Description:

Part of NUNC! 5 (the Northwestern University New-Music Conference)

Donald Nally, conductor; Jack Reeder, assistant conductor; Charles Foster, keyboard; with Zafa Collective 

“I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than their ancestors.” Thus begins Julia Wolfe’s musical meditation on our struggle for women’s rights through the lens of a letter from Abigail Adams to her husband John—dated March 31, 1776—with half of the emerging nation’s population in the balance. Wolfe’s 2022 Letter from Abigail is paired with David Lang’s the national anthems, a collection of phrases from many nations’ anthems with one common thread: “Please don’t make us live in chains again.” Also on the program are Lang’s where you go, inspired by the well-known phrase from the Book of Ruth, and Michael Gordon’s Anonymous Man—a memoir chronicling the composer’s time in a neighborhood in transition, and his conversations with two homeless men living there.  

Julia Wolfe, Letter from Abigail(Midwest premiere)
David Lang, the national anthems
David Lang, where you go 
Michael Gordon, Anonymous Man