Jesse Ayers
Passion of John Brown, The
Ayers wins 2011 American Prize for Orchestral Compostion
May 16, 2011. The American Prize has announced that Jesse Ayers' The Passion of John Brown has been named winner of the 2011 American Prize for Orchestral Composition. The American Prize is a series of national non-profit competitions in the performing arts which provides reward and recognition to the finest composers, conductors and ensembles in America. Ayers' work was commissioned by the Akron Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the 150th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown's raid on the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Brown was a resident of Akron. The work was premiered October 17, 2009 — 150 years to the day of Brown's raid — by the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Wilkins conducting, and Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee Leon Bibb, narrating.
David Daniels: Ayers' JOHN BROWN piece "an amazing work"
David DanielsMarch 11, 2010. "[I have been] listening to [The Passion of John Brown] with score in hand. It is an amazing work, beautifully paced and orchestrated. I love it. If it weren't that I have retired from conducting, I would be figuring out a way to program it."
—David Daniels
author of Orchestral Music, A Handbook
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Maestro Christopher Wilkins: "Ayers' JOHN BROWN piece a knock out"
Christopher WilkinsMusic Director, Akron Symphony Orchestra
"Jesse Ayers' The Passion of John Brown is a total knock-out. On a purely visceral level it is magnificent. The audience was overwhelmed, and their powerful response has continued unabated. I keep hearing from people how moved they were by the music, the drama, the pacing, and the haunting 'flashbacks.'
"Just as remarkable was the reaction of our educational audiences. At first, I was reluctant to program The Passion of John Brown in its entirety for middle schoolers, unsure whether it could hold their attention for 19 minutes. But as it turned out, they were perfectly rapt, nobody moved! They were as quiet as any adult audience. Teacher surveys have come back to us now - all ten out of ten.
"Ayers had artfully achieved many things at once: he has covered a crucial chapter in American history in a clear and memorable way. He has brought tension and drama to the vexing questions of slavery, abolition, and armed resistance. And he has added to the history books something only music can: he's given John Brown flesh and blood. Ayers portrays both the everyday qualities of father, husband, and citizen, and the outsized passions that emboldened Brown in the most extraordinary ways. We hear in Ayers' piece Brown's authentic voice."
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Akron Symphony Orch. premieres Ayers' THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN
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Jesse Ayers' The Passion of John Brown for orchestra and narrator, premiered October 17, 2009, performed by the Akron Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Christopher Wilkins with Broadcasters' Hall of Fame inductee Leon Bibb narrating. The 19-minute work was commissioned by the orchestra in observance of the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry which helped spark the American Civil War. Brown lived in the Akron area for many years and is among its most famous citizens. The concert date was the exact anniversary of the Harper's Ferry raid. |
 Narrator Leon Bibb, Jesse Ayers, Conductor Christopher WilkinsThe Akron Symphony Orchestra |
 Vocalists Matt Clear, Dan Liebman, and Andy Blackjoin Wilkins, Bibb, Ayers, and the orchestra on stage |
Maestro Wilkins conceived the idea of commissioning a narrated work about Brown and suggested the marvelous, double-entendre title. John Brown died a controversial figure, demonized by some, admired by others. Ayers' work tells John Brown's story, the good and the bad, through Brown's own words, as well as the words of two of Brown's surviving offspring, Brown's friend abolitionist Fredrick Douglass, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, who witnessed Brown's hanging, and the widow of a man Brown ordered killed. It also quotes John Brown's favorite hymn, Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow, and uses musical material from the hymn as symbolic bugle calls echoed by surround-sound trumpets. |
Saturday, October 17, 2009, Akron, OH
The Passion of John Brown (world premiere)
Akron Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Wilkins, conducting
Leon Bibb, narrating
E. J. Thomas Hall
8:00 p.m. local time
Saturday, October 15, 2009, Akron, OH
The Passion of John Brown (educational concert)
Akron Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Wilkins, conducting
Leon Bibb, narrating
E. J. Thomas Hall
9:45 a.m. local time