I, TOO, AM AMERICA for Mezzo Soprano and Wind Ensemble by HENRY DORN (USA, 1988)
- WASBE Marcom
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
[#305] May 26, 2025 2023 | Grade 6 | 25’ – 30’ | Poem cycle
Premiered by United States Coast Guard Band, Soloist Lisa Williamson conducted by Captain Adam Williamson on Dec 18, 2024 at Midwest Clinic, Chicago, USA
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The Music is available at Murphy Press,
view the score here:
I, too, am America, by composer and conductor Henry Dorn is our Composition of the Week.
I, too, am America was written in 2023 and premiered by the United States Coast Guard Band at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, on December 18, 2024, with Captain Adam Williamson, conducting and Lisa Williamson as soloist.
The work has a duration of 26 minutes, and it is scored for Mezzo Soprano and a small wind ensemble setting the following instrumentation:
2(alto).2.2.2(Cbn).Saxophone Quartet (SATB)/2.2.2.1.Double Bass.Timp.P (2).Piano.Harp
“I have long held an appreciation and respect for the work of American poet Langston Hughes. His ability to illustrate striking scenes with his lyrical words while also subtly (and often directly) highlighting the plight of African Americans are hallmarks of his poetry. His first book, The Weary Blues, was published in 1926, and yet his words read freshly now, as if the ink has yet to dry. The poems set in this song cycle – “I, too, sing America,” “Mother to Son,” “Afraid,” “Summer Night,” and “We Have Tomorrow” – are taken from the last segment of Hughes book entitled Our Land. Hughes speaks (often in first person) to the day-to-day life of African Americans in the 1920s United States, underpinning themes of looking backward to the struggles of past generations, working through current oppression, pressing towards survival, and finding joy and self-awareness within the African American community. But Hughes, as he talked about yesterday and today, often made near prophetic statements regarding tomorrow and hope for better in the future.” Program Notes by Henry Dorn
The Music is available at Murphy Press.
Dr. Dorn received a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University Memphis, an a Master in composition and wind conducting from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and a DMA in composition and wind conducting from Michigan State University. His composition teachers include David Biedenbender, Oscar Bettison, Kamran Ince, and Jack Cooper. Conducting teachers include Kevin Sedatole, Harlan D. Parker, and Kraig Alan Williams.
His works include performances by the Harlem Quartet, the Elysian Trombone Quartet, Argento Ensemble, the Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra, the Dallas Wind Symphony, among others.
Dr. Dorn has collaborated as a former assistant director to the Memphis Area Youth Wind Ensemble, and former director to the Nu Chamber Collective. Awards include Future of Music Faculty Fellowship recipient from the Inaugural Cleveland Institute of Music and 2010 ASCAP Foundation’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award.
In 2023, Dr. Dorn was appointed director of bands at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.
Other works for winds include:
• Transitions (2019)
• Harper’s West (2022)
• Out of a Shadow (2022)
• Lacuna (2023)
• Trascendence (2023)
• A Hernet’s Nest (2024)
More on Henry Dorn
https://www.henryldorn.com
