MIAMI BEACH – New World Symphony’s 5th annual I Dream a World Festival, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” showcases the enduring legacy of Black artist-activists through music, poetry, and performance, February 18 – 22, 2026. The festival spans from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement. It includes contemporary figures like bass-baritone Davóne Tines Tines and composer Jessie Montgomery. The festival traces a powerful lineage of artists who have shaped social movements and inspired change through their art.
Festival curator, Dr. Tammy Kernodle, Miami University of Ohio Distinguished Professor and Park Creative Arts Endowed Professor in the Department of Music, says, “Since the inaugural festival in 2022, I Dream a World has celebrated Black artists who have shaped history. But history is not fixed in time.The connections between past, present, and future form a continuum that continues to resonate. Contemporary artists are discovering their own distinct voices. They carry forward a legacy that sparks new perspectives in our evolving world. To truly celebrate Black artistry is to acknowledge its evolution, honoring those who paved the way, while embracing the powerful voices of today.”
“I Dream a World has become a cornerstone of New World Symphony’s commitment to exploring how the contributions of Black artists shape our collective conscience,” said Howard Herring, President and Chief Executive Officer.
“This year’s festival showcases the legacy of artists whose work has inspired understanding across generations. By bringing together the past and present – from Langston Hughes to Davóne Tines – we continue a conversation that reminds us of the power of art and music to unite. It moves us toward a more equitable world.”
The festival opens on Wednesday, February 18 at New World Center’s Truist Pavilion. Curated by Tines and Kernodle, this intimate salon-style program —”I, Too, Sing America: Langston Hughes & Margaret Bonds”— will feature the acclaimed singer performing alongside soprano Kristin Young, NWS Fellows and others. They will bring to life Hughes and Bonds’ shared works.
Langston Hughes and Margaret Bonds shared a deep artistic kinship rooted in cultural pride and a mission to give voice to the Black experience through their art. Meeting in Chicago in the early 1930s, Bonds and Hughes immediately found common ground in their dedication to uplifting Black stories. They focused on language and spiritual expression. Their friendship blossomed into a creative partnership that lasted decades.
Together, they created music that intertwined Hughes’s poetic voice with Bonds’s lyrical and emotionally rich compositions. Their works illuminated themes of hope, resilience, and identity.
Bonds set many of Hughes’s poems to music, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Three Dream Portraits,” and Songs of the Seasons. She crafted works that bridged classical traditions with the cadences of spirituals and jazz. Their collaborations stand as powerful testaments to Black artistry in the 20th century.
The program gets an encore performance on Thursday, February 19 at the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater in Overtown.
On Saturday February 21 and Sunday, February 22, Panamanian-American conductor Kalena Bovell in her NWS debut, leads the festival’s orchestral program. It explores themes of resilience and belonging in the context of the Civil Rights Movement.
Jessie Montgomery’s Banner, written in 2014 as a tribute to the 200th anniversary of “The Star Spangled Banner,” reimagines the national anthem through a multicultural lens. This piece will be conducted by NWS’s first-year Conducting Fellow Ziwei Ma. Davóne Tines’ ANTHEM, also a response to the traditional national anthem, addresses issues of race and social justice.
The Florida Memorial University Ambassador Chorale returns to the I Dream a World festival to perform this season’s festival namesake: “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Considered the Black National Anthem, the song stands as a powerful expression of identity, faith and strength within the Black American experience. This song has a unique tie to Florida Memorial University.
The original poem was written by James Weldon Johnson while living in Jacksonville, Florida. It was set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, who went on to join the music faculty at Florida Memorial University (then Florida Baptist Academy).
The Chorale’s performance honors both the Johnson brothers’ legacy and the University’s role in preserving and celebrating the cultural heritage of Black Americans.
The program culminates in Margaret Bonds’ The Montgomery Variations, a crowning work in her extraordinary career. This piece was composed as a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., after her visit to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1963.
Based on the spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” also to be performed, her Montgomery Variations is a set of freestyle ruminations on Montgomery as a focal point of the Civil Rights Movement. It serves as a powerful tribute to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This performance honors the 70th anniversary of this historic boycott.
Dr. Kernodle notes, “While titled The Montgomery Variations, the programmatic theme of this work extends beyond that city and the Montgomery movement. Rather, it is a sonic documentation of the sites, sentiment, sounds, and activity that defined the first two chapters of the mid-century Black Civil Rights struggle.”
“I’m really looking forward to being back in Miami with the New World Symphony as part of the I Dream a World festival,” said Tines.
“Curation has long been a developing part of my artistic practice and I’m so excited to partner with such an open-minded and adventurous organization to go on a unique journey connecting to our current times. We begin with music born from the friendship of Langston Hughes and Margaret Bonds, who showed how art can hold both truth and hope. With ANTHEM, I wanted to take something as familiar as the national anthem and ask what it might sound like if it actually told everyone’s story. I wanted it to question the principles of the past upon which America was built in search of a brighter collective future.”
I Dream a World Festival History New World Symphony launched the inaugural festival I Dream a World: The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond in 2022. It celebrated the history and influence of the cultural movement. The movement continues to serve as a vital foundation for contemporary Black art.
I Dream a World: The Harlem Renaissance in Europe followed in February 2023. It explored the transatlantic movement and influence of the Harlem Renaissance across Europe.
In 2024, the Festival turned its focus to the groundbreaking contributions of Mary Lou Williams. She was a pioneering jazz composer, pianist, and arranger whose work bridged the worlds of classical music and jazz. Her work shaped the soundscape of American music.
In 2025, I Dream a World: Transitions and Trailblazers was part of NWS’s Resonance of Remembrance: WWII and the Holocaust series. It focused on the pioneering influence of Black artists during the transformative period bridging the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement. These two distinct yet overlapping cultural and political eras intersected with World War II.
Please visit https://www.nws.edu/sing for more information and to purchase tickets.
*The February 21 performance will also be presented as a WALLCAST® concert and livestreamed online for free via NWS Inside.
The New World Symphony is a global leader in orchestral and artistic training. Talented musicians, aged typically between 22-30, are awarded three-year fellowships that consist of a robust curriculum of musical, entrepreneurial, and community engagement training.
Each season, Fellows are mentored by over 250 visiting faculty members and guest artists, and design and execute their own entrepreneurial projects. Fellows in various stages of their three-year fellowship make up the orchestra each season.
NWS has over 1,300 alumni transforming communities in over 30 countries. Eighty-seven Fellows comprise the 2025-26 class at New World Symphony across 17 instruments and three non-instrumental positions. The Fellows are selected for this highly competitive opportunity based on their musical achievement and promise, as well as their passion for the future of classical music.
Single tickets to New World Symphony concerts are online and in person at the New World Center box office or via phone (305-673-3331). Subscriptions are on sale ($32 – $504) for best seats, subscriber perks, and most flexibility. Reserve tickets for three or more performances (and save!) by composing your own subscription.
Over one-third of all NWS concerts are pay-what-you-wish, many starting at $0. Programs, artists, dates, prices, and availability are subject to change.
Please click here for the complete 2025-26 season concert schedule.
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