Johnnie Woods of Rock Island has found a renewed appreciation for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as she narrates a piece about his life at this weekend's Quad City Symphony Orchestra concerts.

"I am inspired by the piece," she said this week. "I hope this production does inspire other people and sheds light on Martin Luther King's accomplishments. He was so eloquent. His words inspired a generation to behave nonviolently."

Ms. Woods -- last January's winner of the "I Have a Dream" community-service award from the King Center in Rock Island -- will read excerpts from Dr. King's speeches during "New Morning for the World (Daybreak of Freedom)" on the QCSO program Saturday and Sunday.

"I just think it is a very powerful production," she said of the symphonic biography of the slain civil-rights leader. "You can feel the emotion, the excitement, the sadness, all of that in the music. To add Martin Luther King's words is even more powerful.

"It feels like the music and the words are part of the same story," Ms. Woods said. "Even the words, to me, are musical."

The work by 66-year-old Chicago native Joseph Schwantner was commissioned by AT&T in 1982, while the composer was on the faculty at New York's Eastman School of Music. The Eastman Philharmonia Orchestra gave the premiere on Jan. 15, 1983, during a tour at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.

The date was Dr. King's birthday; national legislation soon would be signed by then-president Ronald Reagan declaring the birthday a national holiday. Mr. Schwantner wrote that he composed "New Morning" as a memorial to "a man of great dignity and courage whom I had long admired."

Contrasts of violence and peace are present in the music, paralleling both Dr. King's tragic death and the dream that was his life's mission, according to QCSO program notes.

Ms. Woods said the most meaningful passages to her are when Dr. King spoke of "our challenge and our responsibility," meaning "we are not done" pursuing peace and justice for all, she said. Since his assassination in 1968, "that challenge and responsibility has not been completed."

"There's still work to be done, forever," Ms. Woods said. "What he did in his speeches and writings, he challenged us to be a better society. I love my country, but that doesn't mean we don't have work to do."

Part of Dr. King's dream was to live in a place "where all of our gifts and resources are not held for ourselves alone, but are instruments of service for the rest of humanity," Ms. Woods said, quoting him.

Her gifts include serving the community in many ways -- working at the Youth Service Bureau of Rock Island County, mentoring young people, running for city council this past year, and now serving on the mayor's Safer Community Task Force.

"I'm just honored and pleased to have this opportunity," she said. "I have powerful words to work with."

"New Morning for the World" is paired this weekend with Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55, the "Eroica."