Civic musicians embark on a King Day tribute at Hyde Park Art Center

When the Hyde Park Art Center held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Jan. 16, musicians from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago helped to spark the tribute. This year’s theme was South Side Stories, and visual artists, musicians and storytellers from across Chicago came together at the community arts space to bring those stories to life. 

Among the participants in the day’s festivities that honored the Rev. King, the civil rights leader, were the South Side Home Movie Project, The Bronzeville Forum and the Hyde Park Art Center Teens, who invited attendees to share their Chicago stories via a podcast recorded during the day’s events. The day’s programming also featured several art-making activities that invited young artists and families to create with coloring and collage.

The Soto Quartet, consisting of Civic Orchestra violinist and Civic Fellow Nelson Mendoza, violinist Jesús Linarez, violist Stephanie Block and cellist Lidanys Graterol, joined the day’s programming to pay tribute to composer and pianist Florence Price. 

The Soto Quartet takes its inspiration from famed Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto (1923-2005), a proponent of kinetic art. He used a range of techniques to create a sense of movement in his work. The energy expressed in Soto’s work resonates with the members of the Soto Quartet, who believe that the artist’s significant contribution to Venezuelan art deserves to be better known. The name Soto Quartet is intended to represent “energy in art, in the name of this important Venezuelan artist.”

Price settled in the South Side neighborhood of Bronzeville after moving north to Chicago during the Great Migration of the late 1920s. She became the first Black woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the premiere of her first symphony in 1933.

Audiences at Hyde Park Art Center gathered to hear the quartet play the composer’s tender and jubilant String Quartet No. 2, as well as the Five Folk Songs in Counterpoint for String Quartet, which features richly orchestrated arrangements of well-known tunes such as “Shortnin’ Bread” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”

After the performance, a screening of PBS’ “Now Hear This: Florence Price and the American Migration” gave attendees the opportunity to learn more about the composer’s fascinating life.

The Hyde Park Art Center, which celebrated its 80th birthday in 2019, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, “serving as a gathering and production space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks,” according to its mission statement. The center features a broad range of events and services for artists and community members, including exhibitions, artist talks, classes, international and local residency programs, free public events and professional development opportunities.

Learn more about Hyde Park Art Center’s offerings by visiting hydeparkart.org.