PROJECTS

The Festival of American Voices is a year-long series presented by the Spartanburg Philharmonic to coincide with America 250. It is a series of 5 concerts that highlight American musical perspectives. Genres include music by Native American composers, spirituals, jazz, blues, bluegrass, broadway, canonical orchestral works, and commissioned works for orchestra.

The inaugural concert begins on February 28 and features music by Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate, a Chickasaw Nation composer and Florence Price’s Mississippi River Suite. Additionally, this concert will feature a commissioned work by a local composer (Peter B. Kay) entitled Revolutions alongside music from Copland’s famous ballet, Rodeo. It serves as a survey of American orchestral music.

In March, we turn to a uniquely American form, Broadway, in a partnership with the theater company in the community, Spartanburg Little Theatre. On this concert we will perform a wide range, spanning the golden era through late 20th century to the modern age.

In April, we will return to the orchestral realm and will tell a narrative of individuals who were not born in the United States, but who found refuge and success. This is my personal story as a Korean adoptee. At this concert, we will perform the music of Dai Wei, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Samuel Barber. Dai Wei (she/her) is a living composer who immigrated from China and completed a Masters Degree at UNC-Greensboro. Rachmaninoff self-exiled from Russia after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution and eventually found his way to the United States, where he built a celebrated piano-soloist/composer career. Finally, Vijay Gupta, will join us to perform Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. Vijay is the son of first generation immigrants, and is also the leader of Street Symphony, a musical organization focused on the housing crisis on Skid Row in Los Angeles. This concert coincides with Spartanburg’s first community-wide conference on building solutions for the unhoused in the community, for which Vijay is a featured speaker.

In September, the orchestra will mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with music by Jessie Montgomery (Hymn for Everyone), Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Phillip Glass’ Symphony no. 4, “Heroes.”

The finale occurs in October and centers around blues and jazz. At this concert, we will perform Duke Ellington’s, Black, Brown, and Beige; Chris Brubeck’s Concerto for Blues Guitar, Classical Guitar, and Orchestra; Gershwin’s American in Paris; and a new composition for Jazz Piano and Orchestra by John Moody, a local composer, titled Open Road.

To close the 25/26 season, John led a community-wide project in Spartanburg, SC entitled “The Moons” to coincide with the opening of a planetarium, which was awarded an NEA grant. To accompany Gustav Holst’s The Planets, John commissioned a local composer to write a work exploring the moons of the solar system. The Spartanburg Philharmonic held a writing contest for students to compose prose or poetry for each moon, which served as narration for the piece. Audience members were thrilled by the experience.