“Island of Peoples” is a multimedia concert based on stories of immigrants coming to the United States and draws inspiration and material from the stories of the Ellis Island Oral Histories, a project of the Ellis Island Museum, that preserves and collect interviews of US immigrants who went through Ellis Island between 1900 and 1954. The concert includes original material obtained directly from actual immigrant interviews.
These interviews include amazing stories of struggle, pain and sadness, but also of joy, love, friendship and faith. In the work, the stories are told and unfold intertwined around a few common traits: the longing for home, the perils of traveling for days, and the cultural, social and human uncertainties of the new world. The stories reveal common aspects that become a sort of collective memory, that reach and touch universal, human experiences that everyone can relate to: we are all “wanderers,” and to be an immigrant, to be eradicated, just makes this perception more acute.
Composer Gabriele Vanoni
Gabriele Vanoni is an Italian composer, currently living in the Boston area. Born in Milan, after a few international experiences as a very young composer, he started his musical studies at the Conservatory of Milan, where he graduated in Piano with Maria Isabella De Carli and Composition with Giuseppe Giuliano. He continued his education with a Ph.D. in Music Composition at Harvard University, under the guidance of Julian Anderson, Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku.
His music has been performed in several prestigious venues and festivals, such as Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall), Biennale di Venezia, ManiFeste, Moscow Conservatory, Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, June in Buffalo, IRCAM, Wellesley Composers Conference, NYU, BIT Teatergarasjen in Bergen and Accademia Chigiana di Siena, among many others. Likewise, various soloists and ensembles have now been involved in performing his music, including members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Talea Ensemble, Moscow Studio for New Music Ensemble, Ensemble L’arsenale, Mario Caroli, Diotima Quartet, Les Cris de Paris, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and many more. Besides his activity as a composer, Gabriele Vanoni served as the artistic director and founder of Suggestioni, a festival of Italian Music in United States, and holds a degree in Business for the Arts, Culture and Communication at Bocconi University.
He is currently Assistant Chair of the Composition Department at Berklee College of Music. Recent and upcoming commissions include a multimedia opera with Guerilla Opera, and a recording project with flutist Orlando Cela. He lives with his wife and children in Stoneham.
Presented by Middlesex Community College’s A World of Music Concert Series
