Civil war costumes, vibrant music and an enthusiastic crowd filled Shriver Hall last Sunday afternoon for the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra's (HSO) performance of Symphony No.2, Antar by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and "Songs of Harriet Tubman" by Nkeriu Okoye.
The concert, conducted by HSO music director Jed Gaylin, was split into two parts, with the first half showcasing the technical mastery of the orchestra (composed of mostly Hopkins students) and the second half featuring soprano Kishna Davis accompanied by the orchestra.
Antar is a folk musical telling the story of a pre-Islamic adventurer. The real Antar wrote down his stories in poems, which ultimately converged into an epic folk legend written by Osip Senkovsky in the 1800s. Rimsky-Korsakov, the composer, was a traveler himself and was clearly inspired by Senkovsky and Antar's story, so he composed a symphony telling Antar's story through music.
The atmosphere of the first half of the concert was a quiet but intense experience. Gaylin, a conductor for the HSO since 1993, definitely demonstrated his leadership with his conduction of Sunday's performance.
The first movement of Antar started slowly, punctuated with the performance of the various flutists, particularly Karen Yanson, the principal flutist for the orchestra.
The first movement introduces Antar, and each different musical motif is supposed to represent a different character in the story. For example, the flute-enunciated motif represents Gul Nazar, a fairy whom Antar falls in love with. Rimsky-Korsakov, a composer of the Romantic Era, wrote each musical motif to represent an idea, theme or character and is much more profound than previous composers.
The first movement is immediately contrasted with the second movement featuring the brass and percussion of the orchestra. The movement is much faster and deeper and the efforts of the tubas, played by Randolph Harrison and sophomore Sarah Knapp. The quick movement is supposed to represent violence and vengeance, and does so exquisitely.
The penultimate movement is a mixture of the first and second: The middle voices of the orchestra (bassoon, trumpets, violins) are more prominently featured in the harmony of the piece, and the melody is just as uplifting as it is foreshadowing. The sublime motif, in this case, is supposed to represent Antar's love.
About three quarters of the way through the movement, the trombones of the pieces, led by graduate student Paul Harris, have a notable melodic performance.
Finally, the fourth movement brings back the flute theme from the first movement mixed with Antar's theme. The movement and the first half of the concert concluded with an earnest applause by the crowd.
After a short intermission, the orchestra played what proved to be the highlight of the concert, "The Songs of Harriet Tubman," from an opera composed by Nkeiru Okoye. In a way, the second half of the concert paralleled the first half. Okoye, like Rimsky-Korsakov, wrote her music in a folksy style, but in this case telling the true story of Harriet Tubman, the famous slave-turned-Underground Railroad operator.
Okoye's four arias are taken from her upcoming opera, The Songs of Harriet Tubman. Okoye, although a New Yorker of Nigerian descent, is no stranger to Maryland - she was an assistant professor at Morgan State University and her subject of choice, Tubman, was a Marylander.
However, the format of the second half of the concert was very different from that of the first. Okoye and soprano Kishna Davis took the stage in costumes from the opera, lending a more theatrical feel to the concert. Before every aria, Okoye also "narrated" the story of Tubman, giving context and story to the music.
An aria is a long piece featuring one singer with accompaniment, but the narration and background information provided by Okoye made the audience feel like they were being being led through a musical book where the story of not only Harriet Tubman is being told, but also the story of Okoye and her efforts of writing music.
Each of Okoye's arias invoke the theme of names, and each reflect a different name Tubman adopted throughout her life. In the first aria, "My Name Is Araminta," Okoye introduces the audience to the harsh realities of a slave's existence running parallel to the musings of a young Tubman. The second aria, "My Name Is Harriet Now," details the transformation of Araminta into Harriet, framing it as the birth of a freedom fighter, highlighted by forceful and passionate music.
Okoye occasionally breaks character as "narrator," and by the third aria, "I Am Harriet Tubman," she humorously chronicles her experience of writing Harriet Tubman's story and eventually casting Kishna Davis in the role of Tubman. Finally, the fourth aria, "I Am Moses, the Liberator," concludes Harriet's transformation from slave to liberator.
Needless to say, the audience was floored by the performance of Kishna Davis with the backing of the orchestra. Davis, a veteran of the opera, performed remarkably with Okoye's music.. Particularly, in Okoye's third aria, Davis bellowed the bluesy gospel tune with a fierce voice, no doubt capturing the utter passion of the character and music.
The Sunday performance of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra was a unique opportunity to discover a relatively low profile part of campus life.
With the graceful performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Antar" symphony and the showcase of Okoye's masterful "The Songs of Harriet Tubman," the Hopkins Symphony was a warming experience in the wintry weather.
