly forbidden. Please remember to silence all electronic devices and refrain from text messaging during the concert. Mobile devices may be used to read program notes during the concert.
Programs and artists subject to change.


Lyrics: Lift Every Voice and Sing

Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.