Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., with the Boston Children's Chorus

Every January, Classical New England joins the rest of the nation in celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year's celebration features the Boston Children's Chorus and director Anthony Trecek-King.

To hear the program, click on "Listen" above.

A visionary whose convictions singularly fueled cultural change, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was himself inspired by the voices and the music that were part of his life from an early age. The son of a choir director (they held rehearsals in the front parlor of the King home) and himself a young singer with a “fine clear voice,” Dr. King often expressed his vision of a society in musical metaphors. That included one of his more famous utterances: “Life’s piano can only produce melodies of brotherhood when it is recognized that the black keys are as basic, necessary, and beautiful as the white keys.”

For this year’s celebration we’ve partnered with the Boston Children’s Chorus to present a “preview concert” in our Fraser Performance Studio of the BCC’s 10th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert. This year’s program at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, is titled “The Content of Character,” and features special guest soloists Samantha Barnes Santana and Melinda Doolittle.

Melinda Doolittle (photo by Cheryl Willoughby)

In our Fraser Studio, morning host Laura Carlo welcomes Artistic Director Anthony Trecek-King, and the 70-strong voices of the BCC’s Young Men’s Ensemble and Premier Choir, for a program of songs that honor Dr. King’s life and legacy.

Included in the program are the spirituals “Deep River,” “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” and “Wade in the Water,” the latter featuring a searing vocal by Melinda Doolittle. Also, the BCC performs a song in tribute to the Sandy Hook shooting victims called “When the Sun Rose Up This Morning," by 23-year-old Winchester, MA native Stephen Feigenbaum.

---

On the program:

Battle of Jericho - arr. Moses Hogan
   Premier Choir, Young Men's Ensemble

When the Sun Rose Up This Morning - Stephen Feigenbaum
   Premier Choir, Young Men's Ensemble

Ho Boys Cancha Line 'Em - arr. Leonard De Paur, edited by Anthony Trecek King
   Young Men's Ensemble, Branden Miles, soloist

Deep River from "A Child of Our Time" - arr. Michael Tippett
   Premier Choir, Young Men's Ensemble

Strange Fruit - Abe Meeropol, arr. Kristina G. Boerger
   Premier Choir

"Dreams" from Dream Trilogy - Rollo Dilworth
   Premier Choir; Sarah Koonce, piano; David Wade, guitar; Kyle Miles, bass; Pieter Struyk, percussion

Wade in the Water - arr. Moses Hogan
   Premier Choir; Young Men's Choir; Melinda Doolittle, vocals


SEE A SLIDESHOW AND HEAR THE PROGRAM