MLK program looks at black experiences in Montana
The 15th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center chronicles the history of the black experience in Montana.
The celebration, hosted by Love Lives Here in the Flathead, combines live musical performances, spoken word presentations and reminders of the long and hard-won struggle that civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. championed in his lifetime. This year’s event is titled “We Were All Strangers Once.”
“At one time, Montana had three black newspapers, an all-black Army regiment in Missoula, a black jazz club in Great Falls, and Shotgun Mary, a gun-toting, wagon-riding postal carrier,” said Allen Secher, who is producing the show with Bruce Guthrie.
This year the event presents a cast of Montana performers including composer and arranger Lance Bendiksen, violinist Wai Mizutani, multi-talented musician and composer Erica von Kleist, and Montana’s well known vocalists Halladay Quist, Mike Eldred, and Andre Floyd. The history of the black experience in Montana will be narrated by Broadway and Hollywood actor David Ackroyd.
One of the evening’s highlights will be a performance of Ballad for Americans, a patriotic cantata written for the great Paul Robeson in 1939. It is an expression of pride in America’s journey toward freedom and equality.
NPR radio personality Allen Secher will lead the performance, joined by a spoken word chorus of local people representing the diversity of America in the Flathead Valley. Secher, a Freedom Rider during the civil rights era, marched with King in 1964.
Music producer and composer Lance Bendiksen has had far reaching success in the ever-changing music industry.
Bendiksen has written an original composition, “In A Dream,” which will be performed by Halladay Quist and Mike Eldred.
“Lance is an accomplished composer, but what separates Bendiksen from the others is his gratitude and eagerness to give back to the community,” Secher said.
Renowned violinist Wai Mitzutani escaped from China at age 14 and became the youngest first violinist in the Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestra at age 15. He teaches at Flathead Community College.
Multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and entrepreneur Erica von Kleist studied at the renowned Juilliard School and in 2004 earned the first bachelor’s degree in jazz in the school’s history. After graduation, von Kleist’s next 10 years were filled with performances, tours, and several Grammy-nominated recordings with various artists.
Halladay Quist is a singer-songwriter, model, and multi-instrument musician with the voice and heart of an angel. Quist plays bass, banjo, guitar, ukulele, and just about anything put in front of her.
Mike Eldred is one of North America’s most in-demand and beloved tenors, thrilling audiences in concert halls, on Broadway, and on recordings, radio, and TV. He appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables as Jean Valjean and in the original cast of the Tony-nominated The Civil War.
Andre Floyd, musician, educator and performer with the band Mood Iguana, hails from Big Arm. He is a graduate of the University of Montana and has been performing in the Flathead Valley for many years.
The event is sponsored by Love Lives Here, an affiliate of the Montana Human Rights Network.
A donation of $10 is suggested to Love Lives Here. For more information, visit http://loveliveshereflathead.org.