Heitzeg had this to say about the performance: “As a metaphor for the trumpet being for and among the people, Charles Lazarus played the first movement in the back of the recital hall, the next two movements among the audience, with the last movement being played onstage.”

He also provided us with a breakdown of each movement and its influences:

 

I. Fanfare for the Unknown Citizen is a call to action and was influenced by Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Joan Tower’s series of Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.

 

III. People Power: With the word democracy originating from the Greek  (demos: the people, kratia: power) this is a noble fanfare to the democratic ideal put forth by previous composers such as John Lennon’s “Power to the People” (1971), Frederic Rzewski’s “The People United WIll Never Be Defeated!” (1975) for piano, Eric Stokes’ “The Spirit of Place Among the People” (a one movement concerto for audience and orchestra) (1977), William Schuman’s “To Thee Old Cause” (dedicated to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy) for oboe, brass, timpani, piano and strings, (1968) and Alvin Singleton’s  “The 56 Blows (quis Custodiet Custodes?)” (1994).

 

IV. EQUALITY is a dance in the streets for social justice.

 

We’re excited to share this piece with you–you can listen to it here–and we urge you to get out and vote on Tuesday, November 8!