Our Heroic season continues. What is a classical symphony doing on a program which has for themes Heroism, Brotherhood, African American Music, and new music by local composers? Good question, but there is an answer. The Jackson Symphony Orchestra is just that - a Symphony Orchestra; not an opera orchestra, a concerto orchestra, a ballet orchestra or a tone poem orchestra; a Symphony orchestra. Not that we don't perform all of the above classifications (we do and we enjoy doing so very much) but if we are to be a Symphony orchestra we should perform Symphonies with some regularity. A quick review of the programs over the last five seasons show that on an average we perform only two symphonies a year. This year we were scheduled for only one - the Shostakovitch 5th - in April. Haydn is certainly a hero of the Symphonic form; an early hero to whom Mozart, Beethoven and subsequent generations owe a great deal. He developed the genre, defined the form and expanded its levels of expression.

Don't be surprised if down the road you pick up a season brochure and it reads the Jackson Symphony Orchestra. A season with at least one symphony on each program. A very normal concept for most orchestras but something completely new and different for Jackson.

William Grant Still Festive Overture

William Grant Still's early education followed a dual path toward medicine and music. Early on music won out and his early teachers included the radical and experimental Varese as well as the conservative Coleridge-Taylor. Following service in the Navy in WWI, Still arranged popular music for Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. An innovator in many fields, Still was the first AfricanAmerican to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, the first to conduct a major orchestra and one of the first to compose for radio, films, and television.

Many of his works reflect and pay homage to his cultural background. The titles of his compositions include: Darker America; Afro-American Symphony; And they Lynched Him on a Tree; Plain Chant for America and In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers who Died for Democracy. A Deeply religious man, all of Still's compositions bear the inscription - "With Humble Thanks to God, the Source of Inspiration."

Franz Joseph Haydn London Symphony

Aaron Copland Old American Songs

These songs celebrate our rich early American musical heritage. Some are hymns, spirituals, children's and minstrel songs. Copland composed the first set of 5 in 1950 and the second set in 1952. Our soloist this evening, William Warfield, premiered the first set of these songs in New York in January of 195 1. Originally for piano and voice, Copland later orchestrated them for chamber orchestra.

Jonathan Bruce Brown Legacy of Vision - Martin Luther King

We are delighted to present the second performance in Jackson of this composition. We are equally excited to report that this work has attracted considerable attention both state-wide and nationally. There is an excitement about performing world premier's but it is even more gratifying to do a second performance of a work which has grown in popularity and stature. We have asked the composer to provide us with the following discourse on his composition.

"Sometime during the fall of 1985, Stephen Osmond approached me with the idea of writing a piece honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. He envisioned a huge chorus, made up of people from all races and walks of life, joining the Jackson Symphony in a celebration of Dr. King's legacy with a narration drawn from his speeches woven throughout. The piece was to be performed along with Beethoven's great testament to the brotherhood of man, his Ninth Symphony. The idea excited me tremendously, and I began to gather passages from Dr. King's speeches that I felt were especially powerful and meaningful, along with spirituals that seemed to reflect the heroism and tragedy in his life. In writing the music I tried to capture some of the nobility, idealism, and urgency with which Dr. King always spoke, and to pay tribute to his power to move hearts and minds when he spoke of the tremendous need of all people for simple justice and commitment to a higher purpose in life." (Bruce Brown)

Since its premiere in Jackson in April of 1987, LEGACY OF VISION - MARTIN LUTHER KING has been performed numerous times, most recently in Salt Lake City. A performance in Champaign, Illinois, highlighted by William Warfield's powerful, insightful narration, will be featured in a nationally-broadcast program, CLASSICALLY BLACK: A CELEBRATION CONCERT, produced for National Public Radio by Station WILL of the University of Illinois.