HSO Will Celebrate The Legacy Of

Dr Martin Luther King With Concert & Dinner Event

Hartford Symphony Orchestra will present its ninth annual “I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Celebration” concert on Saturday, January 19, at 6 pm, at Hopewell Baptist Church, 280 Windsor Avenue in Windsor. Conducted by Music Director Edward Cumming in celebration of Dr. King’s legacy, the concert will feature Bloomfield native and Tony Award winning actor Anika Noni Rose of Dreamgirls fame.

Returning from the January 2007 concert are Bloomfield High School student and guitarist Raymond Clark, the King Philip Choir, and the Rising Star Choir, assembled specifically for this occasion. Other guest artists will include former Hartt School Community Division student and bassoonist Devin Cohen, returning from the 2005 “Search for a Star” POPS! concert, and Texas native and violinist Robert Alvarado Switala.

The program for January 19 will include the following selections: John R. Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice,” Heitor Villa Lobos’s Ciranda des Seti Notas, featuring Devin Cohen; Matty Melneck’s “Goody Goody,” featuring Anika Noni Rose; a performance by Rising Star Choir; B.B. King’s “Lucille,” featuring Raymond Clark; a poetry reading by Jennifer Turner, “Lyric For Strings” by Turner; and Patti Labelle’s “You Are My Friend,” performed by Ms Rose.

Following intermission the concert will continue with a performance of Silvestre Revueltas’s Ocho por Radio; Camille Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, featuring Mr Switala; a traditional performance of Kenya melodies, as arranged by Robert Hughes, by King Philip Choir; Gershwin’s “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’l,” featuring Devin Cohen; “Summertime” featuring Ms Rose; Lisa Ireland’s Thou, Oh Lord; Stephen Hatfield’s Elibama, by King Philip Choir; and G.J. Jones’s Praise Ye Jehovah.

Prior to the performance of the Jones work, the Reverend David K. Massey of Hopewell Baptist Church will offer a Benediction.

The “I Have a Dream” concert will be followed by “Celebrate the Dream,” the fifth annual Martin Luther King dinner dance at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 50 Morgan Street in Hartford, at  9 pm. This portion of the evening will feature gourmet southern cuisine, dancing to the music of the Alvin Carter Project, and an appearance by Ms Rose.

General admission concert tickets to “I Have a Dream” are $20, reserved seating is $40, and student/senior tickets are $10. Tickets are available through Hartford Symphony Orchestra Ticket Services at 860-244-2999, Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, and online at HartfordSymphny.org.

Discounts are available for groups of ten or more; for details call Kate Kolbe at 860-246-8742 extension 316.

Tickets to the “Celebrate the Dream” Dinner Dance are $75 per person or $750 for a table of ten, which includes reserved seats for the concert; reservations may be made by calling Kimberly Taylor at 860-246-8742, extension 304, by Tuesday, January 15.

Proceeds of “Celebrate the Dream” benefit the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s community and outreach programs.