I Have a Dream: Lemn Sissay & Manchester Camerata

MLF and Manchester Camerata present a special programme marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, which was delivered in August 1963 to more than 250,000 civil rights supporters at the March on Washington, calling for an end to racism in the United States. Responding to this era-defining speech, Lemn Sissay has been commissioned to create a poetic vision for our times. Lemn is the author of five collections of poetry and the play Something Dark; his inspirational poems can be found in many public spaces across Manchester and London. Lemn’s piece will be followed by the Camerata principal players’ performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet op.130, a work of profound depth and psychological intensity. Written by Beethoven in the last years of his life, the four voices of this quartet are an expression of a world of human emotion, at one moment love, at another fear, joy, anger, regret but ultimately eternal hope.