DSO's Aretha Franklin tribute this weekend includes exhibit of historic photographs

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's tribute to Aretha Franklin this weekend will fill the concert hall with the hits made famous by the Queen of Soul, but it also pays homage to an extraordinary rare event that happened in this same space a quarter century earlier.

Along with the symphony's performance of Franklin's most well-known hits sung by guest vocalists Tamika Lawrence, Shaleah Adkisson and Blaine Krauss, ticketholders will also be treated to a rare photo exhibit from award-winning photojournalist Linda Solomon, who was often trusted with unfettered access to the musical superstar.

The collection includes some never-before-seen images of Franklin and some from Solomon's book "The Queen Next Door." Fans will get to see a series of photographs Solomon took at a pre-show rehearsal at Orchestra Hall. Solomon said she's thrilled to be able to share what Franklin expressed to her during that time.

"The photographs are intimate. She's so emotional in the photographs, the expression on her face, I think you're going to the natural woman when she was most natural," said Solomon, who took the photos of the singer at Orchestra Hall in November 1998 for a photographic essay that aired on CNN. Solomon recalls Franklin wearing no makeup, since she was to be made up later for the performance, and a casual outfit with a cashmere cardigan and "tassel loafers" on her feet, all under the natural lighting of the venue.

"She was so happy to be with her symphony in her hometown and I think that's why this tribute is so special because she said such special things about Orchestra Hall."

"She said Linda, I just sang four notes and I started to cry," said Solomon. "I've never heard her quite like that. She was so open and so revealing. It was historic for her, too."

Solomon, a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame and a former Detroit News columnist, remembers Aretha's performances with the DSO in 1998 well.

"It was a three-night series, it was beyond exciting," she said. "It was a black-tie event the first night and it was a who's-who of Detroit notables and she received ovation after ovation because it was shortly after her Grammy performance when she had filled in for Pavarotti."

(Franklin famously stepped in for Luciano Pavarotti during the 1998 Grammy Awards telecast to sing "Nessun dorma" when the opera singer fell ill. Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich told Billboard he had seen Franklin perform the song for Pavarotti at an event he was being honored at two nights before, and she agreed to do it at the Grammys with less than two hours notice.)

"This is within the same year, so can you imagine she goes on stage at Orchestra Hall shortly after that and she performs two arias," said Solomon. "It was probably my most favorite time with her. And I've never printed the photographs. I've never exhibited them."

More than 30 framed photos from the 1998 Orchestra Hall concert will be on the third floor in the atrium area, and several of Solomon's other images of the Queen from around Detroit will be on display throughout the venue. Along with the photo exhibits and two-hour concert, guests will be able to see and take photos with a 1956 pink Cadillac, one of more than 100 of the cars used during Franklin’s 2018 funeral procession.

Solomon treasures being able to document Franklin's DSO appearance in 1998, because of the intimacy and rarity of the event. She said along with the DSO performers and conductor Dr. Leslie B. Dunner, Franklin was joined in rehearsal by her own musicians and even her opera teacher Mary Callaghan Lynch. Some of those people, along with a handwritten set list are photographed in the exhibit.

"This was the first time that she had performed with her home city symphony. She was thrilled and you can hear it in her voice ... and it became historic, because she never came back."

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens

Respect: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin

Conducted by Na’Zir McFadden with vocalists Tamika Lawrence, Shaleah Adkisson, Blaine Alden Krauss and pianist John Boswell

with photo exhibit by Linda Solomon

10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. Fri., 8 p.m. Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun.

Orchestra Hall at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center

3711 Woodward, Detroit

(313) 576-5111 or dso.org

$29 and up