Johnnie Woods lists the names of Coretta Scott King, James Earl Jones and Maya Angelou.

All have done what she will do next week with the Quad-City Symphony Orchestra: recite the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in composer Joseph Schwanter's "New Morning for the World," a symphonic biography.

"It puts me in good company, but ... I think I have to make it mine," Woods said. "Whatever I do I try to do my best."

She has been listening repeatedly to a version of the piece in which the words are spoken by King contemporary John Lewis.

"I can't be him, but I can make it mine," she added.

Woods was chosen to speak the words after winning the "I Have a Dream" Award earlier this year during the annual Martin Luther King memorial service at the community center in Rock Island named for the late civil rights leader.

A Louisiana sharecropper's daughter, Woods was raised in Rock Island and has received national recognition for her student tutoring and mentoring program as well as her diversity training programs.

By her count, there are excerpts from 10 King speeches in her performance.

"It's something that I have never done before," she said. "I do write poetry and have done some reciting, so I believe it'll be similar to that. I'm excited and nervous and I'm honored."

Woods, 58, said she hopes audiences will have the same experience she did with the words and the accompanying music.

"I feel like I can hear the waterhoses and the people running, and I can feel the surreal qualities when he's sad and I can feel his death," she said. "There's hope in all those things that were a part of who he was. You can feel it in the music.

"I can feel the pain, the sacrifice, all of that stuff. That pumps me up. 'Pumps me up' is a slang term, but that's what it feels like."