Martin Luther King Week events an early highlight of 2010
Monday, January 4th, 2010One of the first highlights of North Central College’s 2010 Fine & Performing Arts season is a stellar program of Martin Luther King Week events.
Tickets are on sale now for a presentation by Princeton professor Cornel West, a powerful performance by Chicago Sinfonietta and a musical Gospel Extravaganza. This year’s program marks the 50th anniversary of King’s visit to North Central’s Naperville campus.

North Central College President Arlo Schilling greets Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights leader's visit to the Naperville campus in 1960.
West will speak from the same stage and lectern as the great civil rights leader did in 1960. One of America’s most provocative public intellectuals, West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. West speaks on King’s birthday at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, in North Central College’s Pfeiffer Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m., and seating is general admission. Tickets are just $10.
The College’s celebration of civil rights continues the next evening with a powerful music presentation. The Chicago Sinfonietta’s performance of “The Dream Lives On: Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” begins at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, in Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center.
The Chicago Sinfonietta led by conductor Paul Freeman marks the life and work of King with a musical celebration presented by the nation’s most diverse symphony orchestra. The performance concludes with audience participation in a moving rendition of the spiritual “We Shall Overcome.” Tickets are $50 and $40/adults, $10/students.
Martin Luther King Week culminates with the 22nd annual Gospel Extravaganza at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, in Pfeiffer Hall. Tickets are $15/adults, $8/students and senior citizens. In addition to North Central’s own Voices of Praise gospel choir, groups performing include the 50-member Wheaton College Gospel Choir, Lisle-based DuPage African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church Voices of Praise Gospel Choir and the 80-member Dexter Walker and Zion Movement Chorale.
North Central College’s Martin Luther King Week, Jan. 15-23, is an annual celebration of the College’s history of building bridges among cultures. To reserve tickets, call the box office at 630-637-SHOW (7469).



