Instrumental Collegium Musicum to perform “American Revolution 2.0” on Oct. 25

The University of Kansas Instrumental Collegium Musicum will present a performance entitled “American Revolution 2.0” on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 PM in Swarthout Recital Hall.

The program will include British music from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries and musical selections associated with the lives of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, an opportunity to take a musical measure of the competing sides in the American Revolution. British selections will include works by John Dowland (1563-1626), Matthew Locke (1621/3-1677), John Blow (1649-1708), and Thomas Arne (1710-1768), among others. Music representing Washington and Franklin include songs written about them, music involving their public duties, songs performed for them, and celebratory works following their deaths. The most famous American composer represented is Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791), a lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, one of the first composers in British North America, supposedly the designer of the flag sewn by Betsy Ross, and a federal judge late in his life. The concert will conclude with a sing-along version of “Yankee Doodle,” featuring words appropriate to both sides in the Revolution. Performers will include recorder players Melissa Cummins and Hon Ki Cheung, harpsichordist Evan Kramer, soprano and Baroque violinist Caitlin Laird, and director Paul Laird, professor of musicology, who will play Baroque cello and viola da gamba.

The concert is free and the public is invited. For more information, contact Paul Laird at plaird@ku.edu.