Dec. 10 UT Faculty Recital Features Music from the American Indianist Movement

On Sunday, Dec. 10, The University of Tampa will present Early 20th Century American Piano Music: The American Indianists, performed by pianist Duncan Macmillan. The concert begins at 3 p.m. in Fletcher Lounge, located in Plant Hall, and is free and open to the public.

The recital will feature works from the American Indianist Movement (1880s–1920), an effort by a group of U.S. composers to establish a distinctly American nationalistic musical style independent of European mannerisms. These composers saw Amerindian music as a vital new source, and incorporated original tribal melodies and folklore into their major works. The stylistic breadth of their works ranges from 19th century Romanticism and Impressionism to the modern dissonant harmonies reminiscent of Bartok.

The program for the recital features works by Arthur Farwell, foremost exponent of the Indianist movement; Harvey Loomis, a favorite student of Antonin Dvorak; Charles Wakefield Cadman, who owes his renown chiefly to his opera Shanewis (or The Robin Woman); Homer Grunn, who encountered Native American music during visits to New Mexico; Blair Fairchild, a Harvard-education career diplomat; and Preston Ware Orem, whose virtuosic American Indian Rhapsody — after the manner of the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Franz Liszt — quotes 10 Indian themes from various tribes.

MacMillan is an active solo pianist and harpsichordist, chamber musician and composer. His compositions have been commissioned, recorded and performed internationally, and have been featured on NPR. He teaches piano, harpsichord and music history at UT.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact MacMillan at dmacmillan@ut.edu.