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Earth /Art Resources
E · art ·H
from the intersection of nature and art, toward a sustainable culture
including Earth/Art ® 21st Century Earth Day Commissions and Earth/Art ® Community Festivals!
CONTACT
TEL /EMAIL
Jon Becker
608.469.0316 / JonBecker@AOL.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12 April 2015
Wisconsin’s Earth Day Heritage To Be Celebrated in Music and Words: 18 & 22 April 2015
Music broadcast will feature the voices of the descendants of
John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Earth Day Founder Sen. Gaylord Nelson,
set to the symphonic music of Wisconsin composer John Harmon
There will be several opportunities to hear a “sneak preview” of Earth Day Portrait, music celebrating Earth
Day values, before its international release on CD later this year.
For the third year, the music will be “broadcast” in the Rotunda of Wisconsin’s State Capitol building.
Listeners should gather at the bust of “Fighting Bob” La Follette (the East Gallery entry is closest).
On April 18, Saturday, the music will be broadcast 10 times, on the half hour, starting at 9a and ending at 2p.
On April 22, Wednesday, which is Earth Day, there will be broadcasts at 4:30p and 5p.
Earth Day Portrait is a symphonic setting of eco-moral texts of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Earth Day
founder Sen. Gaylord Nelson. For the CD recording, the words of these environmental legends were read by their
descendants:
•
William (Muir) Hanna, great-grandson
•
Nina Leopold Bradley, daughter
•
Gaylord Jr, son, and Kiva Nelson, grand-daughter
Patty Loew, an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, narrated connecting texts that
paint intimate, personal portraits of Muir, Leopold, and Nelson, while recalling their unique mutual connection to
Madison, Wisconsin; all this is woven together by the story of the passenger pigeon’s extinction. Members of the
Madison Youth Choirs recorded a call-and-response part that – at concert performances – is spoken by audience
members.
Earth Day Portrait was composed in 2001 by John Harmon, who makes his home on the Wolf River, near
Winneconne. Harmon’s music was recorded in Glasgow by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, led by
conductor Marin Alsop, the first conductor to win a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. London’s EMI-Abbey Road
Studios produced the master recording. Voiceovers were recorded at Audio for the Arts in Madison and at
Umbrella Studios in Los Angeles.
For the forthcoming Earth Day CD, Harmon’s composition will be paired with Hymn to the Earth, by
American composer Edward Joseph Collins (1886-1951). Composed in Door County, and inspired by Wisconsin’s
seasons and landscapes, Collins’s ode to Nature also may well be the first Western classical composition to refer
to our home planet as “Mother Earth.”
###
April 18 ~ Saturday
April 22 ~ Wednesday (Earth Day)
9:00 a
11:30 a
4:30 p
9:30 a
12:00 n
5:00 p
10:00 a
1:00 p
10:30 a
1:30 p
11:00 a
2:00 p
Earth/Art® Resources
Jon Becker, founder
POB 3376
Madison, Wisconsin (WI) 53704
USA
608.469.0316
608.242.8525
E-art-H.org
JonBecker@aol.com
mobile
landline
www
email
Earth /Art ® Resources
E · art ·H
from the intersection of nature and art, toward a sustainable culture
including Earth/Art ® 21st Century Earth Day Commissions and Earth/Art ® Community Festivals!
EARTH DAY CD
Marin Alsop, conductor
EMI / Abbey Road Studios
London (music recording and master)
Royal Scottish
National Orchestra & Choir
Albany Records
New York
Owen Gromme, artist
Passenger Pigeon Pair (CD cover art)
Earth Day Portrait (ca. 24’)
Hymn to the Earth (ca. 37’)
Edward Joseph Collins,
composer and librettist
Dedicated to Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day,
and commissioned with his approval.
Jon Becker, concept/narrative
John Harmon, composer
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fanfare for Our Common Earth*
Invocation
Music for the Earth
Words for the Earth
Pledge for Our Common Earth
02:51
1. Chorus (Hail! Mother of us all and beautiful!)
08:42
01:34
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
04:04
04:16
11:07
04:10
* may be performed separately
Chorus and Bass Solo (Thou changest thy garment)
Chorus and Tenor Solo (Then one day)
Soprano Solo (Hour of youth, Springtime of life)
Chorus (Summer finds thee garbed in yellow)
Finale: Alto Solo, Quartet, and Chorus (Comes Autumn)
Celebrating in music the values of Earth Day,
with a symphonic setting of eco-moral texts by …
John Muir
Aldo Leopold
03:11
04:28
05:48
10:33
Inspired by the landscapes and seasons of
Wisconsin’s Door County.
Gaylord Nelson
Jeni Bern, soprano
Jane Irwin, mezzo-soprano
Peter Auty, tenor
Henry Waddington, bass
… as read by their descendants
Previously released on
William Muir
Hanna
Nina Leopold
Bradley
Gaylord Jr. and
Kiva Nelson
Music of Edward Joseph Collins
great-grandson
daughter
son and granddaughter
Volume VI
Patty Loew, narrator
Albany Troy CD 650
Jon Becker, Earth/Art® Resources Founder
608.469.0316 mobile
POB 3376
608.242.8525 landline
A Wisconsin Non-Profit [EIN 27-0594654]
Madison, Wisconsin
53704
USA
JonBecker@AOL.com email
www.E-art-H.org [under construction]