Daugherty and Hampson Salute Lincoln with His Own Words

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(January 2009)

Michael Daugherty’s latest work, Letters from Lincoln, honors the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln (February 12). Commissioned last year by the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and written for baritone Thomas Hampson, the commemorative work comes to life as part of Spokane’s community-wide Lincoln Festival, endorsed by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Hampson’s February 28 and March 1 world premiere performances of Letters from Lincoln at The Fox come fresh on the heels of the 56th Presidential Inaugural, the theme of which also reflects Lincoln’s bicentennial with the former president’s own words: “A New Birthday of Freedom.”

Letters from Lincoln draws text solely from the impassioned and powerful writings of Lincoln, both public and private.

Says Daugherty: “In Letters from Lincoln, I create a musical portrait of a man who expressed his vision with eloquence, and with hope that the human spirit could overcome prejudice and differences of opinion in order to create a better world. I discovered ways to bring his historic greatness into the present. I read his speeches, poems and letters and studied his life; I visited The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., and I traveled to the battlefields of Gettysburg.”

Donned a “master icon maker” by The Times (UK), Daugherty has woven presidential and political images into previous works, with music that is rich in cultural allusions. Jackie O (1997) and Bay of Pigs (2006) reflect the life and influence of John F. Kennedy, Sing Sing: J. Edgar Hoover (1992) uses the actual voice of the notorious former director of the F.B.I., and the third movement of Daugherty’s piano concerto, Deus Ex Machina (2007) follows the funeral train of Lincoln as it tours the saddened country in 1865.

Daugherty will be in Spokane for the premiere as Composer-in-Residence, with activities planned February 25-27. Letters from Lincoln will be recorded live at the concerts for future CD release by Koch.

The world premiere recording of Bay of Pigs was released last month on Tonar, performed by GRAMMY-winning guitarist Manuel Barrueco and the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Baltimore Magazine immediately placed the CD on the editor’s ‘Play It’ list, saying Daugherty’s writing “borders on genius.”

Click HERE to purchase the Bay of Pigs recording.

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