The world premiere of “A Time for Jubilee” at the Davis Theatre
The Montgomery Symphony Orchestra premiered “A Time for Jubilee” at the Davis Theatre in downtown Montgomery tonight.
The piece is written and composed by the acclaimed Dr. Nkeiru Okoye, and is a story about the march from Selma to Montgomery during the Civil Rights era.
Okoye combined music and text to illustrate the courage and perseverance of the marches that changed the course of history for Alabama and the country. Members of the choir consisted of students from Alabama State, Huntingdon College, and Tuskegee, while Grammy nominated Laquita Mitchell sang Soprano.
“It’s part of a larger project that we’re doing called the Alabama Composers Project. Some of which will be composers that are from Alabama, but in this case, it’s a composer that’s not from Alabama that wanted to write a piece inspired by it’s history and culture. When we think about historical events in the long history of Alabama, the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches is certainly one of the top events,” said Executive Director of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Bryan Reeves.
The performance was a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the march.
