ABOUT

Forging an American Musical Identity (FAMI) is a multi-pronged project celebrating the 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial) of the Declaration of Independence. This project specifically features the neglected community of American music figures and their work, spanning from 1801 to the beginning of World War I. the project will include a series of humanities-based activities, many of which will take place in conjunction with live performances of music not heard for over a century. An overarching goal is to introduce multigenerational audiences to our country’s rich and diverse musical heritage: art music (orchestral, operatic, choral, chamber, and instrumental compositions), popular music (musical theatre, parlor songs, dance music, band compositions, minstrelsy), and the rich interaction between these two. The project will create opportunities to examine, perform, discuss, and put into historical context the diverse music that animated nineteenth century American culture and furthermore stimulate ongoing discussions about how music both shaped and reflected what it meant to be an American in the nineteenth century—and what it might mean today.