Turtle Creek Chorale rehearses for the Anthems concert, which will include the presentation of Peacemaker Awards.
Turtle Creek Chorale gives first Peacemaker Awards during ‘Anthems’ concert
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Turtle Creek Chorale Executive Director Bruce Jaster calls the Peacekeepers song cycle that will be presented at this weekend’s Anthems concert “one of the most significant things this organization has ever presented.”
During the Peacekeepers portion of the concert, a Peacemaker Award will be presented to three people who have made a difference locally. On Friday evening, the award will be presented to WFAA sportscaster Dale Hanson. Saturday’s recipient is Matrice Ellis Kirk, and on Sunday, Mayor Mike Rawlings will be honored.
“We set out to identify people who bring different people with different opinions together, said Artistic Director Sean Baugh.
Jaster said Hanson was chosen “because he is outspoken when things need to be spoken about.” When football player Michael Sam was drafted in the last round, Hanson did a commentary that went viral. At the time, he said he expected other sportscasters to comment on how Sam was being treated because of his sexual orientation, but none did.
Matrice Ellis-Kirk, wife of former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, has chaired the board of ATTPAC since it was known as the
Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. Her work has put the city on the map as a mecca for the arts. She has also served as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council advancing women’s rights.
During Mayor Mike Rawlings’ term, he elevated the LGBT Task Force to a mayor’s task force and updated city ordinances where needed to treat the LGBT community equally, Jaster said. But, he added, the Peacemaker Award is being presented to Rawlings for his work in the arts community during his two terms in office.
“The mayor has been a huge champion for the arts,” Baugh said, “And he’s come a long way on gay rights.”
Rawlings created Dallas Arts Week in April that has grown into Dallas Arts Month. Jaster also cited the mayor’s new Dallas Cultural Plan 2018 created through the Office of Cultural Affairs. Earlier this year, Rawlings was honored by Americans for the Arts and The United States Conference of Mayors with the 2018 National Award for Local Arts Leadership for cities with a population of 100,000 or more.
Jaster said Peacemakers is a four-song music cycle commissioned by the chorale and is about “what we have in common, the bonds that connect us rather than issues that divide us.” The libretto is by Anthony Silvestri, who also wrote one of the songs and whose music, Baugh said, he admires. Music for the other three was each written by a different musician.
But the concert is called Anthems, and Jaster described it as the songs that accompanied the social movements — civil rights, LGBT rights, Vietnam, women’s rights.
“If I tried to single out every movement, we’d have an eight-hour concert,” Baugh said.
Instead, they narrowed it down to some of the major movements like civil rights and feminist movements and chose songs and texts that were broadly applicable.
“We believe music and social movements go hand-in-hand,” Jaster said. “Music has accompanied every social movement.”
“Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” is a traditional gospel song first recorded in 1928 but originally attributed to the era of slavery.
From the civil rights movement, “I Wish I Knew How It Feels to be Free” has been recorded by everyone from Nina Simone to John Denver.
“Ohio” is a protest song by Neil Young commemorating the killings at Kent State by National Guard troops that caused riots on college campuses across the country.
From the LGBT equality movement are “Why We Sing,” which is specifically from the gay chorale movement, and
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which Baugh called the gay national anthem.
Jaster was passionate about and anxious to see audience reaction to Peacekeepers, which he called the most important piece of music the chorale has commissioned since its Emmy-Award winning When We No Longer Touch. He said the music would anchor this summer’s Friendship Tour.
Anthems will be performed at City Performance Hall, 2520 Flora St. on March 23-25 at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets available at TurtleCreekChorale.com.