The Nashville Symphony announced their 31st Annual Let Freedom Sing concert in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to be held at Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 7:30 PM. Conductor Dr. Jeffrey L. Ames will conduct the concert which features arrangements of traditional melodies and original music from composers Florence Price, Jeffrey L. Ames, Jane Ramseyer Miller, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Rollo Dilworth, Leonard Bernstein, Mary D. Watkins, Marc Kaplan, and Adolphus Hailstork. Featured soloist in two movements from Dr. Ames’s Requiem for Color and “Somewhere” from West Side Story is tenor Rodrick Dixon, most recently seen with the Symphony as the Griot, Spirit of Boukman’s Father, and the Seer in the April 2023 world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s The Jonah People: A Legacy of Struggle and Triumph. Poet Wisdom Wright has written and will perform a new work commissioned by the Nashville Symphony for this performance.
This concert also marks the 26th year featuring the Celebration Youth Chorus (CYC), led by co-directors Margaret Campbelle-Holman and Nita Smith. CYC is provided by Choral Arts Link’s choral program, The MET Singers, which serves extended choral development for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, homeschools, private schools, and charter schools across Middle Tennessee. CYC joins the Celebration Chorus – led by chorus master Odessa Settles – who serve as rehearsal mentors, guiding younger singers in the professionalism that is a hallmark of the organization’s performance decorum.
“’Somehow, Someday, Somewhere” is the theme for the 2024 Let Freedom Sing…the program brings awareness to the struggle that continues to occur across the globe, and our desire for a better tomorrow,” said Dr. Ames. “…we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. May his dream of peace, healing, and unity become realized through music.”
Tickets are currently available on a “pay what you wish” scale for 2023/24 season ticket holders and donors of $500+. Tickets will be made available to the general public on Monday, January 8. There is a four-ticket maximum per customer. More information can be found at nashvillesymphony.org/letfreedomsing.
