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Vocalist Evelyn Jack and the KSO celebrate MLK through the music of Mahalia Jackson

Melony Dodson talks with vocalist, Evelyn Jack and conductor, Aram Demirjian about Mahalia Jackson and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's "MLK Celebration Concert"

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) has partnered with the historic Bijou Theatre and Beck Cultural Exchange Center to present a special tribute concert to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as the contributions of gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, to the civil rights movement. This event is free and open to the public and will be given at the Bijou Theatre on Sunday, January 19th at 3pm.

Vocalist, Evelyn Jack, will be the featured soloist as she performs songs that Mahalia Jackson recorded. The KSO will join her through orchestral arrangements made especially for this performance. The symphony will also perform several pieces on their own, including selections from Five Folksongs in Counterpoint by Florence Price and Testimony by Alvin Singleton.
https://knoxvillesymphony.com/concert/mlk-concert/

Melony calls the beautiful mountains of Boone, N.C., home, although she was born near Greensboro, N.C. There’s just something about those Blue Ridge Mountains that got in her blood and never left after she moved there to attend Appalachian State University (ASU). While at ASU, she majored in piano performance and music therapy and began to cultivate a love for accompanying and for collaborating with other musicians. This soon led her to earn a master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Tennessee, which she attended from 2006-2008.