Please join IPR Classical on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at 1PM online (on the IPR Classical stream) or on your favorite IPR Classical frequency for a rebroadcast of the Cedar Rapids Opera Juneteenth concert from June 18, 2021.
From Jacqueline Halbloom at IPR Classical:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of America’s greatest trailblazers and Civil Rights activists. His strong leadership emphasizing nonviolent protests rallied and led the nation to finally pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Dr. King was a beacon of light, peacefully fighting for basic human rights outlined in America’s Constitution and the Bill of Rights. His dynamic speeches and endless vision for the Civil Rights movement in America challenged the nation to end African American segregation. He called for racial equality for all, along with equality and justice for poor Americans and the sufferers of all discrimination in America. His eloquent “I Have a Dream” speech transformed the human rights movement worldwide.
On January 17, IPR remembers and pays special tribute to America’s noblest pacifist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by presenting the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre’s Juneteenth 2021 concert. The Juneteenth program was recorded live last summer at Iowa City’s Riverside Festival Stage.
The CRO’s Juneteenth concert honors with a Lifetime Achievement Award, Iowa’s own internationally acclaimed operatic superstar and humanitarian, bass-baritone Simon Estes.
The CRO also presented the singing talents of two rising stars, soprano Whitney Morrison and
baritone Sidney Outlaw. They are joined by pianist and coach, Pedro Yanez. Their program includes a musical potpourri of favorites by Samuel Barber, Fauré, Debussy, Verdi, and Korngold. Their concert is enhanced by the African American art songs of Robert Owen, set to the poetry of Claude McCay. The program also incorporates the Black American art song artistry of H. Leslie Adams, Dorothy Rudd-Moore, and Undine Smith-Moore. The concert concludes with the trio performing ‘I Loves You Porgy’ from Gershwin’s timeless opera, “Porgy and Bess.”