Youth Orchestra and Museum of African American History celebrate King through music

Over 20 years ago, the Museum of African American History and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras came together to put on a concert in honor of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Beverly Morgan-Welch, the museum’s director at the time, called on the youth ensemble to perform the tribute at the African Meeting House.

Since then, the annual concert has become a staple of the repertoire of celebrations held across the city on and around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the third Monday of January. Over the years, both the orchestra and the audience have outgrown the space in the African Meeting House, and the concert has made its way to venues such as Faneuil Hall, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and, this year, the Strand Theatre in Dorchester.

But even as the event’s reach and diversity have grown, “the soul of it has always been the same,” said Catherine Weiskel, president and CEO of BYSO. It has always been and will always be a celebration of King’s legacy and that of his wife, Coretta Scott King, a musician and graduate of the New England Conservatory.

“I often think when I’m at that concert how much they would enjoy these performances,” Weiskel said.

Every year, the Museum of African American History and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras collaborate to put on a concert in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. PHOTOS: MICHAEL J. LUTCH

Every year, the celebration includes an intertwining of music by students of BYSO’s Intensive Community Program and readings of some of the Kings’ passages. This year will be no different. On Jan. 20 at 1 p.m., the free concert will begin with James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often called the Black National Anthem, feature a keynote speech, and culminate in everyone singing “We Shall Overcome,” an anthem, in its own way, of the Civil Rights Movement.

“This concert, in particular, brings so much joy to our whole community, beyond the kids that actually perform that day,” Weiskel said. So, it’s one of those concerts that, if you go to it once, you want to go back, and you want to go every year because it just fills that hole in the soul and it gives you lots of meaning that sustains you for a very long time.”

She added that the concert is embedded in the BYSO’s mission of helping children “be happy and to be curious and to understand what’s in their soul.” Through the concert, the youth are afforded the rare chance of sharing the music they produce with an audience, which is especially significant on a day such as Jan. 20.

By the time the concert ends each year everyone is in tears “because you look at the kids and you realize what this really means to them,” Weiskel said. “You can tell that it sinks in … right down to their toes that feeling of how special it is to celebrate on this day in this way.”

Members of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras play in a previous concert in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. PHOTOS: MICHAEL J. LUTCH

While not every child may understand fully the significance of the concert — some are as young as four years old — Weiskel said she hopes participating in it will provoke in each of them a sense of curiosity about King and his work.

Noelle Trent, president and CEO of the Museum of African American History, said the event also allows children to see themselves in the stories of the past while making history more approachable.

“When you’re young, you’re in search for your identity. You’re trying to understand your place in the world, and sometimes the things that you encounter do not reflect your experience,” she said. “And if you don’t have anything to offer you a different perspective, you think that perhaps people that look like you were not important or significant to the American story, and there’s nothing for you in anything that’s older than 150 years or older than your own lifespan.”

King’s legacy is proof that nothing could be further from the truth.

During last year’s celebration at which she was the keynote speaker, Trent saw this representation in action. The entire bass section, she recalled, was young Black girls, a rarity that excited her to witness.

“To see young Black girls do that, be attracted to that, and be dedicated to that is incredibly empowering,” she said.

Trent said she hopes audience members learn at least one thing about King they didn’t previously know and understand that his legacy and work extend beyond 1968, when he was assassinated. His words, she said, are still relevant five decades later and can offer rich lessons for the world today.

“I know everybody’s excited to have some time off from work, but for us in any capacity, whether it’s this concert or any of the other community opportunities, to take time to reflect on Dr. King’s life and legacy is incredibly important as we continue to lift him up and lift up his work,” she said. “Especially in a city that was so crucial to his journey becoming the man that we would all know him to be.”