Sponsored by the Williams Family in celebration of the 100th Birthday of Ruth Williams.
"Footprints" opens the season with music of various indigenous cultures from North America, the Cardenche tradition from Mexico, and Bulgarian and Estonian folk traditions and highlights the enduring relationship between humanity, our ancestors, and the earth. The first half culminates in Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’s “Curse Upon Iron,” a powerful reflection on how humanity transformed a simple gift of nature into an instrument of destruction. The second half features Jake Runestad’s Footprints, a nine-movement work inspired by the poetry of Guatemalan K’iche’ Mayan poet Humberto Ak’abal. Together, these works invite us to consider the paths we have inherited, our relationship with the world around us, and the footprints we leave behind.
