Seattle Wind Symphony presents: Persistence

Join Seattle Wind Symphony for Persistence: a program featuring music inspired by strength, tenacity, and the perseverance of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Special guests: NAAM’s African American Cultural Ensemble.

Haley Woodrow’s “In Two Places” opens the concert and explores the composer’s reflections on the feeling of being pulled in different directions at a time of transition coupled with her determination to keep moving forward.

Omar Thomas’s “Of Our New Day Begun” was composed following the attack and murder of 9 people in an act of domestic terrorism at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, on June 17, 2015. The piece is a palpable storm of tragedy, confusion, and strength. In Thomas’s own words, “the greatest challenge in creating this work was walking the line between reverence for the victims and their families, and honoring my strong, bitter feelings towards both the perpetrator and the segments of our society that continue to create people like him.” (https://www.omarthomas.com/of-our-new-day-begun). The Northwest African American Museum’s African American Cultural Ensemble will be featured in this piece, and will perform unaccompanied selections of vocal works next.

“Chorale Preludes” by Johannes Brahms are a series of intimate, reflective pieces composed largely around the decline and death of Brahms’s dear friend and fellow composer Clara Schuman. Aaron Copland’s “Variations on a Shaker Melody” from the Appalachian Spring ballet combines emerging melodies of Americana and hopefulness with the gravity of the international scene in 1944. “Song of Lir” by Fergal Carroll is a melodic work reminiscent of an Irish lament that weaves the Irish myth of Lir, about a king whose children were turned into swans for 900 years with a 17th century harping tune, “Captain O’Kane.”

The concert concludes with the finale to Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5: a powerful work that sweeps the listener along on a relentless march that was historically described as a forced rejoicing. Shostakovich publicly described the piece as “A Soviet’s reply to just criticism.”

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Seattle Wind Symphony is a premiere wind band in the Pacific Northwest, connecting people in the greater Seattle and Puget Sound community through vibrant, accessible, and captivating performances. Under the direction of Dr. John Falskow, Seattle Wind Symphony strives to engage our community through presenting a diverse array of composers and music styles. We hope to inspire audiences of all ages to cultivate a love of wind band music and to appreciate the unique resonance of an all-woodwind, brass, and percussion ensemble. Concert attendees should feel uplifted, engaged, and validated from our concerts and presentations.