Spokane's Lincoln Festival

Celebrating

Lincoln's Ideals

in a

New Century

January - March 2009

Presented by 

Spokane Symphony

and

Fox Theater Spokane

in collaboration with the

Spokane Community of Arts

Organization

This Festival has been endorsed by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

January 6 - February 27: A HOUSE DIVIDED: THE LEGACY OF LINCOLN EXHIBITION

Chase Gallery, Spokane City Hall

"A House Divided: The Legacy of Lincoln," a group exhibition in conjunction with the Spokane Symphony's festival celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, sponsored by the Spokane Arts commission.

January 24, 2009: THE WORLD COMES WEST - A FAMILY CONCERT

Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox

Spokane Symphony Family Concert featuring a musical world tour of immigrants coming west following President Lincoln's Homestead Act.

February 3 & 4, 2009: WHAT LINCOLN SHOULD HAVE HEARD - SPOKANE SYMPHONY CHAMBER SOIREE

Marie Antoinette Ballroom, The Davenport Hotel

Spokane Symphony musicians presenting chamber music from the era of Lincoln's life.

February 12, 2009: WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL SPOKANE CHAPTER SPEAKER (TBA)

Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox

February 19 & 20, 2009: MALICE TOWARD NONE

Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox

Part of the Kentucky Repertory Theater's National Tour

The Kentucky Repertory Theatre presents an engaging and eclectic production that uses lights, music, sounds, photographs and video to highlight Lincoln's great speeches and letters.
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds."Abraham Lincoln

February 22, 2009: ALVIN AILEY II AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox

One of America's most recognized dance companies, Ailey II merges the spirit and energy of the country's best young talent with the passion and creative vision of today's most outstanding emerging choreographers.  Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, this performance commemorates a milestone to a remarkable vision that has succeeded in bringing beauty, spirit, hope and passion to the world's stages.

February 25-27, 2009: MICHAEL DAUGHERTY, COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE

Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox

Michael Daugherty is one of the most performed and commissioned American composers of his generation. Daugherty came to international attention when his Metropolis Symphony (1988-93), a tribute to the Superman comics, was performed in 1995 at Carnegie Hall.

The composer is best known for his ability to infuse the spirit of icons of the American pop culture into his work without loosing the attention to structure that characterizes classical music. He acknowledges his debt to pop culture, saying:

"For me icons serve as a way to have an emotional reason to compose a new work. I get ideas for my compositions by browsing through second book stores, antique shops, and small towns that I find driving on the back roads of America. The icon can be an old postcard, magazine, photograph, knick-knack, matchbook, piece of furniture or roadmap. Like Ives and Mahler, I use icons in my music to provide the listener and performer with a layer of reference. However, one does not need the reference of the icon to appreciate my music. It is merely one level among many in the musical, contrapuntal fabric of my compositions."

While composing Letters from Lincoln, it was the writings of Abraham Lincoln, beloved and possibly best known of American presidents, that inspired Daugherty. To learn more, visit Michael Daugherty's website.

February 28 & March 1, 2009

LETTERS FROM LINCOLN

Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox

World premiere of Letters from Lincoln, written by contemporary American composer Michael Daugherty for the Spokane Symphony and world renowned baritone Thomas Hampson. The Daugherty work was commissioned by the Spokane Symphony and is part of the national celebration of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial.  

Thomas Hampson's website