Nashville Symphony Presents 31st Let Freedom Sing, an Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert
Nashville Symphony Presents 31st Let Freedom Sing, an Annual Concert Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Conductor Dr. Jeffrey L. Ames Leads the Orchestra, Celebration Chorus, and Celebration Youth Chorus in Works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Adolphus Hailstork, Florence Price, Mary D. Watkins, and others
Guest Artists to Include Tenor Rodrick Dixon and Poet Wisdom Wright
NASHVILLE, TN (December 18, 2023)—The Nashville Symphony today 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.
About the Nashville Symphony
The Nashville Symphony has served as Music City’s classical music ambassadors since 1946. Led by Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero since 2009, the ensemble is internationally acclaimed for its focus on contemporary American orchestral music through collaborations with composers including Jennifer Higdon, Terry Riley, Joan Tower and Aaron Jay Kernis; commissioning and recording projects with Nashville-based artists including Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Ben Folds and Victor Wooten; and for its 14 GRAMMY® Awards. In addition to the classical season, the orchestra performs concerts in a wide range of genres, from pops to live-to-film movie scores, family-focused presentations and community concerts, holiday events, jazz and cabaret evenings, and is the official orchestra for the Nashville Ballet.
As an established leader in the Nashville and regional arts and cultural communities, the Symphony spearheads groundbreaking partnerships and initiatives to engage citizens throughout Middle Tennessee. Recent notable programs include Violins of Hope Nashville, which engaged tens of thousands of people through concerts, exhibits, and lectures by spotlighting a historic collection of instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Similarly, in April 2023, the Nashville Symphony presented the world premiere of an epic opera commissioned from composer Hannibal Lokumbe, The Jonah Project: A Legacy of Struggle and Triumph. Beyond the commission, Lokumbe embedded himself in the community, visiting HBCUs, public schools, underserved neighborhoods, and houses of worship, listening to the voices of our community and sharing his personal journey through the power of music.
In addition to support from Metro Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville Symphony is supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP5534 awarded to the State of Tennessee by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
###
