NORFOLK, Va. - The Virginia Symphony Orchestra will present its annual concert paying homage to the life of visionary civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on January 15.
Presented in collaboration with the City of Norfolk, this concert will feature Virginia Symphony Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Wilkins, the Mount Unity Choir and the Amandla Quartet.
Soloists include electric bassist Victor Wooten, cellist Noah Crumbly, saxophonist Stephanie Sanders and vocalist Christian Williams.
The Booker T. Washington High School Orchestra will perform a pre-concert showcase.
Speakers during this concert will include Calvary Revival Church Bishop Courtney McBath, Second Calvary Church Reverend Geoffrey Guns, Mount Zion Church Reverend Jerome Barber and Collingswood Agape Baptist Church Reverends Robert Lee and Darl Wilburn.
Wilkins’ selections for this concert focus on Dr. King’s legacy as a preacher.
Dr. King requested that “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” be played at his funeral and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, along with saxophonist Stephanie Sanders and vocalist Christian Williams, will perform the gospel song in his honor.
Other selections for this concert include Margaret Bonds’ “Montgomery Variations,” which was composed as a tribute to Dr. King and focuses on Montgomery, Alabama as a focal point of the Civil Rights Movement.
Out of the piece’s seven movements, Wilkins selected “The Decision,” “Prayer Meeting” and “The March," which tell the story of the 385-day Montgomery bus boycott sparked by the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and how Dr. King oversaw the boycott while serving as minister to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
Victor Wooten will also perform his arrangement of the gospel song “Amazing Grace” for the electric bass and the Mount Unity Choir will perform “Emmanuel.”
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra will present its annual Dreamer Award to Wooten, a Newport News native and acclaimed bassist.
For more information about this free concert, click here.
