ALBUM NOTES

The Oklahoma City Philharmonic proudly announces the release of Veils of Justice: Trials, Tears, Transcendence, The Journey of Clara Luper, a sweeping orchestral and vocal tribute composed by the renowned Hannibal Lokumbe. This deeply moving album honors the legacy of Clara Luper: Oklahoma educator, activist, and civil rights trailblazer, whose courage transformed a nation

Featuring GRAMMY®-Award Winning Soprano Karen Slack as the voice of Clara Luper, GRAMMY®-Award Winning drummer and percussionist Brannan Temple, Conductor Alexander Mickelthwate, The Oklahoma City Phiharmonic, the Ambassador Choir and the Canterbury Voices, this is a story not only of civil rights but of human dignity, peaceful resistance, and the power of teaching children to lead. Lokumbe’s unique style, described as a “spiritatorio,” blends gospel, jazz, spirituals, oratorio, and classical music into a soundscape that is both historical and strikingly contemporary.

Life’s soundscapes have taken trumpeter and composer Hannibal Lokumbe from the cotton fields of Elgin, Texas, where he was first inspired by the spirituals and hymns of his grandparents, to the stages of Carnegie Hall and much of the world. Lokumbe is a leader in expressing the richness of the African-American experience through orchestral and choral music while honoring the lives and legacies of important historical figures including John Brown, Fannie Lou Hamer, Anne Frank, Kim Phuc Phan Thi and others. 

This new work by Hannibal Lokumbe, Trials, Tears, Transcendence: The Journey of Clara Luper, is a profound continuation of that vision. As stated by David Holt, Mayor of Oklahoma City and President of the United States Conference of Mayors, “In 1958 in Oklahoma City, a group of children led by teacher Clara Luper engaged in one of the first civil rights sit-ins in American history. They successfully integrated a downtown lunch counter, and their example was specific inspiration for the Greensboro sit-inners two years later. Clara Luper and her young sit-inners didn’t just impact Oklahoma City, they influenced American history. That story remained largely untold through the years, but we are changing that today in OKC through construction of the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center and the creation of a new monument downtown. This unique and powerful piece by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Hannibal Lokumbe elevates this civil rights story of national significance. This piece broadens our understanding of the sacrifices and courage of those who fought for equal opportunity, while inspiring us to continue their work.” Over the course of a year, Hannibal visited Oklahoma City multiple times, met with Marilyn Luper Hildreth, and absorbed the living history that still pulses through this city.

The resulting composition tells Clara’s story through the voice of her daughter—a series of musical letters, intimate and soaring, personal and prophetic, and narrated by Marilyn. 

This performance was shaped by the people in our community. We reached out to churches, schools, and families. We invited new audiences into the concert hall, and on the night of the premiere, the air felt electric—more like a sanctuary than a symphony. Applause erupted at the end of the second movement before the piece had even finished. People were moved. We all were.