Composer Portrait Series Richard Felciano $1.50

About Composer Portrait Series Richard Felciano

Commissioned by the Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress for the 15th anniversary of Southwest Chamber Music and dedicated to Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Richard Felciano’s An American Decameron is inspired by the interviews of Studs Terkel. Felciano looks in the American mirror, creating a collective picture larger than each individual part. There are hymns of wise, elderly sages, rigid Quakers, advertising agents, African-American protests and inspirations, a haunting elegy to the homeless (for solo violin & voice), the demeaning reality of a fashion model, the wonder of the mathematics teacher, another elegy on the death of children through school violence, and a final movement, constructed of an ascending ground bass, that sets forth the dreams of a peaceful memorial service.