Three choirs, soloists, a reader and jazz pianist will join to present a concert based on the language of Spirituals, and dedicated to the vision of peace stated by Dr. King.. The Musicians of Melodious Accord are a sixteen-voice professional chorus committed to performing choral chamber music of the highest quality. They will sing arrangements by Alice Parker and Pamela Warrick-Smith of both familiar and unfamiliar spiritual songs. The Concert Choir of the New York City Young Peoples Chorus, conducted by Francisco Nunez, consists of forty-four young voices who sing with award-winning excellence. And the Riverside Church Inspirational Choir is well-known for their rousing performances of gospel hymns under the direction of Nedra Neal.

Featured soloist contralto Pamela Warrick-Smith and Alice Parker will lead the audience in a Spiritual SING at the conclusion of the concert. Charles S. Brown will read from the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. throughout the program. Each choir will sing separately, and then combine for a joint group in which the audience is included. The vast interior space of the Cathedral provides the listeners with a unique sight-and-sound experience, enjoying the beautiful and acoustically reverberant interior.

This concert is designed to be welcoming to the whole community. It is for all ages and all levels of musical understanding. It is inter-racial, inter-denominational, inter-cultural, inter-national. If you like to sing, come and sing. If you like to listen to great music and words, come and listen. If you wish to worship, come and worship. If you wish to join with others to affirm our common humanity, come. Bring your family, friends and neighbors old and young to this most participatory of concerts, which draws the entire audience into the performance.

The January 19th concert is the fifteenth annual festival honoring Dr. King by Melodious Accord, an organization whose mission is to promote melody as a means of communication for human beings. The organization believes that when we use ears and voices to sing, we enrich our lives through creating communities of sound; and that singing together brings immediate benefits -- physical, mental, and spiritual -- to those who join together in this way.

To this end, Melodious Accord founder and artistic director, Alice Parker, notes "The Rev. Dr. King preached that he wished 'to build armies that would sing but not slay.' I believe wholeheartedly that the forces that gather this year at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine are what Dr. King had in mind, and I find that my spirit is refreshed by rehearsing and performing this music from the Black tradition, with the vision of Dr. King watching over us. And at this time in our nation's history, we must listen ever more closely to Dr. King's message of bringing about a better world through non-violent actions. 'The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.' 'Will we be extremists for hate or for love?'"

Spirituals, created by the genius of African-American singers, have become one of the best-loved musics in the world, recognized and sung on every continent. They have even managed to cross that most forbidding divide into 'serious' classical music. On this point Parker says "We have no hesitation in acknowledging that they are among the world's great and noble melodies."

Alice Parker, legendary composer, arranger, conductor and teacher of choral music, has championed the singing of spirituals by Americans of all ethnic backgrounds for nearly five decades, beginning with the albums Deep River and I'm Goin' to Sing with the Robert Shaw Chorale. More recently, the Musicians of Melodious Accord have released CD's entitled Take Me to the Water (with Ms. Warrick-Smith) and King and the Duke.

Tickets for the January 19 concert are $20, $15 for students and seniors. They may be purchased in person at the Cathedral Box Office, or by calling City Tix at 212-581-1212. (School group discounts available: please call 212-665-4405)

Alice Parker will lead a pre-concert Spirituals Workshop for musicians and educators, in conjunction with an open rehearsal, on the afternoon of January 19th. Advance registration is required. For information about the workshop, please call Melodious Accord, Inc. 212-665-4405.