Marian Anderson String Quartet comes to Coastal Concerts Jan. 17

What’s in a name? Quite a bit, when it comes to the Marian Anderson String Quartet.

When this history-making group broke through an important barrier by becoming the first African-American ensemble to win a major classical music contest - the International Cleveland Quartet Competition - the players received permission from the legendary singer Marian Anderson to name their quartet after her.

For more than 20 years, the Marian Anderson String Quartet has sought to honor its famous namesake by performing music that embraces both standard classical repertoire and innovative works by African-American composers. The program the musicians will bring to Coastal Concerts in Lewes at 2 p.m., Saturday Jan. 17, will be characteristically diverse, featuring selections appropriate for the weekend leading up to observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Violinists Marianne Henry and Nicole Cherry, violist Diedra Lawrence and cellist Prudence McDaniel will begin the concert with “Songs of Separation” by William Grant Still, one of America’s most important composers. The work’s five songs are set to texts by black poets Arna Bontemps, Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. Lewes’s own Richard Moore will give readings of these poems as called for in the score.

The second offering on the program will be Jonathan B. McNair’s recently composed “Follow the Drinking Gourd for String Quartet,” a suite of incidental music based on the story behind the title song. During the days of the Underground Railroad, the “drinking gourd” became a code name for the Big Dipper whose stars helped escapees from slavery find their way at night. The music includes references to the spirituals “Go Down, Moses,” “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child,” and “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” as it traces the journey of an escaping African-American family.

The concert will conclude with British composer Frederick Delius’s infrequently played “String Quartet in E Minor,” a rhapsodic work with passages reminiscent of Delius’s early fascination with Negro spirituals. In his youth, the much-traveled composer managed an orange grove in Florida where the sounds of plantation songs drifting upriver made a lasting impression on him.

The 2 p.m. concert will take place at wheelchair-accessible Bethel United Methodist Church Hall, Fourth and Market streets, Lewes. Tickets are $30. Ages 10-18, as well as one adult per youth, are admitted free with advance reservations at 888-212-6458. Admission for $10 is available to students 19 years and older with a valid school ID.

For online tickets and more information, go to coastalconcerts.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the afternoon of the performance (all forms of payment accepted) or in advance (cash only) at the Lewes Chamber of Commerce or Teller Wines, 1201 Savannah Road.

In addition to its Saturday matinee performance, the Marian Anderson String Quartet will give outreach concerts during its visit. Through these free events, Coastal Concerts gives young audiences a chance to hear, question and interact with world-class professional musicians.

Coastal Concerts is a nonprofit organization promoting classical music appreciation in central Delmarva. This program is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.