about the composition 

Birmingham (2006), for orchestra and (optional) narrator, is dedicated to the work and memory of Civil Rights Movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The work incorporates text from Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written during his April 1963 civil disobedience campaign in Birmingham, Alabama.

Dr. King, one of thousands jailed during the Birmingham campaign, wrote the letter in response to a published statement by eight Alabama clergymen who called his demonstrations “unwise and untimely” and “extremist.” It was hastily scrawled in the margins of a newspaper and other sheets of paper provided to Dr. King while he was confined in a Birmingham city jail cell.

Birmingham, composed by Carl Schroeder of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with text by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has an approximate performance time of 6 1/2 minutes. Permission to use excerpts from Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was generously granted by Intellectual Properties Management, of Atlanta, Georgia, as exclusive licensor of the King Estate.

about the composer

Carl Schroeder of Minneapolis, Minnesota, composes music for concert band, orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles and solo piano that often draws inspiration from American history, current events, natural surroundings and memories. His large ensemble music has been performed by more than 40 concert bands, orchestras and choirs, including the Air Force Band of Mid-America, Minnesota Youth Symphonies and Chamber Choir Kyiv. He has written works on commissions from the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, Minnesota State Band, Cornell University Symphonic Band, Southwest Wind Ensemble, Calhoun-Isles Community Band, Wells Fargo Chorus and other ensembles and individuals. His music is featured on five CD recordings, his choral work Two December Carols is published by Boosey & Hawkes, and his concert band work Spin is published by C. Alan Publications.

Schroeder is a 2005 graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he studied composition primarily with Timothy Mahr and Peter Hamlin. In 2001, he was named "Composer with Most Potential" by the Minnesota Music Educators Association, and in 2004 he was one of three under-25 American composers chosen to participate in the National Band Association’s Young Composer Mentor Project, where he took lessons with composers Mark Camphouse, Donald Grantham and Dana Wilson. He composed Birmingham during the spring of 2006, based on a piano score composed in January 2006. A piano version with music only, and no narration, is also available.

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CONCERT PERFORMANCES orchestra version unless otherwise noted
Jan. 13, 2006: Helen Schroeder, Carl Schroeder - Northfield, MN premiere (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
Jan. 15, 2006: Carsten Slostad, Carl Schroeder - St. Louis Park, MN (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
April 30, 2006: Carsten Slostad, Carl Schroeder - St. Louis Park, MN (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
June 25, 2006: Fr. Dale Korogi, Carl Schroeder - Minneapolis, MN (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
March 26, 2007: Carolyn Albert, Carl Schroeder - Minneapolis, MN (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
May 1, 2007: Kenwood Symphony Orchestra, Chief Judge Edward Toussaint, narrator; Dr. Jeffrey Stirling, conductor - Minneapolis, MN premiere
May 6, 2007: Kenwood Symphony Orchestra, Chief Judge Edward Toussaint, narrator; Dr. Jeffrey Stirling, conductor - Minneapolis, MN
Jan. 18, 2009: Carsten Slostad, Carl Schroeder - St. Louis Park, MN (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
Mar. 24, 2009: Carsten Slostad, Carl Schroeder - St. Paul, MN (piano/spoken voice arrangement)
Feb. 28, 2010: First Unitarian Society Orchestra; Mary Bohman, narrator; Dr. Jeffrey Stirling, conductor - Minneapolis, MN

RECORDINGS
88 Keys: Piano Music by Carl Schroeder (solo piano arrangement, no spoken voice part) - Carl Schroeder