January 20, 2025
Thanks To Rev. Raphael Warnock, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ebenezer Baptist Church Reunite
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Ebenezer Baptist Church formerly enjoyed a long partnership, but it had fallen by the wayside.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Ebenezer Baptist Church formerly enjoyed a long and prosperous partnership. However, it had fallen by the wayside until a chance meeting between Ebenezer’s current senior pastor, Sen. Raphael Warnock, and the orchestra’s executive director, Jennifer Barlament, brought them back into fellowship.
According to Rough Draft Atlanta, Barlament and Rev. Warnock ran into each other at the Woodruff Arts Center sometime during the fall of 2024.
As Barlament tells the story, Warnock’s love of music and the arts allowed the church and the orchestra to rekindle a dormant relationship.
“I said, ‘Hey, Reverend Warnock, nice to meet you,’ and introduced myself,” she recalled to the outlet during an interview earlier in January. “And one thing led to another. We just had a really nice conversation about music and how much he loves music, how great the acoustics are here at Ebenezer and how the orchestra and the church had this relationship in the past. And so he basically said, ‘Well, come on down, let’s do something together.’”
According to musician and educator Dr. Patrice Turner, the worship director at Ebenezer Baptist Church, most are aware of Ebenezer’s history in the context of social justice, but fewer people know about the rich musical legacy of the church.
“People know about Ebenezer being a home for social justice,” Turner told Atlanta Rough Draft. “They know about the great preaching that has happened at this church, but they might not necessarily realize that there was a wealth of musical and arts-related production that has come out of Ebenezer. And so this particular concert reflects that.”
Morehouse College alum Carlos Simon, a composer whose work is included in Turner’s survey of music history specially crafted for the collaboration between the orchestra and the church, told the outlet that he hopes his music can spur more composers to speak out regarding social justice.
“I think that more composers are having the courage to speak about what’s happening in the world, whether it be politics or socioeconomic problems, and embed that into the music,” Simon told Atlanta Rough Draft. “And so that there is a cultural awareness that happens and people, hopefully, audience members, will leave and say, ‘Wow, I had no idea, you know, this was happening’ or ‘I had no idea about this segment of the Black church. Let me do my research. Let me understand, maybe go to the church, you know, and visit.’ So I think there’s a lot more emphasis to reflect our society.”
Rev. Dr. Bernice King, the CEO of the King Center and the youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, discussed this year’s theme for observations of her father’s legacy, “Mission Possible,” with GPB News a few days after the Jan. 4 recording of the concert.
The concert can be watched via GPB.org starting on Jan. 20.
“What is possible is that we can continue to cultivate and protect freedom, justice and democracy,” King said, “if we align ourselves with the teachings of my father, nonviolence and not just the actions, but the mindset that he left for us to consider.”
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