The Virginia Symphony Orchestra present “Songs for a Dreamer: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

HAMPTON ROADS, VA (Jan. 10, 2017) – The Virginia Symphony Orchestra will pay homage to the visionary civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in its seventh annual “Songs for a Dreamer” concert.

The concert will be held at Calvary Revival Church at 5833 Poplar Hall Drive, Norfolk, VA 23502 at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017.  Auditorium doors open at 6:00 p.m.

The concert is part of the VSO’s Harmony Project, a collaboration with eleven Hampton Roads traditionally African-American churches, and funded by the City of Norfolk and the National Endowment for the Arts.   This performance is free and open to the public.

The concert will feature orchestral and vocal music that inspires that legacy of Dr. King. The VSO’s annual Dreamer Award will be presented to Dr. Katherine C. Johnson, former aerospace technologist and mathematician with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  Previous award winners include Ms. Lorraine Graves, The Honorable Maurice Jones and Dr. L.D. Britt.

Performing artists include Brendon Elliot (violin), Stephanie K. Saunders (saxophone), and the Norfolk State University Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Frank Elliot.   VSO Resident Conductor Benjamin Rous will conduct the evening’s program.

For more information, please call the VSO Box Office at 757-892-6366.

This concert is produced by Heritage Arts, a division of The True Good Companies, LLC.

Under the leadership of GRAMMY-winning music director JoAnn Falletta, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra is Virginia’s preeminent professional symphony orchestra with a mission of inspiring, educating and connecting audiences of all ages. 

Founded in 1921, it is ranked in the top ten percent of professional orchestras nationwide and serves the entire Southeastern Virginia region with Classics, Pops and Family concert series in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Williamsburg as well as performances in outlying Virginia and North Carolina communities, reaching nearly 150,000 concert-goers every year. Additionally, the orchestra annually reaches 45,000 children, students and lifelong learners with its education and community programs. The Virginia Symphony has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and is the cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.