The Greatest Generation

Our Alumnae Chorus gave its spring concert on Sunday evening.  The theme was “Women’s Experiences of War,” and the program included, among many other works, a movement from the piece Anne Frank, A Living Voice that SFGC commissioned in 2004.  Just before the Anne Frank piece, the ensemble performed a work I’d never heard before, and briefly shared the story of Margaret Dryburgh, a British missionary held with thousands of other women in a Japanese prison camp on Sumatra during WWII.  Dryburgh and another captive, Norah Chambers, combined their remarkable visual memory and musical training to write original music, and to set major orchestral works, like Dvorak’s New World Symphony, into arrangements for a “vocal orchestra” of women prisoners.  (Our Chorus School Director Beth Avakian subsequently told me about the 1996 movie, Paradise Road, based on this story.)  The Alumnae Chorus performed the “Largo” from the New World Symphony in this arrangement, and it was incredibly beautiful and moving.

Perhaps we are still too close to the horrors of the last world war to have fully heard and documented the many stories of strength and beauty that also took place during that terrible time.  I know from personal experience, and from reading books like Tom Brokaw’s chronicle of extraordinary “ordinary” people, The Greatest Generation, that those who survived the war often wanted only to put it behind them, and to get on with the business of living.  My own father-in-law, a WWII veteran, died last week and was buried with proper military decorum on Saturday.  Charles received the bronze star, and several other commendations for his military service, but by all accounts, he was loathe to talk about any of it.  With his loss, and the loss of his generation, we lose a piece of history.

So the greatest tribute we can give to this passing generation may be to remember their legacy through the arts --  in literature, painting, music and even dance.  Similarly, we will commemorate the courage and perseverance of immigrants to America (which we all are, if we go back enough generations) in our season closing concerts on June 4 and 5.  In addition to works by Dvorak, Stravinsky and others, these performances will feature the world premiere of Angel Island Passages, a multi-media work by composer Chen Yi in collaboration with the Cypress String Quartet and award-winning Bay Area film maker Felicia Lowe.

As mentioned elsewhere, this new work commemorates the 100th anniversary of Angel Island Immigration Station, known as “the Ellis Island of the West,” and evokes the experiences of Chinese immigrants in music, poetry, film, video and photography.  The entire program, titled “A New Land, A New Song,” and the scope of the full evening, including this important commission and our collaborations with both musical and visual artists, is a kind of voyage to a new world for SFGC as well.

We hope you will join us on this journey.