Second Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert,
“Peace & The Presidency:
Music for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt”
Portsmouth, New Hampshire (April 4, 2008) -- On May 17, 2008, the Seacoast Wind Ensemble presents the Second Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert, “Peace & The Presidency: Music for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt” at 7:30 pm at The Music Hall in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This program of wide-ranging music for the Election Year features Aaron Copland's "A Lincoln Portrait" with guest narrator, Rev. Robert H. Thompson, Chaplain of Phillips Exeter Academy. The annual program by the Seacoast Wind Ensemble (www. SeacoastWindEnsemble.org) is organized and conducted by Music Director Richard C. Spicer and sponsored by the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, supported by the Japan-America Society of NH. Tickets are $15 ($5 for seniors, students and children under 12) and are available at The Music Hall Box Office, 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, by phone 603-436-2400 and on-line at www.themusichall.org
Discussing the program he has planned for the concert, Richard Spicer, Music Director for the Seacoast Wind Ensemble and music historian said, “In addition to ‘Lincoln Portrait,’ we will also be playing an unusual and seldom-heard arrangement of pieces played from band books from New Hampshire bands stationed in South Carolina at Hilton Head, during the campaign against Fort Sumter. The band books used by the later and somewhat related brigade band (from which the arrangement we will play was made) are in the Library of Congress, the NH Historical Society in Concord, and the NH Antiquarian Society in Hopkinton. They are national treasures, now sought after and cited repeatedly by groups trying to recreate this music and this history. Only a few other such resources remain in the country.”
The Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum was created in 1994 to study and commemorate the Portsmouth Peace Treaty and to explore diplomatic themes “in the spirit of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.” In 1905, diplomats from Russia and Japan met in Portsmouth, as President Roosevelt’s guests, to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War The Portsmouth Peace Treaty is an important piece of history as the foundation for Theodore Roosevelt’s Nobel Peace Prize and as an early demonstration that the ordinary American citizen can make a difference. This annual commemorative concert helps trace that story from a musical perspective. In addition to the concert. Annual Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum events include live performances, lectures, films, a parade, a peace flag-raising, the Treaty-signing bell-ringing on September 5th and the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum itself, held each December in honor of Roosevelt’s Nobel. To learn more about the Treaty, scheduling lectures, exhibits or programs, visit www.PortsmouthPeaceTreaty.com
