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| ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS |
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CONCERT
PROGRAM:
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Ellis Island:
The Dream of America - Peter
Boyer
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Liberty
for All - James Beckel
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Symphonic
Dances from West Side Story - Leonard
Bernstein
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Ellis
Island: The Dream of America, Boyer's
most ambitious work to date, celebrates the American
immigrant experience and the American dream.
Innovative in its format, the work brings elements
of the theatre and multimedia into the concert
hall, employing actors and projected historical
images from the Ellis Island archives. |
The
spoken texts for the work come from the
Ellis Island Oral History Project, an historic
collection of interviews with actual immigrants
about their experiences emigrating to America.
After extensive research in this archive,
Boyer chose the stories of seven immigrants
who came to America through Ellis Island
from disparate nations between 1910-1940.
He fashioned short monologues from the
actual words of these immigrants, and wove
them into an orchestral tapestry which
frames and comments on their stories—by
turns poignant, humorous, moving, and inspiring.
The work concludes with a reading of the
Emma Lazarus poem The New Colossus ("Give
me your tired, your poor…" ),
providing an emotionally powerful ending
to this celebration of our nation of immigrants. |
Ellis
Island: The Dream of America was commissioned
by The Bushnell Center
for the Performing Arts, in celebration of the
inaugural season of its Belding Theatre. It was
premiered by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by the composer, with actors from the
New York stage, directed by Martin Charnin, at
the Bushnell in April 2002. The premiere was
broadcast on National Public Radio's SymphonyCast
program in July 2002. |
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FULL
BIO |
HI-RES
PHOTO |
PROGRAM
NOTES |
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