From full symphony concerts, to musical prayers and hymns — these are a few of the many sounds heard across Southern California in honor of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Local creatives, churches and groups are celebrating King through the arts, hoping to continue his legacy of fighting for civil rights and equality. This year, the MLK National Day of Service is celebrated on Monday, Jan. 15 — the same day the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize recipient would have been 95 years old.
The Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra played its annual MLK Holiday Concert on Saturday, Jan. 13, a musical collaboration with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Westside Coalition, in downtown Santa Monica. The free series was first started in 2007 by Nat Trives, then-president of the symphony and a former mayor of Santa Monica.
Before the concert, symphony leaders said the performance honoring a civil rights icon is “very important” to continue each year, because it “promotes equality within the community.”
“It promotes equality and justice, community engagement, and inspiration and reflection in our community,” said Renée Cunning, executive director of the symphony.
This year’s concert highlighted Black artists, soloists, dancers and composers — like Grammy-winner John Clayton, whose ensemble piece “Home” made its West Coast premiere at Saturday’s concert. The performance also featured original music from the late George Walker, the first Black composer to win a Pulitzer Prize in music, in 1996.
As a special way of honoring King, a performance set to Walker’s “Lyrics for Strings” featured two dancers acting as King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
Broadway actor Mary Bond Davis performed an acapella cover of James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” a hymn that concertmaster and violinist Daniel Persitz said was “somewhat of an anthem of King’s.” The song was frequently used as a rallying cry…
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