Pete Seeger, David Amram and Dizzie Gillespie at Clearwater Festival. Credit: Courtesy of David Amram
Ohio State will welcome 95-year-old composer and conductor David Amram Tuesday and Wednesday for the Wind Symphony’s premiere of “This Land: Symphonic Variations On a Song By Woody Guthrie” — a transcription completed alongside Shawn Davern, a third-year doctoral student in conducting.
Amram is considered the “Renaissance Man of American Music” due to his extensive career as a not only a composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, but his collaborations with big-name artists such as Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Guthrie. During his residency, students have the opportunity to experience his expertise, as he will give a presentation and participate in two Wind Symphony rehearsals prior to Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. premiere inside Weigel Auditorium.?
“Over the past several months, I’ve worked closely with Shawn W. Davern to create a wind symphony transcription of my piece, ‘This Land: Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie,’ and it’s a true honor to have it performed by the marvelous young players of the Ohio State University Wind Symphony,” Amram said in an email.?
Originally composed for symphonic orchestra by Amram in 2005 with its premiere in 2007, the piece paints a sonic portrait of the folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, whom Amram met in 1956, according to Davern.
“Specifically, it follows Woody Guthrie’s journey as he traveled through the United States to these different communities and these different cultures,” said Lance Korte, a third-year in music education and flute performance who will be performing Wednesday. “You get a little bit of Caribbean influence in one, you get the Western influence in the other — you’re going to get a lot of variety.”
While choosing his dissertation topic and creating a jazz program called The Sages of Future Soul, Davern said he connected with Amram through a contracted performance.?
What began as a professional relationship grew into a deeper collaboration to transcribe the originally orchestral piece into a wind band variation, Davern said.?
“If we’re going to create transcriptions on pieces of music, I think it’s important that they should, at the very least, try to involve the composers of that music so we can imbue as much of their compositional intent as possible,” Davern said. “It’s about creating that fidelity to the original.”
Davern received an Alumni Grant for Graduate Research and Scholarship, which he said helped fund Amram’s visit for the premiere.?
“It’s fortuitous for everybody, so I’m very glad and very lucky to have been a recipient of that grant and to have the support from the School of Music and the Ohio State Band Department,” Davern said. “They were very instrumental.”
Additionally, Davern said he is excited to give students in the Wind Symphony a chance to work with Amram.?
“It’s really exciting to have such a well-known and renowned composer on campus,” Korte said. “To have him hear us get to play his own piece is really special because he’ll have different feedback than anyone else.”?
Tuesday at 2 p.m. inside Timashev Music Building Room N160, Amram will give a presentation titled “The Film Will Tell You What to Do,” where he will discuss his process composing film music during the 1960s, according to his Instagram.??
Amram will also participate in special rehearsals with the Wind Synop inside Weigel Auditorium Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday at 2:20 p.m.?
“To have a bright light like David Amram and bring him to Ohio State, there’s no greater reward — I’m very grateful,” Davern said.?
The premiere is free to attend and no tickets are required. For those who are unable to attend the event in-person, it will be livestreamed on YouTube.?
