Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Ellis Island

Ellis Island Dreams Immigration Then & Now

At a time when immigration remains a divisive issue, it’s instructive to look back to political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when bomb-toting Bolsheviks seemed poised to take down our democracy, the Chinese were inscrutable back-stabbers, the Jews were bearers of poverty and disease, and the Irish were simian-faced hooligans and drunkards. Anxiety about outsiders has always been with us, yet somehow we got over each successive alien group, and the country has plugged along just fine.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll gain a little perspective, courtesy of composer Peter Boyer. From 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of a better life. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population – over 100 million Americans – can trace their roots to someone who entered this country along that route.

Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” incorporates texts from testimonials archived as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. These are real words of real people telling their own stories. The work is performed by actors, rather than speakers or narrators, who deliver their monologues in the first person. In a powerful epilogue, each of them comes together to recite a stanza from Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus.” It’s so effective – and affecting – I get a little choked up just thinking about it.

You will, too, when you join me for “Spirits of Independence,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 3, 2022
Ellis Island History & Lessons for Today

At a time when immigration remains a divisive issue, it’s instructive to look back to political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when bomb-toting Bolsheviks seemed poised to take down our democracy, the Chinese were inscrutable back-stabbers, the Jews were bearers of poverty and disease, and the Irish were simian-faced hooligans and drunks. Anxiety about outsiders has always been with us, yet somehow we got over each successive alien group, and the country has plugged along just fine.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll gain a little perspective, courtesy of composer Peter Boyer. From 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of a better life. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population – over 100 million Americans – can trace their roots to someone who entered this country along that route.

Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” incorporates texts from testimonials archived as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. These are real words of real people telling their own stories. The work is performed by actors, rather than speakers or narrators, who deliver their monologues in the first person. In a powerful epilogue, each of them comes together to recite a stanza from Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus.” It’s so effective – and affecting – I get a little choked up just thinking about it.

You will, too, when you join me for “Spirits of Independence,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 30, 2019
Ellis Island Immigration History & Music

At a time when immigration seems to be such a divisive issue, it’s instructive to look back to political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when bomb-toting Bolsheviks seemed poised to take down our democracy, the Chinese were inscrutable back-stabbers, the Jews were bearers of poverty and disease, and the Irish were simian-faced hooligans and drunks. Anxiety about outsiders has always been with us, yet somehow we got over each successive alien group, and the country has plugged along just fine.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll get a little perspective, courtesy of composer Peter Boyer. From 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of a better life. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population – over 100 million Americans – can trace its roots to someone who came to this country along that route.

Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” incorporates texts from testimonials archived as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. They are real words of real people telling their own stories. The work is performed by actors, rather than speakers or narrators, who deliver their monologues in the first person. In a powerful epilogue, each of them comes together to recite a stanza from Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus.” It’s so effective – and affecting – I get a little choked up just thinking about it.

You will, too, if you join me for “Spirits of Independence,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 2, 2017
Dream of America Concert in Trenton

Sometimes when reality gets ugly it’s good to be reminded of the dream. With political tensions running high in advance of the election, the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey will present “The Dream of America.” The concert will take place at Patriots Theater at the Trenton War Memorial this Saturday.

“This seemed like the best time to do it,” says music director Daniel Spalding, with a laugh. “We really need a little lift during this election season.”

Spalding has elected to celebrate the American dream with Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” and Peter Boyer’s inspiring ode to the immigrant experience, “Ellis Island: The Dream of America.”

From 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of a better life. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population – over 100 million Americans – can trace its roots to someone who came to this country along that route. Boyer assembled his texts from testimonials archived as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. They are real words of real people telling their own stories. The work is performed by actors, rather than speakers or narrators, who deliver their monologues in the first person.

Actors from Passage Theatre at the Mill Hill Playhouse will assume the roles and deliver the narratives of émigrés from Poland, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Ireland and Russia. A powerful epilogue will include the recitation of Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus.”

I get a little choked up just thinking about it. You can find out more in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/10/classical_music_njcp_performin_2.html

October 21, 2016

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