The King Celebration: A Historic Return
February 12, 2025
By: James L. Paulk
One of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s most cherished events was revived in January with the return of the King Celebration, on January 4th at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
It all began in 1993 with a vocal concert in Symphony Hall featuring renowned soprano Jessye Norman as a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King and members of the King family were in attendance. It became an annual event, and over the next few years, the Orchestra became a part of the program, which soon moved to the King Chapel at Morehouse College, and the Glee Clubs of Morehouse and Spelman College began to participate.
An important element, added in the early years, is that the concerts, which took place prior to the King Holiday, were recorded for broadcast nationally over National Public Radio (and later on American Public Media) as part of its Performance Today series, for an audience that ultimately grew to more than 2.5 million listeners.
Over the years, the composers featured in the King concerts have comprised a virtual Who’s Who of African-American composers: William Dawson, William Grant Still, George Walker, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor were heard, among many others.
Atlanta’s own Black composers were spotlighted at King Celebration programs, including Alvin Singleton and T. J. Anderson, who had been appointed as the ASO’s first composer-in-residence in 1969 at the invitation of Robert Shaw (Anderson was the first African American to hold such a position at a major American orchestra).
In 2010, the concert featured a performance of Blues Symphony, a major new work by Wynton Marsalis commissioned by the ASO together with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. And in 2012, beloved cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed as part of the Celebration.
The ASO was invited to perform at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was a longtime minister, by the Honorable Reverend Senator Raphael G. Warnock, pastor, and Dr. Patrice Turner, Ebenezer’s Director of Worship and the Arts. The Orchestra was joined by members of the ASO Chorus and Chamber Chorus, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir, and the program included remarks by Dr. Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King and chair of the King Center.
Dr. Turner commented: “The 2025 King Celebration Concert has been the realization of a dream. Ebenezer is known for offering an array of quality music from all sacred genres. It made sense to imagine a concert with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the Horizon Sanctuary. And the icing on the cake was that we featured Gregory Porter!”
Porter, one of the best-known jazz singers of our era, performed two of his own compositions, "1960 What?" and "Take Me to the Alley". Gospel recording artist Tamika Patton-Watkins sang a moving rendition of "Take My Hand, Precious Lord". Tenor Timothy Miller sang "If I Can Help Somebody", and Dr. Turner sang a soulful arrangement of "For Every Mountain".
In her remarks, Dr. Bernice King spoke of the early music education of her mother, Coretta Scott King, who became an accomplished soprano and performed at the King Celebration during some of its early years. She drew a parallel between her mother’s own experience and that of gifted young violinist, Waverly Alexander, who is a junior at Milton High School, and in her sixth year of the ASO’s iconic Talent Development Program. Waverly performed as a soloist with the ASO in Adoration, a work by Florence Price, the first African-American woman to have her work programmed by a major American orchestra.
In addition to Price, this concert honored a new generation of Atlanta’s Black composers as works by Carlos Simon and Joel Thompson were performed. Gospel works by Thomas A. Dorsey and Kurt Carr were also featured.
Conducting the concert was Jonathan Taylor Rush, a fastrising young Black conductor who is currently Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In the past few years, Rush has made notable debuts including with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Washington National Opera.
In 1999, which would have been Dr. King’s 70th birthday, the ASO commissioned a stirring arrangement of "We Shall Overcome", the anthem of the civil rights movement, by Atlanta composer and Morehouse professor Dr. Uzee Brown, Jr. It became the King Celebration finale each year, and this year it was the encore, with the audience joining in for a moving conclusion to the evening.
This historic concert was recorded for broadcast on radio and television and will be made available nationally. This performance was sponsored by Bank of America.