Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra to honor veterans at 9/11 concert

Starting her second full season as the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra's executive director, Natassia Perrine has another personal first to celebrate this week.

Monday's "Land of the Free" concert, 7 p.m. in the Moody Concert Hall on the University of Alabama campus, has been discussed since before she officially took the job, while still teaching in New Orleans. Noting one of this year's viable Monday opening nights would fall on Sept. 11, the TSO created a program to honor our country's veterans, and the beauty of our national parks. This, in turn, ties in to the 2023-2024 season theme, "The Sounds of Triumph."

"Land of the Free" in particular concerns the "... hardships and sacrifices evident in World War I and World War II," Perrine said, "and because of that boon, we have these vast national landscapes. It's about how much we have to be grateful for."

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There's a long-standing connection between parks and the U.S. military. Yellowstone was our country's first national park, established in 1872, under the protection and guidance of the U.S. Army. National parks were run under departments of war and interior until the National Park Service was established in 1916. By the 1930s, the War Department had transferred many of its historic sites to the parks system. Historically, the Army, Navy and other military units have used parks for rest and recreation, as well as training.

With Adam Flatt, the TSO's music director since 2011, assisted by TSO board President-Elect Duane Lamb, a retired Army colonel who connected leadership with different veterans' organizations, they crafted a program of classical and patriotic works, lofted by an added visual component. Perrine wrote the grant to secure the addition of photographer and multimedia artist Nicholas Bardonnay.

"This is really my first official project with the TSO, coming to fruition," Perrine said.

Bardonnay, creative director and CEO of Westwater Arts, sets choreographed photo displays to classical music, including pieces by Dvořák, Mahler, Copland, Shostakovich and others. For Monday's concert, he'll be in the back of the Moody, overseeing projections, which will be displayed on a pull-down screen behind the TSO stage, in front of the massive Holtkamp pipe organ.

"Adam has worked with Nicholas two times before, on what he calls 'visual concertos,' so it's something that's always been on his wish list," Perrine said.

The concert will open with "No Man's Land," featuring archival photos from World War I, set to Barber's "Essay for Orchestra No. 1." The World War II piece, "Citizen Soldier," follows, set to Copland's "Sympony No. 3." After the intermission will come the "National Park Suite," paired with Dvořák's ninth symphony, "From the New World."

Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland are among the most renowned American composers; Antonin Dvořák was Czech, but he wrote that piece, also known as "New World Symphony," after he'd moved to the U.S. in the late 19th century.

"He actually wrote that while conducting in the U.S., urging his contemporaries to create an American sound," Perrine said.

Dvořák wove in his interpretations of spirituals and Native American sounds for what became one of the most well-known and loved of all classical works. Astronaut Neil Armstrong brought a tape recording of "New World Symphony" along with him on Apollo 11. In its ]boldness and ]strength, it influenced numerous composers of classical and film work, especially in heroic scores from "Star Wars" to "Lord of the Rings" sagas.

The TSO will also perform a medley of patriotic works, including music by John Philip Sousa, and recognize veterans in the house. The UA ROTC will present the colors.

The TSO will perform its 2023-2024 season opener "Land of the Free," at 7 p.m. Monday in the Moody Concert Hall, 810 Second Ave., UA campus. TSO season tickets are on sale through www.tsoonline.org. Individual tickets range from $30 to $40; all students are admitted free.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: 'Land of the Free': Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra plans patriotic show