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The First Four
Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida Kick Off Continental Harmony’s Second Round of Premieres.
(Sounding Board, April 2003) Over the past six months, the second round of Continental Harmony projects saw its first four premieres, as communities in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida came together in celebration of the people, places, and stories that are important to them. These premieres follow in the footsteps of the program’s debut, which rang in the millennium with 58 new works and public celebrations (at least one in each state).
The program places composers in residence with communities across the country to work with citizens and organizations in the creation of new music and public events that meet the needs and capture the personalities of the host communities. When this round concludes in 2006, it will have brought a total of 35 communities into harmony.
Continental Harmony Program Director Patricia Shifferd and Forum National Program Manager Carey Nadeau scrambled across the East Coast filing reports from the field.
University Park, Pa.
Premiered November 16, 2002.
One of several communities drawing inspiration from the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, University Park held its Continental Harmony celebration in conjunction with “Lewis and Clark: The Unheard Voices,” a national conference at Pennsylvania State University. Rather than simply commemorate the expedition, the conference took a multi-disciplinary approach and explored the events in terms of environmental and American Indian issues.
One of the conferences multi-disciplinary facets was the premiere of Massachusetts composer David Cleary’s “Cross-Cultural Variations” for string quintet, performed by The Castalia Ensemble at Esber Recital Hall.
The work explores the interactions between American Indians and European settlers, opening with a Shoshone Indian Sun Dance song and moving into a series of cadenzas and variations on that melody. Halfway through the piece, a new theme is subtly introduced and combined with motifs from the Sun Dance. Eventually, the new theme grows stronger; it’s soon recognizable as “Chester,” William Billings Revolutionary War-era tune.
“The feel of the piece is, by and large, harmonious despite passages of clangor,” Cleary says. “Although tense at times, this expedition was a comparatively positive interaction between the two peoples. The cryptic ending, however, hints at difficulties to come later in the century.” — Patricia Shifferd
Macon, Ga.
Premiered February 8, 2003.
In Macon, Ga., the Macon Symphony, Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Harriet Tubman African-American Museum, and Mercer University teamed up with New York composer Scott Ethier to create a new work honoring the contributions of African Americans to Georgia’s musical heritage and celebrate the 2004 opening of the museum’s new facility. The symphony premiered Ethier’s “Spirit Jug” to a large, enthusiastic audience at the Grand Opera House.
Produced in the rural South during the 1920s, spirit jugs were created as memorials to loved one. Family members would gather small effects of the deceased and attach them to either the outside or the inside of a jug.
“Here was a memorial devoid of all the gothic trappings we associate with monuments to the dead — a memorial to which both tears and a smile would be appropriate reactions,” Ethier says. “As in the blues, another African-American folk art that surfaced at about the same time, ecstasy and deep sorrow are expressed simultaneously.”
The composition was inspired by the work of Georgia native Thomas A. Dorsey, who Ethier refers to as “the father of gospel music.” Ethier wrote the work in two sections, each a variation on the same musical theme. The sections correspond to the emotions of the spirit jug: ecstasy and sorrow. Aptly, the first section is fast, raucous, and public, and the second is slow, elegiac, and private.
Plans are under way to include “Spirit Jug” as part of a Macon Symphony youth concert later this spring. — Carey Nadeau
Gaston, Dallas, and Gastonia, N.C.
Premiered February 15, 2003.
North Carolinians continued Continental Harmony’s pattern of fruitful partnerships with museums, as Hawaiian composer Jerré Tanner worked with the Schiele Museum of Natural History and the Gaston County Museum. The two museums opened “High Seas to High Shoals,” a joint exhibit exploring the life of the extraordinary naval officer, scientist, explorer, and unsuccessful entrepreneur Admiral Charles Wilkes.
The exhibit contains natural history and ethnographic artifacts brought back by the Wilkes-led U.S. Exploring Expedition of the southern oceans between 1838 and 1842. These materials became the first contributions to the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.
The Gaston Symphonic Band premiered Tanner’s work, “High Seas to High Shoals: Theme and Variations on the Life of Admiral Charles Wilkes,” as part of the exhibit’s gala opening. Tanner based his work on the theme from “The Star of the Constellation,” an 1820s naval song by C.R. Crosby. Throughout the variations on this theme, other materials are added to illustrate the phases of Wilkes’ life. The work incorporates a Revolutionary War tune; Tahitian music; and “The Old Peacock,” a song written by expedition members.
Tanner’s piece will be performed at least two more times as part of the exhibition. — Patricia Shifferd
Tallahassee, Fla.
Premiered February 23, 2003.
New Jersey composer Oliver Lake worked with the residents of Tallahassee and the Florida A&M University Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble to create “Breathe in the Colors You See.” Lake based the work on his visits to the regions and research into its history.
The work was written in two sections joined by a percussion solo. The first honors the Seminole Indians, the first people to live in the area. The second section pays tribute to the early African American settlers, whose contributions to the area include the distinction of being the Wakulla River’s first riverboat pilots — an important factor in the development of Northern Florida. — Carey Nadeau
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