Discovering American History In New Performance

AS AMERICA CELEBRATES 250 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE. MANY STORIES ARE COMING FORTH ABOUT SOME OF THE FORGOTTEN OR LOST MOMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY THIS WEEKEND, THE FORT MYERS SYMPHONIC MASTER SINGERS PREMIERES AND EXTRAORDINARY CHORAL WORK. IT'S CALLED THE WITNESS INCIDENTS OF THE WAR OF REBELLION. THE WORK WAS CONCEIVED BY THE MASTER STINGERS, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR. AND IT'S FIRED BY THE MEMORY OF HIS GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER WHO SERVED WITH THE UNION ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR AS WGC IS JOHN DAVIS REPORTS THAT MEMOIRS MESSAGES AS COACH AND TODAY AS IT WAS MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO. >> AND THE FORT MYERS SYMPHONIC MASTER SINGERS AS AN ENSEMBLE OF MORE THAN 100 VOLUNTEER VOCALISTS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE HAVE BEEN TOGETHER SINCE 2001 THIS WEEKEND. THEY'LL BE PERFORMING AT SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED 10 PART CHORAL COMPOSITION INSPIRED BY A BOOK BY JAMES WAXLER IN 18. 88 ABOUT HIS TIME SERVING IN THE UNION ARMY DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. WAXLER IS THE GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER OF THE SYMPHONIC MASTER SINGERS, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR. MATTHEW KOHLER A >> THE BOOK HAS BEEN IN MY FAMILY MY ENTIRE LIFE. AND WHEN I WAS IN MY EARLY 20'S AFTER MY SON WAS BORN, YOU KNOW, I GOT INTO THAT PHASE THAT I THINK MOST MEN DO AND THEY WONDER WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND WHAT THEIR PASSING DOWN. SO I DECIDED TO TAKE THEM MR OUT AND TRANSCRIBE IT SO THAT WE COULD EASILY SEE WHAT IT WAS. AND AS I'M READING IT. I'M WONDERING WHY NOBODY ELSE HAS HEARD THE STORIES. >> ONE PUBLISHER SHOWED NO INTEREST. KOHLER CONCEIVED THE IDEA OF TURNING THE STORY INTO MUSIC. HE REACHED OUT TO FRIEND A COMPOSER TOM AVOID INITIALLY. I THINK IT WAS PITCHED AS IT CAN. TADA. >> BUT WE'VE ALSO TALKED ABOUT HAVING A TRICKLE ELEMENTS SORT OF AND AND THE FORM KIND OF CHANGED A LITTLE BIT OVER TIME. AND WE WHAT IT TURNED INTO IS NOT AS STRICT UNTO. IT'S NOT AN IT IS AN EXTENDED CHORAL WORK, BUT IT ALSO HAS THIS PRETTY GRAND NARRATION. ASKED MORE LIKE AN OPEN FIRE ON AND THE 10 OR SO. AND THIS MESS, A SOPRANO SOLO. >> IN ONE AND SO IT KIND OF DOES DEFY EXPECTATIONS. >> THE CLIMAX OF THE PEACE STEMS FROM AN ACCOUNT IN THE MEMOIR ABOUT THE MURDER OF AN ENSLAVED BLACK GIRL WITH THE HANDS OF A UNION SOLDIER IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. >> THAT WAS THE MAIN REASON THAT I WANTED THE STORY TOLD WITH SO THAT THAT LITTLE GIRL COULD BE REMEMBERED. AND SO YES, INDEED HE DOES WITNESS A DRUNKEN UNION SOLDIER. KILLING A YOUNG BLACK SLAVE. AND IT'S ONE OF THE WORST THINGS THAT HE EVER WITNESSED IN HIS TIME IN THE ARMY, LAVOY AND KOEHLER KNEW THAT INPUT FROM THE BLACK COMMUNITY WOULD BE ESSENTIAL. >> WE HAD TO GET THE INPUT OF PEOPLE WHOSE ANCESTORS WENT THROUGH THESE THINGS. AND WHO STILL DEAL WITH THE REPERCUSSIONS TODAY. >> AND THEY SAID WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR APOLOGIES. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM. THE SLAVES. >> THE STORY'S OF SOME 10 MILLION ENSLAVED PEOPLE IN AMERICA BETWEEN 1518. 65 ARE LARGELY MISSING FROM HISTORICAL RECORDS ADDRESSING THAT VOID SENT LABOY DOWN ANOTHER CREATIVE PATH. >> I OPTED FOR A VERY DIFFERENT APPROACH THAT INVOLVED THE MUSIC OF BLACK COMPOSERS WHO ARE EITHER AND SLAVE THEMSELVES AND SUBSEQUENTLY FREED OR WHO WHOSE ANCESTORS HAVE BEEN ENSLAVED. AND THOSE 10 DRILLS WEAVE AROUND IN THE WORDS OF JAMES WAXTER THROUGHOUT THE WORK AND REALLY MAKE UP THE DNA OF THE OF THE MUSIC ITSELF. >> THE MUSIC IS COMPOSED FOR A CHORAL ENSEMBLE PIANO STRING QUARTET WITH THE TENOR SOLOIST REPRESENTING THE PART OF WALK SLUR. AND MEZZO-SOPRANO TANEISHA ANDERSON EMBODYING THE PART OF THE MURDERED BLACK GIRL. THE THREE-TIME GRAMMY-WINNING VOCALIST AGREED TO THE PROJECT BEFORE THE MUSIC WAS EVEN WRITTEN. ANDERSON SAYS THE ENSLAVED GIRL STORY GOT ARE REFLECTING ON HER OWN CHILDHOOD AND A TIME WHEN WHITE PARENTS WERE PROTESTING THEIR KIDS BEING TRANSFERRED TO A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK SCHOOL. >> AND I LITERALLY REMEMBER LIKE CROSSING THE PICKET LINE ONE DAY. ONE OF MY FRIENDS, PARENTS, SHE SPIT ON ME. AND SHE SAID. IF YOU TELL YOUR PARENTS. DID I DO THIS TO YOU? WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU. AND I THINK I WAS LIKE. IN THE SECOND OR 3RD GRADE. I WAS A LITTLE KID. AND I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND >> AND SO THIS LITTLE GIRL OF THIS MOVEMENT, THIS MUSIC. >> REPRESENTS LITTLE TEENY SHOT, HONESTLY TO THE COURT OF WHO I AM AND JUST GOING THROUGH LIFE, MY EXPERIENCES, MY POINT OF VIEW, WHICH IS SO DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE AND REPRESENTING HOW FAR OF WHEN I BECAME DESPITE OF BEING ALMOST TAKEN AWAY FROM ME OR THREATENED. AND I JUST STAYING FROM THAT. I BELONG HERE. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE HERE AND THIS IS WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO. SO IT DEFINITELY REPRESENTS WHO I AM, ESPECIALLY THE WOMAN I AM TODAY. THE WORDS OF JAMES WALK SLUR WILL BE PERFORMED BY HIS VERY OWN. >> GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDSON, TENOR, CHRISTIAN KOHLER. >> IN THE WORDS ARE WRITTEN AS A AS A WARNING TO HIS SON ESSENTIALLY AND TO DESCRIBE WHAT IT'S LIKE. TO BE IN MORE AND TO BE IN THAT MOMENT. AND AND YET SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE HE'S TALKING RIGHT TO US OR HE'S RIGHT IN THAT MOMENT. THEN. AND SO YOU HEAR THE FEAR IN HIS VOICE >> MATTHEW KOHLER SAYS HE FINDS HIS GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER'S MESSAGE EERILY RELEVANT TODAY. THE CIVIL WAR WAS THE COUNTRY'S MOST DIVIDED TIME TO BE SURE. BUT I THINK THERE COULD BE AN ARGUMENT MADE FOR US BEING IN THE NEXT MOST DIVIDED TIME RIGHT NOW, YOU KNOW WHERE PEOPLE ARE JUST SO POLARIZED. AND IF WE'RE ABLE TO LISTEN AND WITNESS TO ONE ANOTHER, MAYBE WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE IN THE WORLD. >> THE FORT MYERS SYMPHONIC MASTER SINGERS PERFORM THE WITNESS MARCH. 21ST AT FAITH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CAPE CORAL AND MARCH 22ND AT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BONITA SPRINGS, JOHN DAVIS WGC YOU NEWS.