AMERICAN HARMONY explores the riches of one of America’s earliest repertoires: the New England Hymn.  In eighteenth-century New England, many small towns often had their own proprietary hymn books, full of new and familiar music based on popular folk melodies and fiddle tunes, with a homegrown style of counterpoint. This repertoire serves as a reminder of the nation's earliest ideals. Driven by fervent, full-throated music-making, these devotional hymns are

“suggestive of the strife, the commotion, the battle cries of a transitional period of society, struggling onward toward dimly seen ideals of people and order.”

(Harriett Beecher Stowe, as quoted in Eriksen 2015)

There is a long tradition of using this music to look back to history while also looking to the future.  A new work commissioned for this program from Celeste Oram connects past, present, and speculative futures, re-imagining musical languages of many eras.  

Connecting with some of the best singers from the American early music and ‘shapenote’ singing traditions, Tim Eriksen (of the Cold Mountain soundtrack) and John Taylor Ward lead this program that brings this special repertoire into the 21-st century - highlighting recent developments in performance practice, historical instruments, and the time-honored tradition of making new from the old.

“like that same ocean aroused by stormy winds, when deep calleth unto deep in tempestuous confusion, out of which at last is evolved union and harmony”

Stowe, 1878