As part of the ongoing celebration of Black History Month, the SIUC Symphony Orchestra will perform music by a variety of African-American composers at 8 p.m. tonight in Shryock Auditorium.

The performance highlights 20th century composers such as Duke Ellington, Adolphus Hailstork and William Grant Still.

Still was the first African-American composer to have his music performed by a major American full scale symphony orchestra when the Rochester Symphony performed Afro-American Symphony in the early 1930s.

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Orchestra director Edward M. Benyas said Still’s Afro-American Symphony carries an attractive angle that could entice music lovers to check out the performance.

What’s interesting about the Afro-American Symphony’ is that it has a very prominent blues influence, he said. There’s a blues theme that runs through the symphony in each of the four movements.

It’s immediately pleasant to anybody who will listen to it because of these blues elements which many of us are familiar.

Chicago composer and world-class musician James Mack will be guest conductor for some of his own compositions.

Benyas said Mack’s In Memoriam is a perspective on last things from four points of view the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the Sephardic Jewish Kaddish, the shape-note hymnody of 19th century American Protestants and the traditional American Black Spiritual.

I can’t say there’s really one highlight, but certainly James being there to conduct his piece is very important, Benyas said. These works are very tuneful because they’re based on liturgical things, hymn melodies, folk tunes and spirituals.

A lot of 20th century music is not accessible, but this is accessible.

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Along with guest conductor Mack, Rita Warford will be the vocal soloist in several songs, and Dr. Joseph Brown will narrate a well-known letter by from the Birmingham, Ala., jail by Dr. Martin Luther King.

FACTOID:General admission for the performance is $3 and $2 for students and seniors. For information, call (618) 453-2787.