History and melody align at Sinfonietta’s MLK concert

Chicago Sun-Times
By Bryant Manning
Published January 20, 2009
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While 21 inspired seasons have elapsed since the Chicago Sinfonietta gave its first concert in 1987, there was surely an unprecedented spirit of camaraderie surrounding Sunday afternoon’s annual Martin Luther King tribute.

With ticketholders from an enthusiastic throng sporting the president-elect’s name on baseball caps and other pieces of flair, this could only be what maestro and orchestra founder Paul Freeman glowingly called “Obama-rama.” Sunday’s MLK tribute at Dominican University’s Lund Auditorium — scheduled for a repeat Monday night at Orchestra Hall — symbolically rolled out the red carpet for today’s historic presidential inauguration, and Dr. Freeman, echoing King’s immortal words from the conductor’s podium, proudly declared that a certain “dream” had been realized.

Cellist Patrice Jackson was among the young muscians showcasing their talents during the Chicago Sinfonietta’s annual Martin Luther King tribute.

Beyond the fascinating historical and political hullabaloo, there were pressing musical matters on the agenda of one of America’s most diverse symphony orchestras.

Two promising young musicians — composer Stefan L. Smith, 22, and cellist Patrice Jackson, 25 — showcased their talents in the matinee program in River Forest. Smith supplied his own orchestral score — the Largo from his Symphony No. 1 — to a reading of Dr. King’s 1965 speech, “Our God is Marching On.” Complementing the deep, grandfatherly voice of narrator Walter Miles, Smith’s sweeping cinematic score pushed rustically along with its handful of well-timed crescendos and cymbal crashes. Very much in the spirit of Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” this was a resourceful and moving marriage of music and words.

Jackson, winner of the Senior Laureate division of the Sphinx Competition, proved a fine soloist in Camille Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1. She draws a bold and booming sound from her instrument, ideal for this brand of lascivious French Romanticism. If she continues to refine her technique as she matures, the help of her impeccable musical instincts will carry her onward and upward. For an encore, she played solo the ravishing old spiritual “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.”

For all the jubilance generated in the second half of gospel music arrangements, the orchestra and choir were woefully imbalanced. Too often the Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir couldn’t fully project its attractive sound past the orchestra. Yet stirring vocal solos from contralto Ivory Nuckolls and soprano Elizabeth Norman-Sojourner took on a special ardor under the direction of choir master Mark Jordan. As is the linchpin of any MLK tribute, a rowdy theater sang hand-in-hand “We Shall Overcome” with the added emotional weight of this momentous time in the annals of African-American history.