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Mozart, Chopin, Strauss ... Merritt?

By Linnae Stole '10
October 21, 2008

Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Composition Justin Merritt is well known among St. Olaf students for his modern, eccentric compositions, but the general public has had limited opportunity thus far to hear his works performed. That will change Friday, Nov. 7, as the Minnesota Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Osmo Vanska, presents an evening of "Future Classics," featuring pieces by Merritt and six other up-and-coming composers from around the country.

MerrittJustin
The Minnesota Orchestra will premiere Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Composition Justin Merritt's composition River of Blood.
The performance, which begins at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, is in conjunction with the weeklong Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, in which the participants are given the opportunity to see first-hand the intensity that runs behind the scenes of a major American symphony orchestra. Minnesota Public Radio will broadcast and stream the concert.

The composition
The orchestra will premiere Merritt's River of Blood, which uses music to tell the story of a 1980 massacre of Salvadoran peasants at the Rio Sumpul by U.S.-supported right-wing military forces. At least 600 people, including women and children, were killed at the hands of the Honduran and Salvadoran armies. The operation was kept secret from the world, with even the U.S. State Department denying for years, and it has only been through tedious work by investigative journalists that the truth has emerged.

As Merritt notes about the work, "River of Blood is not a tone poem mimicking the actions of the day but is rather a collage of images and emotions from that tragic time. Images include violence but also the incredible bravery of Salvadoran journalists who tried to tell their country and their world what was happening, human rights campaigners risking their lives in the face of terror, and the faces of the fishermen who found the bodies of five children caught in their fishing traps downstream from the massacre. The work ends with a prayer of mourning and a plea for forgiveness for our complicity."

The program
The Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute is an annual program presented by the orchestra and the American Composers Forum in cooperation with the American Music Center. It gives up to nine composers a unique, weeklong opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of the American symphony orchestra. Activities include workshops on professional development, orchestra rehearsals, and seminars on such topics as community residencies and working in educational settings. A recent addition to the program is the "Future Classics!" concert, presented by Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra, that showcases all works and composers selected for the season's institute.

The composer
Merritt, who received his B.M. from Trinity College and his M.M. and D.M. from Indiana University, is a frequent performer in St. Olaf recitals, and he has also gained national recognition in music circles in recent years. In 2000 he was the youngest composer ever to receive the ASCAP Foundation/Rudolph Nissim Award for his work Janus Mask for Orchestra, and it was premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony in 2003.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.