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Curator, narrator, and violist of Cultural Crossroads: Dvořák in America, Pamela Freund-Striplen (middle), has put together a show that explores the different influences on composer Antonín Dvořák during his time in America. Throughout the concert, there are videos detailing Dvořák’s life as to how Native American pieces and African American spiritual pieces would have an impact on his classical music career at the Dvorak Concert Hall on Friday.
Antonín Dvořák’s travels to America in 1892 were not only a significant step in the advancement of American music, but also in shifting the perception of the belonging of different cultures in the United States.
Sharing Dvořák’s story through the touring show “Cultural Crossroads: Dvořák in America” is key to creating a conversation around the importance of multiculturalism in both America’s past and its future, said Pamela Freund-Striplen, the artistic director and curator.
The performance, which took place at the Dvořák Concert Hall in Doudna Fine Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University Friday evening, used multimedia to illustrate the journey of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák in America, intertwining live music and video to educate and entertain.
First to enter the stage, accompanied by a hearty round of applause, North Carolina’s Ciompi Quartet opened the show with a performance of Dvořák’s “Quartet no.12,” often nicknamed “American,” a playful but powerful string tune illustrating some of his most popular work.
Freund-Striplen joined them following this opening, welcoming the audience and beginning to tell the story of Dvořák’s arrival in America and narrating the “profound impact of American music on his beloved chamber melodies.”
When acclaimed American flutist R. Carlos Nakai joined the performance shortly after, his impact was immediately visualised as his original song “Butterflies Dancing” combined the sound of the native flute with a classical arrangement by the Ciompi Quartet and Freund-Striplen’s viola, as well as group percussionist Will Clipman’s drum.
For Freund-Striplen, blending Native American styles with classical chamber music to convey the vision of Dvořák was about telling their story in a meaningful, authentic and respectful way.
“The native story is terribly interesting, and it’s hard to get information about it, so there was a lot of research,” said Freund-Striplen. “I contacted a lot of ethnomusicologists, [and] I had a lot of conversations in the native community.”
The performance, which has been 30 years in the making since its inception, has now been touring for around two years and has seen many iterations throughout the touring process.
One of the more recent additions is a duet between Native American performers R. Carlos Nakai and Will Clipman, which saw an improvisational number shortly before the intermission to add a different element to the show.
Clipman entered from behind the audience, playing the Udu, a Nigerian instrument, collaborating with the woodwind elements of Nakai’s native flute.
“That piece you heard tonight with the Udu and the flute has never been played before and will never be played again,” said Clipman. “It’s conjured out of thin air just for you.”
The show also included spirituals, which is music developed by African Americans during the slave trade of Dvořák’s time, with opera singer Kenneth Kellogg delivering powerful vocal performances of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “My Lord, What a Morning,” “Go Down Moses” and “By and By,” blending the folk spirituals with the string quintet onstage.
“I love Dvořák, I love this native music we’re playing, and I love the spirituals,” said Freund-Striplen. “It’s meant to be uplifting, and I think the audience felt that.”
Freund-Striplen said that she didn’t want to shy away from these sometimes shocking historical truths, saying they are also important parts of the story.
“There are people that have a lot of power that want to erase history. I don’t want that, so I’m taking this project everywhere. I’m not going to erase the history,” she said.
She said that it’s up to individuals to use their own voices to stand up for their beliefs in whichever form they can portray them. For Freund-Striplen, this was through music.
“I feel like in my small way, in my own classical music world, at least I can say I brought together the finest musicians of each world to tell this story, and it’s told with love,” she said.
Freund-Striplen’s eventual goal is to take this show to Dvořák’s home city of Prague, in the Czech Republic.
“They know a lot about Dvořák there, but they don’t know the American story quite this way, so I think this could be interesting for them,” said Freund-Striplen.
Ethan Vine can be reached at 581-2812 or ejvine@eiu.edu.
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