In addition to being an actor of well-earned renown, Morgan Freeman is a fierce supporter of the blues. A Mississippi native, he co-founded the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale and earlier this year launched Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience as a way to bring the genre to concert halls around the country.
The show started its run just a few weeks ago, and on Monday the Pabst Theater Group announced that it will visit the Riverside Theater on Nov. 2, with Freeman live and in person.
The Academy Award winner lends his sonorous vocals to the production in the role of narrator, leading attendees through a performance that also features Delta blues musicians collaborating with our own Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
“Blues is the soul of Mississippi — the rhythm of its history, its heartache and its hope,” Freeman said in a release. “This experience gives the blues its rightful place on the world’s stage and ensures its legacy continues to echo through future generations.”
The tour made a stop in the Chicago area last Friday and will continue hitting various spots around the country before swinging through Milwaukee on Nov. 2. Tickets to the Riverside Theater show go on sale at 10 a.m. this Friday, Aug. 8, online and at the Pabst/Riverside box offices.
Event details
Morgan Freeman’s lifelong love for his birthplace in Mississippi — its rhythms, its history and its people — lies at the very heart of the Symphonic Blues Experience. His vision to elevate the Blues beyond the juke joint and into the concert hall was born from a desire to honor the soul of the Delta on a grand, global stage.
Together with his business partners Eric Meier and Howard Stovall, with whom he co-owns the legendary Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Miss., Freeman found the ideal collaborators to help bring this vision to life. With Meier’s entrepreneurial leadership and Stovall’s production expertise, the three transformed a deeply personal homage into a groundbreaking cultural event that celebrates the rich legacy of the Blues through powerful music, cinematic storytelling and symphonic scale.
Guided by Freeman’s legendary voice, this immersive musical performance fuses the raw, aching power of authentic Delta blues with the grandeur of a symphony orchestra, creating a soundscape that is both deeply rooted and breathtakingly expansive.
Through cinematic storytelling, masterful performances by blues artists from Ground Zero Blues Club and sweeping orchestral arrangements, Symphonic Blues unveils the Delta’s profound cultural legacy and its indelible influence on music across the world.
This performance also shines a light on the region’s enduring spirit and the pivotal role of Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale — a sacred ground for Blues preservation and a living testament to its power. More than just a concert, Symphonic Blues is a transformative celebration of history, resilience, and the music that gave voice to generations.
