Arts and Entertainment

Singers unite Jan. 24 for ‘Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’

Concert will feature performances by Elevation, Essence of Joy, Hatboro-Horsham High School Madrigals Choir, and Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School Choir

Elevation is a professional singing ensemble from Delaware that fuses traditional choral music with hip-hop, jazz, R&B and spoken word. Credit: Photo provided. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Pennsylvania artists will perform alongside Delaware state professional vocal ensemble Elevation to sing hymns and spirituals that celebrate the legacy of the civil-rights champion.

“A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, in Eisenhower Auditorium on Penn State's University Park campus.

The event is general admission. Call 814-863-0255 or visit “A Choral Tribute” online for more information about the performance.

Modeled after a program first presented in 1990 by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., “A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” will focus on vocal music from African and African American musical idioms that emphasize King’s legacy. Performing ensembles include:

  • Elevation, a professional singing ensemble from Delaware that fuses traditional choral music with hip-hop, jazz, R&B and spoken word.
  • Essence of Joy, a chorus comprising Penn State undergraduate and graduate students from various academic programs.
  • Hatboro-Horsham High School Madrigals Choir, an ensemble composed of students living in the Philadelphia suburbs and dedicated to a long tradition of music education excellence.
  • Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School Concert Choir, which features a group of students who study music of all genres in a conservatory-style setting.

The program will feature renditions of works by Moses Hogan, Raymond Wise, Roger Emerson and others, and a finale featuring all the choirs together singing “Anthem of Praise,” “Total Praise” and “Better.”

“We have very similar aesthetics to how a program is curated,” said Elevation Artistic Director Arreon Harley-Emerson about the late Tony Leach, Penn State professor emeritus of music/music education, in a recent interview. “And I do use that word with great intention, because it’s kind of like a museum. You have a curator who is kind of pulling these different things together so that we can tell this story that is called ‘The Dream Unfinished.’”

Acknowledgments

Sponsored by
Foxdale Village

Accessibility services supported by
William E. McTurk Endowment for Program Support

A grant from the University Park Fee Board makes student prices possible.

Find the Center for the Performing Arts

For more information about the season, visit the Center for the Performing Arts online, Facebook and Instagram.

Last Updated January 13, 2025

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