World premiere piece to mark OKC bombing
Jonathan Leshnoff has composed more than 70 works, including four symphonies, 12 concertos and over 25 orchestral pieces.
But he considers the commission he received from the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in fall 2018 the most serious he has ever undertaken.
“It weighed heavy on my shoulders,” he said. “To know that this piece of music would be performed for people who
directly experienced this ... that gives the composer a lot more responsibility. Suddenly, it doesn't just become a piece or a concept or even a symphony.”
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic will perform Saturday night the world premiere of the Grammynominated composer's new work “Of Thee I Sing,” which the orchestra commissioned in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.
“You can really sense ... that he takes this darkness but moves it into light somehow, into something that transcends it and has a healing aspect,” said Oklahoma City Philharmonic Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate. “It's really brilliant.”
Artistic commemorations
Featuring the University of Oklahoma Choruses and Canterbury Voices, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic's Saturday concert will be the first of several local arts events presenting new works to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the April 19, 1995, tragedy.
“We' re just tremendous ly honored that they asked us to perform on such a significant concert,” said Canterbury Voices Executive Director Pam Mowry. “The music is beautiful. It definitely will honor the memory of the event.”
To mark the bombing anniversary, Canterbury Voices will premiere “Of Perpetual Solace,” a choral and multimedia work created by Oklahoma City husband-and-wife team of composer Edward Knight and librettist and visual artist M.J. Alexander, during its March 29 season finale, while Oklahoma City Ballet will debut Artistic Director Robert Mills' “A Little Peace,” a new ballet set to songs by Oklahoma native and Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill, as part of an April 17-19 triple bill.
Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre will present an April 17-18 encore of OKC playwright Ruth Charnay's “The Oklahoma City Project,” originally performed in 2005 for the 10th anniversary of the bombing.
“The arts are an integral part of any sort of commemoration in tragedy. The arts are what really help a community grieve and celebrate. All the emotions that you feel, the arts really help bring that to the forefront,” Mowry said.
Familiar inspiration
Leshnoff, 46, received the commission in November 2018, which meant he had to work quickly since it usually takes him about a year to compose a substantial orchestral piece.
Along with contacting the Oklahoma City National Memorial and researching the 1995 bombing, the Baltimore-based composer said he thought on his own memories of the tragedy, which happened during his formative years and seemed to mark a new era when acts of terror became a domestic and not just an international concern.
“I'm a Jersey boy ... and it did affect me. I remember just hearing the news and we were all stunned and shocked that this could happen in our own country. It spawned discussions I remember in class ... and I began to become aware of the pain. And now, it just keeps happening and happening,” he said in a phone interview.
“It's a very important work for me personally. I'm very honored and humbled that the orchestra would put this event into my hands as a composer.”
As the title suggests, Leshnoff found inspiration for his four-part, 23-minute choral and orchestral piece in the patriotic anthem “My Country `Tis of Thee.”
“It always brought the cl ass or t he congregation or whatever I was in together. I was once at a synagogue where it was sung at the end of the service, and I remember that as a child. I personally feel that the song itself is very moving, and the words even more so, particularly for this commission, `land where my fathers died,'” he said. “Despite it all, despite the terrible tragedy of the fathers dying in Oklahoma City, this is our country. This is what it's about. They're remembered in a collective sense, and we are to celebrate that: `Of Thee I Sing.'”
Opting to give Leshnoff complete creative freedom, Micklethwate said he wasn't disappointed when he received the score.
“For me, the piece instantaneously became a contemporary cl assic,” he said. “It's really meaningful.”
“Of Thee I Sing” will cap a program titled “From the
Dramatic to the Sublime” that will include the premiere of “The Limits of Almost ,” a new work for orchestra and choir by Canadian composer Matthew Patton, as well as German composer Johann Sebastian Bach's “Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor,” as arranged by Leopold Stokowski, and Frédéric Chopin's “Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor,” featuring pianist Angela Cheng as soloist.
In honor of the bombing anniversary, the conductor said the musicians and singers will dress in white, and audience members are asked to do the same.
“This vision has been in me for like a year now ... and it's just creating something of complete unity and transcending,” he said. “We never should forget the past — ever — but to look fully hopeful to the future.”