Thomas Wilkins will conduct the program that will feature the orchestra along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus, an all-Cleveland community, volunteer chorus that brings together a wide range of choristers from local churches as well as members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus.
In addition to traditional spirituals and gospel tunes, the program features music by Peter Boyer, Kurt Carr, Antonín Dvořák, Duke Ellington, Charles Floyd, and Morton Gould, as well as traditional spirituals and gospel songs. Cellist Thomas Mesa, first-place winner in the Senior Division of the 2016 Sphinx Competition for Black and Latino string players, will perform as soloist. WCLV Classical 104.9 and 90.3 WCPN ideastream will broadcast the concert.
The event will be a day-long celebration at Severance Hall; performances by the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, El Sistema@Rainey, Cleveland Inner City Ballet, Councilman Conwell & The Footprints and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will take place in the Concert Hall. There will also be family activities such as the “I Have a Dream” Wall and a Martin Luther King Jr. Book Display by Cuyahoga County Public Library in Smith Lobby, and Rock the House – DJ and Line Dancing in the Bogomolny-Kozerefski Grand Foyer.
Admission to the concert is free, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 9 a.m. on Jan. 3 through the Severance Hall Ticket Office, by phone at 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141 and online at clevelandorchestra.com. Typically, tickets sell out by noon on the day they are made available to the public. There is a limit of 4 tickets per household.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2016.
