Episode 2: Life’s Piano

His mother was a choir director; his wife was a conservatory-trained singer, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches were peppered with musical cadences and images. Coming up on the next Heifetz On Air, a tribute in music to Dr. King, featuring works by Antonin Dvorak, Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Virginia’s own Adolphus Hailstork.

This Episode’s Playlist

Florence Price: Piano Quintet in A minor: III. Juba
Elena Urioste, violin; Melissa White, violin
Paul Neubauer, viola | Rosemary Elliott, cello | Tom Poster, piano
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA | 07.29.2022

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Deep River, Op. 59, No. 10 from 24 Negro Spirituals (1904)
Wynton Grant, violin | Stefan Petrov, piano
Monroe’s Highland, Charlottesville, VA | 07.04.2016

Antonin Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96 “American:”
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Lento
Julia Angelov, violin; Yezu Woo, violin | Matt Cohen, viola |  Coleman Itzkoff, cello
Great Hall, Blackburn Inn & Conference Center, Stauton, VA | 03.14.2021

Florence Price: Piano Sonata in E minor (1932)
II. Andante
Andrew Rosenblum, piano
First Presbyterian Church, Staunton, VA | 07.19.2021

Adolphus Hailstork: String Quartet No. 2, “Variations on Swing Low Sweet Chariot”
Borromeo String Quartet - Nicholas Kitchen, violin | Kristopher Tong, violin | Mai Motobuchi, viola | Yeesun Kim, cello
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA | 07.29.2022

Go Deeper

• Read about Coretta Scott King’s career as a violinist and singer – including clips of her performances!
• Music in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. went far beyond We Shall Overcome. You can find the earliest evidence in his boyhood home on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, steps away from the celebrated Ebenezer Baptist Church, pastored by his father, Daddy King. Host Benjamin K. Roe explores the musical roots of MLK.
• Enjoy this wide-ranging interview with Adolphus Hailstork, the Heifetz Institute’s 2022 Composer-in-Residence. Hailstork’s Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed is one of the best-known pieces written in MLK’s memory.