Every Piece Tells a Story

Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra presents: Prokofiev - Lieutenant Kije Copland - Billy the kid Errollyn Wallen - Mighty River In our March concert of programmatic music, each piece tells a story. Errollyn Wallen?s Mighty River was written in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. The composer said, ?It is an innate human instinct to be free just as it is for the river to rush headlong to the sea. It is as if the perpetual motion of the music, like water, like time, through its sheer momentum, comes across the cries and echoes of human hearts and voices, singing out of suffering, repentance, humility and hope.? Lieutenant Kij? by Prokofiev is the story of an imaginary soldier, created by a clerical error on a list of Russian soldiers. Too afraid to admit to the error, the people around the Tsar invent an entire life for Kij?. When the Tsar finally demands to meet Kij?, a fictious funeral takes place. Copland?s exciting ballet music for Billy the Kid charts the exploits of the infamous Wild West outlaw including a lively gun battle.