This new concert comedy fuses Aaron Copland’s stirring incidental music with Mark Twain’s poignant observations of a changing America.

Full orchestra version features James Lee III’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, with the words of Frederick Douglass. Premiere: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, 2026.

Music

COPLAND Music for Movies and Music for Theatre freshly adapted with actors
JAMES LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn (with text by Frederick Douglass)
JOAN TOWER Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman
COPLAND The Promise of Living, from The Tender Land Suite

Video by S. Katy Tucker
Costumes by Arthur Oliver

Press

“How do you offer a message that’s celebratory while also honest about the darker currents?

“Well, I’m pleased to report that the Milwaukee Symphony walked this tightrope perfectly. The program Copland & Twain: America 250 was a tour de force that took risks and managed to be both funny and moving.”

-Shepherd Express, Milwaukee

Will America grow from its wounds
to develop a deeper love for our neighbors?

Or will we let our scars tear us asunder?

Text

Mark Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve form a through-line amidst observations from dozens of apocryphal stories, speeches, and articles from America’s greatest humorist, assembled by Bill Barclay.

America’s first celebrity and its Dean of American Music combine to soothe the polarizing questions vexing our body politic today with majesty, humor, tolerance – and wisdom.

Featuring actors Carson Elrod, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Chloe McFarlane, Caleb Mayo, and Robert Walsh.

World Premiere: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, 2026
NYC Premiere: Chelsea Music Festival, Open Jar, June 25, 2026