Jackson Free Press

Febuary 1, 2006

Executive Director of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Michael Beattie has been working on a tribute concert to Medgar Evers' life since October 2003. But in spite of the months of planning and a number of other ongoing projects, Beattie says composing the concert has been fun. Held on Feb. 7 at Thalia Mara Hall, the tribute concert is an amalgamation of events.

Although the Symphony Orchestra was responsible for the idea, Beattie wanted to incorporate several artistic mediums and organizations into the show. What resulted is a comprehensive look at Evers' life through the outlets of film, photography, art and music. The JFP caught up with Beattie to discuss the show and the ongoing significance of Evers to Mississippi.

What's the specific concept behind the event?
The concert will actually focus on the contribution (Medgar has) made to our lives now. In other words, it will focus on the ways that are lives are different here and around the country because of him. And one really interesting example is the photography project that Power APAC is doing. Based on that theme, each of the kids in the photography classroom is given a camera, and they are going to present a creative project that we'll then put on video, which answers the question, 'How is my life different because of Medgar Evers?' So that is our basic approach, and what we want to do is in the spirit of what he did for Mississippi and the country; we want to honor him in a way that brings together a wide spectrum of the community.

When did the MSO originally decide to hold a tribute concert for Medgar Evers?
The idea was actually that of our education director, Mark Francis. And we've basically been working on it since October 2004. I think he realized that the orchestra had a way through music and through all of these wonderful collaborations to communicate the message, and we hadn't really done that before.

What's the planning process been like?
It's been fun. And it's been very informative. It's been interesting to me as a newcomer to this community to see all the passion and interest in Medgar Evers' life and what he accomplished, and to see their interest in this program. I've met a lot of new people, as has my staff. And I feel like just by the act of planning it, we've become connected with a bigger part of this community.

Did you originally intend to incorporate several mediums and organizations into the event?
We decided to collaborate with as many groups as possible so that it's not just MSO's tribute, but as a community tribute we were helping to create. We thought that it was important to collaborate with as many groups as we could in order to make this happen.

What's been the response of those who are involved?
I've been encountering nothing but excitement about this event. As a matter of fact, I've been delivering a lot of posters and flyers to various places. People are quite taken with the event, and what I'm discovering is that there's a lot of emotion and connection with it. Anthony DiFatta, who created our artwork, did some research to create the art he wanted to create. And so that had an effect for him, and it's been a joyous encounter for us and the whole group.

How has the music been chosen to portray Evers' life?
The music was actually chosen by our music director. I think he was looking for a variety of things to use on this program. I think in some cases he was looking for (scores) for the orchestra to perform during the video presentation.

When you put a program together, you have to think about where it's going to take the audience. 'How does it begin and end? What do you want people to be feeling?' Those are questions that are just necessary to ask yourself any time you create a program.

I think he was looking for a combination of works written by black composers and then also works that the choir wanted to do. He created a program for all of these various voices that wanted to be involved in the tribute.

What do you hope this special concert will convey to the audience and the Jackson area?
That we're proud of what we're becoming in Mississippi through the leadership of Medgar Evers. We want to do everything we can think of to get the word out about this project, so in that sense it's been hectic. But otherwise it hasn't been. It's been a fun project to work on.

Previous Comments

ID

84457

Comment

Hello, To Whom It May Concern: The article is informative. My reason for visiting the site was an attempt to find out if a video was made of the concert? I am interested in purchasing one.

Author

Lydia Frank

Date

2006-02-20T15:01:22-06:00