Event includes live episode of HearTOGETHER podcast prior to the concert featuring
Michelle Cann, Andrea Custis, Dr. Fredara M. Hadley, and Dr. Cassandra Jones
Free tickets available at www.philorch.org/MLK2022
Philadelphia Orchestra broadcast partner WRTI 90.1 FM to air the concert live
(Philadelphia, January 5, 2022)––In partnership with Global Citizen’s Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service and Girard College, The Philadelphia Orchestra will present its 32nd annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, led by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin,on Monday, January 17, at 1:00 PM. This year’s concert will take place in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to the concert, at 11:30 AM, guests can enjoy a special live episode of the Orchestra’s HearTOGETHER podcast, featuring artists and activists who are working to change our world.
Tickets to the Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert are free and available to everyone starting today at www.philorch.org/MLK2022. Tickets to the live episode of HearTOGETHER, also free of charge, are available via www.philorch.org/heartogether-live. Proof of vaccination/ID are required for entry. The Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert is generously sponsored by PECO, with additional sponsorship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Annenberg Foundation. The concert will be broadcast live on WRTI 90.1 FM.
“We are delighted to reunite with audiences, live and in person, for this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, one of our most important and cherished traditions,” said Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc., President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky. “We are very grateful to our partners at Global Citizen and Girard College who have helped make this day of service possible. We look forward to honoring Dr. King’s legacy through music with Yannick, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and our many treasured guests. Music has the unique ability to unite us and create positive change in our world, and we hope you will join us on MLK Day.”
“Global Citizen is excited to partner for the eighth consecutive year with the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra for the 27th annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service,” said Todd Bernstein, president of Global Citizen and founder and director of the King Day of Service. “We have been through extraordinary times with a global pandemic and a politically divided nation. This magnificent annual concert celebrating Dr. King’s legacy of social justice reminds us of the importance of coming together and finding common ground as a community.”
The concert reflects the Orchestra’s commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Strategies (IDEAS) and showcases works by Black composers, including John Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson’s powerful anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” featuring the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts Chorus; Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout; Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers;and the third movement from Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 and her Adoration, featuring 12-year-old violinist Amaryn Olmeda, winner of the 24th Annual Sphinx Competition, Juniors Division, which recognizes and develops classical music talent in the Black and Latinx communities. A stirring recitation of excerpts from Dr. King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech by Philadelphia Orchestra Storyteller, Narrator, and Host Charlotte Blake Alston will accompany Barber’s Adagio for Strings, an event tradition.
Prior to the concert, guests can enjoy a live taping of the Orchestra’s HearTOGETHER podcast at 11:30 AM in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. The event will open with a spotlight interview between HearTOGETHER host Tori Marchiony and President and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia Andrea Custis. The two will discuss the differences between the “American Dream” and Dr. King’s dream for America. Immediately following, Marchiony will facilitate a discussion, “From Programming to Progress: Why Music Matters,” with a panel of special guests including pianist Michelle Cann, Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and a champion of the work of Florence Price; Dr. Fredara M. Hadley, ethnomusicology professor at the Juilliard School in the Music History department; and Dr. Cassandra W. Jones, administrator, music and arts, senior director for Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, and CEO of Next Step Associates. Together, they will share stories and analyses about works included in the Orchestra’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, as well as the importance of music in social movements and in building community.
PECO has continuously supported enriching the arts with the Orchestra for more than 20 years. This year’s concert sponsorship expands PECO’s support of the Orchestra’s innovative programming and the many King Day of Service activities throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, first presented in 1991, reflects the beliefs and convictions of the famed civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and combines the traditions of Black culture and Western classical music. The concert pays tribute to Dr. King’s vision of a society free of prejudice and racial divisions, and his belief in the power of music to effect change.
PECO, founded in 1881, is Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PECO delivers energy to more than 1.6 million electric customers and more than 516,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. The company’s 2,500 employees are dedicated to the safe and reliable delivery of electricity and natural gas as well as enhanced energy management conservation, environmental stewardship, and community assistance. PECO was named 2017 Best Mid-size Employer in Philadelphia by Forbes magazine. The company also has an estimated annual economic impact of $4.3 billion in Pennsylvania, supporting more than 8,700 local jobs and producing $732 million in labor income. PECO is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's only Fortune 100 utility and leading competitive energy provider. For more information, visit PECO.com.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert
January 17 at 1:00 PM—Monday afternoon—Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Amaryn Olmeda Violin
Charlotte Blake Alston Speaker
Choir of the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts
Lauren Thomas-Moyer Director
Johnson -“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Coleman - Seven O’Clock Shout
Simon - Fate Now Conquers
Beethoven - Fourth movement from Symphony No. 7
Price - Third movement from Symphony No. 1
Price - Adoration, for solo violin and string orchestra
Barber - Adagio for Strings (with narration based on the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Traditional - “Joshua”
Smallwood - "Total Praise”
The concert is free, but tickets are required and available starting today at www.philorch.org/MLK2022. Proof of vaccination/ID are required for entry. Seating is general admission and on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 12:30 PM.
The concert will be broadcast live on WRTI 90.1 FM and available online at www.wrti.org.
The Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert is presented by PECO. Additional funding for this concert is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Annenberg Foundation.
About The Philadelphia Orchestra
About Yannick Nézet-Séguin
About the 2021–22 Season
About the Digital Stage
Our Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Strategies (IDEAS)
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CONTACTS:
Ashley Berke
267.250.5148
[email protected]
Alyssa Moore
215.893.3142
[email protected]