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About the Score

“Gettysburg” was written and premiered in June 2012 at the ACDA Summer Composers Forum at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. The composition was premiered by the “Princeton Singers” under the direction of Steven Sametz at Lehigh University and also in Washington, DC as part of the National Symposium on American Choral Music, a joint project of ACDA and the Library of Congress.

The text is the forth and final stanza of Herman Melville’s (1819-1891) poem entitled “Gettysburg.”

"Sloped on the hill the mounds were green, Our center held that place of graves, And some still hold it in their swoon, And over these a glory waves. The warrior-monument, crashed in fight, Shall soar transfigured in loftier light, A meaning ampler bear; Soldier and priest with hymn and prayer Have laid the stone, and every bone Shall rest in honor there."

“Gettysburg” was performed as part of the 2013 National Memorial Day Concert at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC under the baton of Craig Jessop. Dr. Jessop and I chose this text together as 2013 marked the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. Dr. Jessop asked me to orchestrate the work, so the orchestrated version was premiered with a large festival chorus and the US Air Force Symphony Orchestra on May 26, 2013.

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