For over 80 years, Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait has been a go-to choice for orchestras across America.
"I've done the Lincoln Portrait, I don't know how many times," says Hopkins Symphony Orchestra conductor Jed Gaylin. "It's a piece that's often done on ceremonial occasions, for maybe Veterans Day or the 4th of July."
Lincoln Portrait, as its name suggests, paints an orchestral picture of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln using a mix of music and narration. The piece's speaker plays both biographer and man, reciting facts and quotes from across Lincoln's life while accompanied by original music and 19th century folk songs.
But on April 18, the HSO will add a second perspective to their program. The newly commissioned Douglass Portrait, composed by retired U.S. Army Captain J. Kimo Williams, will tell the story of renowned abolitionist, writer, and orator Frederick Douglass, who was enslaved in Baltimore before escaping to freedom.
"This orchestral work does not seek to dramatize historical events or deliver a literal reenactment of his speeches," writes Williams in the piece's program notes. "Instead, it presents a portrait in sound and text, offering audiences an opportunity to engage directly with the intellectual and moral force of Douglass's language ... not as static artifacts of the past, but as living expressions of a struggle that remains ongoing."
The HSO is no newcomer to commissioning pieces. Over Gaylin's 35-year tenure as conductor, he's lost count of how many pieces he's debuted, though he estimates upwards of 17 or 18.
This time, Gaylin is especially pleased to have Williams as the composer, describing him as "extraordinarily accomplished." The pair has already worked together, back when Gaylin commissioned Williams to compose a piece for the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra in West Virginia.
"It's great to have a living composer," says Gaylin. "There's the excitement of just getting to know a piece and having the composer around to be able to ask him, 'Hey, did you really mean B flat here?' ... It's a great responsibility, helping midwife a piece into its existence."
Rehearsals for the April 18 concert, which will also features performances from this year's Concerto Competition winners, are currently underway. Junior Vea Freeman, who has played cello with the HSO since her freshman year, is excited to see how Douglass Portrait will evolve.
"This is not the first time I've performed a newly commissioned work with HSO, and I hope it's not the last," she says. "HSO does an excellent job of celebrating the classical canon while also creatively exploring novel applications."
Lincoln Portrait is largely remembered for its spoken segments, with past narrators including politicians (Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher), actors (Tom Hanks, James Earl Jones, George Takei), and a wide variety of influential Americans (Neil Armstrong, Coretta Scott King, and Maya Angelou).
The HSO's Lincoln will be played by Shakespearean actor Gerrad Alex Taylor, A&S '10, who will also play Douglass. But unlike with Lincoln, Douglass Portrait will have a second performer reading the narration: mezzo-soprano Kyle Engler, Peab '92, '94 (MM).
"I thought it was important to have a female narrator as well, and in part because Douglass wrote and cared a lot about women's rights," explains Gaylin. "And it's nice to have the difference in timbre between a female voice and a male voice."
Although Douglass and Lincoln met three times and shared a mutual respect, their lives were vastly different. By playing both pieces in the same program, the HSO hopes to highlight the wide array of American experiences in advance of the nation's 250th birthday. The final result, Freeman predicts, will be something beautiful.
"Douglass' roots in Talbot County and Baltimore are extremely locally relevant to Hopkins, and I hope this piece inspires curiosity about his life and influence," she says. "It's a privilege to perform this program celebrating American liberation, democracy, and civil rights."
Adds Gaylin: "At this momentous time in our nation's history, in terms of [250] years, it's important to remind ourselves what is most important about America, no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on."
