Jonathan Taylor Rush leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus during the King Celebration Concert at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Jan. 4, 2025. Photo by Rand Lines.

In Saturday’s (1/18) Rough Draft Atlanta, Kristi York Wooten writes, “A group of tourists [stood] outside the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, with its famous neon sign on the red brick chapel where Martin Luther King Jr. preached until his murder in 1968. Across Auburn Avenue, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra rehearsed inside the new sanctuary for a performance with the church for the first time since 2012. The King Celebration Concert featuring the Ebenezer choir and band along with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and ASO Chamber Chorus came together when the orchestra’s executive director, Jennifer Barlament, had a chance meeting with the Rev. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who serves as senior pastor to the congregation…. Musician and educator Dr. Patrice Turner, who serves as a worship director at the church … was the mastermind behind the event—a curation process which fulfilled her childhood dream of showcasing the full breadth of music in the Black church tradition. ‘People know about Ebenezer being a home for social justice,’ Turner said…. ‘They might not necessarily realize that there was a wealth of musical and arts-related production [at] Ebenezer.’ Turner guided a program showcasing Black women composers including Alma Bazel Androzzo, Margaret Bonds and Waverly Pryce and a range of genres … as well as the work of Morehouse College alum Carlos Simon.”