23rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration Concert

This annual tribute to the historic American leader features performances by Music Institute students and community partners.

This year celebration includes a keynote address given by Dr. Jonathan Bailey Holland, dean of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, where he is also the Kay Davis Professor of Music.

Dr. Holland's opera “The Bridge”, commissioned by Boston Modern Opera Project and premiering in 2026, chronicles Martin Luther King’s years in Boston, narratively framed by the journey to Selma and the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The Music Institute is collaborating with Hearing in Color, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to sharing music that has been historically excluded from musical spaces.  MIC has commissioned a world premiere composition for the occasion from Hearing in Color Young Composer Abisola Toukourou, which will be performed by Chroma, their new permanent, professional chamber ensemble consisting of performers with marginalized identities.

The program also features Evanston Children’s Choir, Dance Center Evanston, Reach Teach Play, Chicago Musical Pathways, and the Evanston Art Center.