Promoting Community Connection: Contemporary Classical Composers Respond to the Political Environment, a lecture-recital by Dr. Christine Letcher


Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 at 7 p.m.

University of Maine at Augusta, Farber Forum in Jewett Hall

C Letcher
Dr. Christine Letcher, assistant professor of music at UMA

Through a unique blend of lecture and piano performance, Dr. Christine Letcher, assistant professor of music at the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA), will explore how the political climate affects the work of classical composers. The event will take place on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, at 7 p.m. on the UMA campus at the Farber Forum Auditorium in Jewett Hall.

While popular musicians like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have used their music as political statements, how do classical composers view their role in society as responders to the social and political environment? Letcher interviewed American classical composers to explore their perspectives on how the social, cultural, and political environments influence the music they compose. She then compared these findings to those of the New Deal and early Cold War eras.

In this lecture-recital, Letcher will discuss the social and political influences on select composers from both the 1930s and the early 2000s, and will demonstrate how these influences showed up in the music as she performs solo piano works by Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Aaron Copland, Florence Price, Martin Bresnick, Reena Esmail, Jerome Kitzke, and more. Special guests for two of the pieces are Dr. Anita Jerosch, trombone, and Eliza Meyer, cello.

The lecture-recital “Promoting Community Connection” is free and open to the public on the UMA campus, at the Farber Forum Auditorium, Jewett Hall, 46 University Drive, Augusta. Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, at 7 p.m, and will be livestreamed on the UMA YouTube Channel. This lecture-recital will be repeated on Oct. 29, at 7 p.m., at Minsky Hall, University of Maine, in Orono.

Senior College Concert UMA

Christine Letcher

Sunday, February 23, 2020 • 2-4 pm • Randall Hall

Christine Letcher, soprano and pianist, will present a program that explores the mutual influences and borrowing techniques of French classical composers and American Jazz musicians in the early to mid-20th century.  The first half of the program will feature classical works for voice and piano by French Impressionist and Modernist composers such as Debussy, Satie, Ravel, among others. In the second half of the program, Christine will sing jazz standards with the band, PUMA.

PUMA consists of five friends; all having been involved in the UMA music program as students and faculty.  The music can be called “modern jazz,” consisting of tunes from the 1940s through the present, offered in the common jazz format which emphasizes improvisation by the musicians.  The performers are Christine Letcher (vocal), Bill Moseley (flute), Andy Moulton (guitar), Dave Briggs (bass) and Andy Schultz (percussion).

Piano Recital May 19, 2018

Please join us for a concert at the UUC Congregational Church of Waterville

Featuring Christine Letcher as part of the Music at First Concert Series!

A fundraising concert series to benefit the Waterville Area Essentials Closet

Suggested Donation: $10

The Waterville Area Essentials Closet provides personal and household items for community members in need, such as soap, toothpaste, diapers and laundry detergent. The funds raised from this concert will go directly toward providing more items for our neighbors in need!