Composing a piece of music to help Schenectady County Community College celebrate its 45th year was a bit of a challenge for Brett Wery.
“It turns out that 45 was a hard number to work with,” said Wery, a professor of music at SCCC for 21 years. “Finding a way to tie a piece of music to that number wasn’t easy.”
Wery succeeded. When the college holds its School of Music Chamber Music Series to help commemorate its 45th year at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday in the Taylor Auditorium, Wery will present an original work titled “Oot-kwa-tah.”
Inspired by the Iroquois legend of the Pleiades star cluster, the composition is about five minutes long and will be performed by a small Baroque orchestra, including a bassoon, trumpet, oboe and piano.
‘Oot-kwa-tah’
WHAT: Original music by Brett Wery, performed as part of the SCCC Chamber Music Series
WHERE: Taylor Auditorium, SCCC, Schenectady
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
HOW MUCH: Free
MORE INFO: 381-1324, www.sunysccc.edu
“When I learned that M45 is the Messier catalog number for the Pleiades cluster, I wondered if the Iroquois might have a legend connected to Pleiades, and it turns out they do,” said Wery.
“So, I was off to the races. I thought since the college is on land that used to belong to the Mohawk nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, it made sense to use that story as my inspiration.”
Dancing children
The Iroquois legend tells the story of seven children who danced every day instead of doing their chores.
“When an old man appears, he tells them that bad things are going to happen if they don’t stop dancing,” said Wery.
“Well, they get light-headed and start floating up into the air. One boy looks down at his father and falls back down to earth, and that’s the legend of the shooting star. The other children, the Oot-kwa-tah, become the stars of the Pleiades cluster.”
A North Carolina native and Scotia resident, Wery said that “Oot-kwa-tah” is “listener friendly.”
“It’s upbeat and definitely modern sounding, and the melodies all rise slowly up, like they’re floating,” he said. “But at the same time I wanted to create this sense that there are some strong forces pulling them back. It ends with an oboe solo, and ‘blink,’ that’s when they become stars.”
Additional music
Along with “Oot-kwa-tah,” Tuesday’s event will feature Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” performed by the SCCC Vocal Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Yiping Wu.
Lucille Beer and Kerry Ryer-Parke will perform as vocalists, while other artists providing entertainment include Mark Evans on piano, Rex Richardson and Allyson Keyser on trumpet, and the Hyperion String Quartet.
A pre-concert talk between Wery and composer Ralph Raymond Hays will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 215 of the School of Music at SCCC.
Reach Gazette reporter Bill Buell at 395-3190 or [email protected].
Categories: Entertainment
