All tickets have been reserved. 

Standby seating will be available on the night of the concert. Simply show up at the Box Office 15 minutes before the performance. In past years, we have been able to accommodate all standby seating requests.

Questions? Email us or call us at 615.687.6400

PERFORMERS
Nashville Symphony | Dr. Henry Panion III, conductor | Roderick George, tenor | Celebration Chorus – Dave Ragland, chorusmaster | Celebration Youth Chorus – Margaret Campbelle-Holman, director

The 27th annual Let Freedom Sing concert honors the life, legacy and triumphs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Joined by special guests, the Nashville Symphony, Celebration Chorus and Celebration Youth Chorus perform an inspiring selection of classical works, songs, traditionals and more. Images during concert provided by the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library. Arrive early for pre-concert presentations and exhibits by the National Museum of African American Music, Versify and Choral Arts Link.

Program includes:
Adolphus Hailstork – I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
Bryson Finney – We Are Nashville
George Walker – Lyric for Strings
Stephen Schwartz – When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt
Margaret Bonds – March from Montgomery Variations

Doors open at 5:30 pm.

American Sign Language interpretation provided by Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Captioning provided by Tennessee Captioning. 

EXPERIENCE THESE PRE-CONCERT ACTIVITIES:

“From Nothing to Something” Presented by the National Museum of African American Music
From Nothing to Something is a presentation demonstrating how people of different cultures created instruments from memory using limited resources. These instruments were literally made out nothing (household items or natural materials) and were used to create something wonderful – music. Concert attendees will be able to see and hear the following in the lobbies of the Schermerhorn:

• West Lobby: Spoons 
• Balcony Lobby: Spoken Word
• East Lobby: World Percussion
  

Choral Arts Link and Versify Present: From the Back of the Bus
Choral Arts Link is collaborating with WPLN’s poetry podcast Versify to honor the Nashville Freedom Riders. Presenting their experiences in story form, this project depicts their impact on Nashville’s role in this nation’s Civil Rights Movement. 

Versify engaged Nashville Freedom Riders to tell their stories to local poets, who then transformed their stories into poetry. These poems are shared in three settings:

• In partnership with Nashville Symphony, each Freedom Rider will be featured on a commemorative banner on display in the Main Lobby. The full poems and biographies are available at the reception table.
• These commemorative banners will travel to the Fisk University Chapel and be on display as part of a “Witness Walk” during the Upon These Shoulders concert, presented on February 15, 2020, by Choral Arts Link, Intersection and Fisk University. “From the Back of the Bus” is the theme for this year’s presentation of Upon These Shoulders and stands as a metaphor for both the oppression and victory of the Civil Rights Movement.
• The conversations and poems will also be used to construct a fourth season of Versify as a “then-and-now” retrospective honoring the 60th anniversary of the Nashville sit-ins and looking at contemporary Nashvillians who are party to or beneficiaries of the Freedom Riders’ legacy. Versify’s fourth season is scheduled to launch in April 2020.

Post-Concert Panel Discussion: Art and Activism
Stay in Laura Turner Hall after the performance for an onstage panel discussion featuring Choral Arts Link director Margaret Campbelle-Holman, composer Adolphus Hailstork, tenor Roderick L George, and conductor Dr. Henry Panion III, with poet Joshua Moore moderating.