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Religion

Faith Matters - Martin Luther King - A Dream Changes the World

July 7, 2019

Creative Church, a German Lutheran foundation, has produced another musical for mass choirs: Martin Luther King - A Dream Changes the World. In a series of flashbacks the show sketches the life of the great American civil rights leader and Nobel laureate from the perspective of his fellow activists.

https://p.dw.com/p/3LhXy

"I have a dream . . " Martin Luther King’s address from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963, made him world-famous. The struggle to make dreams a reality and to express one’s religious faith in political action are key themes of the musical, A Dream Changes the World. It highlights the Baptist preacher’s marriage to Coretta Scott King, the Montgomery bus boycott initiated by Rosa Parks, and Dr King’s visit to Communist East Germany, during which he told Germans trapped behind the Berlin Wall, "Where people break down the dividing wall of hostility which separates them from their brothers, Christ achieves his ministry of reconciliation." The German journalist, Andreas Malessa, whose father met the great civil rights activist and Nobel laureate, wrote the script. Hanjo Gäbler and Christoph Terbuyken arranged the music, which includes gospel classics such as Go down, Moses and We shall overcome. They also composed original numbers, sung by soloists and performed by a big band and a small string ensemble. The Lutheran foundation, Creative Church, is committed to bringing people together through music and song. This major production had its double premiere in the western German town of Essen in February 2019. Twelve hundred young people sang in each of the two choirs. It received an enthusiastic reception at the German Evangelical Church convention in Dortmund at the end of June, where 2000 choristers took part. A tour to eleven German cities is planned for next year.