Newswise — The newest work by Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music Prof. Avner Dorman will receive its world premiere on April 13 at 8 p.m. in Gettysburg College’s Christ Chapel, located at the intersection of North Washington and West Stevens streets.
“Letters from Gettysburg” will feature the 120-voice Gettysburg College Choir and Concert Choir, baritone soloist Matthew Carlson, and the Sunderman Conservatory Percussion Ensemble, conducted by Prof. Robert Natter. Tickets are $5 for adults; children under 18, students, faculty and staff with Gettysburg College ID are admitted free of charge.
Written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the “Letters from Gettysburg” work was commissioned by the Gettysburg College American Civil War Sesquicentennial Planning Committee. The concert also features Jeffrey Van’s “A Procession Winding Around Me” for mixed choir and guitar (to text of Walt Whitman) and Elizabeth Alexander’s “Reasons for the Perpetuation of Slavery,” a work whose subject is slavery in the modern world. Regarding “Letters from Gettysburg,” Dorman writes, “Most of the text for this work comes from letters written by 1st Lieutenant Rush P. Cady – Co. K, 97th New York Infantry, who was fatally wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg and died a few days later. The first and last movements are based on a letter written by his mother at his death bed.” About Dorman
Hailed as a “brilliant young Israeli composer” by Stephen Brookes in The Washington Post, Dorman, a professor of composition at Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music, has quickly risen to become one of the leading composers of his generation. His music “works its magic by melding far-flung influences and making them sound natural together,” wrote Allan Kozinn in a feature article in The New York Times. Dorman's unique approach to rhythm and timbre has attracted some of the world's most notable conductors to bring his music to audiences of the New York Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and more.
Dorman completed his doctoral degree as a C.V. Starr fellow at The Juilliard School and his Master's degree at Tel Aviv University. He was a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and served as composer in residence for the Stockton Symphony, the Alabama Symphony and the Israel Camerata. He was the youngest composer to win Israel's prestigious Prime Minister's Award for his Ellef Symphony.
About Sunderman Conservatory and Gettysburg College
The Sunderman Conservatory of Music provides comprehensive music training grounded in the liberal arts for students who seek to make music integral to their lives as a career or life-long avocation. The Conservatory offers three degrees, a Bachelor of Music in Performance, a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Music. As a dynamic conservatory within one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges, Sunderman Conservatory fosters rigorous study, creativity, intellectual curiosity and joy in music. Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.
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