Dream, Child. Hope

Dream, Child. Hope is an orchestral and choral work composed by Adolphus Hailstork under commission from the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. The work was commissioned in 2009 as a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr and was performed at the annual "Realizing the Dream Concert" at the University of Alabama, and the orchestra's annual "Reflect and Rejoice" concert in Birmingham.

Hailstork, an Albany, New York native, is currently a professor of music and composer-in-residence at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He has written a number of works inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, including "American Guernica", about the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church.

After receiving the commission, Hailstork visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for inspiration, and decided to focus on the effect of the Movement on the hopes and dreams of children. He based the text for the work on lines from poems written by three area schoolchildren. Porchea Mullen of Hudson K-8 School contributed "There's a dream in every child. In every hue there's a smile. Music is the language of life." Dasia Bonner, also from Hudson, wrote: "Why hate? Why fight? Why judge us by the color of our skin?", and Apoorva Nagaraj of Berry Middle School penned: "In the cry of my soul, in the beat of my heart, the sound of music flowing through me."

The composition was completed in August 2010. The work employs Afro-Caribbean instrumentation, especially in the opening. Massed voices sing verses which combine the girls' lyrics. The world premiere of the piece was performed by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and a combined choir at the Moody Music Building on January 15, 2011, with Michael Morgan conducting. The performance was repeated the next evening at the Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham with a different, all-female chorus drawn from the choirs of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Carver High School and Huffman High School.

References

• Huebner, Michael (January 9, 2011) "Adolphus Hailstork's 'Dream, Child. Hope' inspired by children's poetry." Birmingham News
• Huebner, Michael (January 16, 2011) "ASO takes new approach to honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., in annual tribute." Birmingham News
• Huebner, Michael (January 16, 2011) "ASO takes new approach to honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., in annual tribute." Birmingham News