History in Sound: From Ellis Island to the Russian Revolution
Oct 19, 2025 @ 2pm - Salem High School
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112, "The Year 1917"
Peter Boyer: Ellis Island: The Dream of America
Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America is a stirring tribute to the immigrant experience, blending spoken word and orchestral music to bring to life real stories from Ellis Island’s Oral History Project. With vivid emotion, it captures the hope, struggle, and determination of those who crossed oceans in search of a new beginning in America.
In contrast, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, The Year 1917 delivers a dramatic, state-sanctioned homage to Lenin and the Bolshevik Revolution. While patriotic in tone, the symphony’s deeper meaning has long sparked debate among scholars and listeners alike.
Together, these works offer powerful musical portraits of transformation—one deeply personal and aspirational, the other profoundly political and revolutionary—illuminating two defining chapters of the 20th century.
