Packing into the hundreds of chairs lined up in Ford Hall, members of the community came to watch several combined music groups celebrate the life and message of Martin Luther King Jr.
This tribute concert included performances from Ithaca College’s orchestra, choir, chorus, treble chorale and Dorothy Cotton Jubilee singers. Alumni and faculty of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance came together with these groups in order to tell the famous story of the civil rights pioneer.
Planning the concert has become an annual priority for Baruch Whitehead, professor in the Department of Music Education and choral director of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee singers. Whitehead said for the past 20 years he has always planned the event a week after MLK day. This is done in an effort to put the concert as close to the holiday as possible.
“There’s a lot of time involved … I spent most of my break putting this together, but it’s worth it,” Whitehead said. “I think our students are excited about it, especially [at] this time in our country when there’s so much uncertainty and people are afraid of what’s coming. Certainly, we can look to Dr. King for encouragement.”
This year, Whitehead’s direction took more of a shift toward the full life of King, not just his impact on the civil rights movement. Jayna Simeon, a junior Dorothy Cotton Jubilee singer, talked about her three years participating in the concert and how much the event has changed in recent memory. She said that in previous years there were readings of every single section of the Birmingham Letter, taking up nearly half of the concert. This year, Simeon said the song repertoire focused solely on King’s life and the emotional impact it had on his followers.
“For example, one of the pieces is called, ‘Tell them Martin is dead,’” Simeon said. “It’s a short piece with the ensemble and choir … the way it builds up, you can feel that emotion.”
With strong emotions for the tragic events of King’s life bringing everyone together, the unity that comes with music as a whole is not lost on performing students. Sophomore Jasmine Foster, a Treble Choir singer, spoke about how everyone coming back and performing the music together right after winter break was a measure of unity that this concert is all about.
“I would say one thing about music specifically is that it can make you feel things that a lot of other things can’t,” Foster said. “Yes, a speech is important. But I think that people doing what they love is also a very powerful thing to go and experience.”
Whitehead spoke on the importance of the MLK concert, especially in 2025. Controversy amid human and civil rights in the United States today makes King’s message more present than ever for today’s society. Whitehead said he is troubled by the fact that some forces are trying to dismantle civil rights progress today, and that King’s message applies to today just as much as it did at the height of the civil rights movement.
“I want people to be aware of that,” Whitehead said. “I think King is calling us to action even beyond the grave because he left such a wonderful example of his words and his actions. That we, as American citizens, have the right to protest and to band together … if we feel like something’s unjust, we need to let people know who can make those changes through policies and laws.”
As a child of the 1960s, Whitehead says he understands how difficult it is for college students to see things through the lens of first-hand civil rights struggle. Even with that difficulty, he stresses the importance and the power of one person and what they can do for a community.
“I would love for students to come away and for everyone to come away with the question: what can I do to make things better?” Whitehead said. “What can I do to make Dr. King’s dream become a reality? What can I do to uphold civil rights and human rights and social justice, and not just be an innocent bystander and think that there’s nothing I can do?”
Simeon said she believes nobody in attendance will forget the sense of community and belonging that the event promotes through King’s message.
“I don’t want to say once in a lifetime, but I think it is a once in a lifetime opportunity every year to be able to see the work that the students put in, and to be able to watch and listen to this story,” Simeon said.
