JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A local children's choir is honoring Black History Month with a virtual concert Saturday night.
The Jacksonville Children's Chorus honors the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. every year, performing the Black National Anthem "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," oftentimes alongside choirs from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The video above depicts the 2019 performance, in which the Jacksonville Children's Chorus was joined by Tuskegee University's "Golden Voices" Concert Choir.
Saturday night, you can catch a special virtual performance of the annual concert right on Facebook. Tickets are $14.99.
All paid guests will have access to the performance and exclusive content released by the Jacksonville Children's Chorus.
If you do not have Facebook but would like to view the virtual performance, contact the Jacksonville Children's Chorus programming office at 904-353-1636, extension 1, for more information.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Jacksonville Children's Chorus' ongoing programming and scholarship funds.
The first public performance of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" was on Feb. 12, 1900, in Jacksonville, according to the NAACP. It was sung by 500 children at the Stanton School where James Weldon Johnson was principal. It became the official song of the NAACP in 1919.
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Jacksonville Children's Chorus inspires excellence in young singers through high-quality choral music education. Founded in 1995 at Jacksonville University to fill a need for a children’s music program, the chorus has since grown from 16 voices to more than 350 singers participating in five choirs.
The chorus celebrates diversity and offers opportunities to children who may not otherwise be able to sing with a choir. More than 37% of the chorus members were on some level of scholarship in 2019.
