L ifestyles /C ulture
‘March’ Composer Draws Varied Inspiration
suited my interests and abilities
as a composer ideally.”
Alston, he believes, was
similarly suited to the task.

“It was a wonderful and
profound experience to collab-
orate with her,” Bleckner said.

“In creating the musical setting
for her story I found myself
swept up in the range of emo-
tions it depicts, from pain, to
righteous anger, to defiance, to
joy, and to celebration.”
MUSIC JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
JEWISH COMPOSER
ANDREW Bleckner found
inspiration in both religion
and musical history when he
wrote The Children’s March.

Bleckner and librettist
Charlotte Blake Alston will
perform their original work —
which explores a civil rights-era
historical event — on Feb. 24 at
3 p.m. at Philadelphia Episcopal
Church, and on March 10 at
3 p.m. at Lincoln University.

They will be joined by Singing
City, the SC Children’s Choir,
T-VOCE, the Germantown
Friends School Middle School
Choir and Keystone State
Boychoir’s Anonymous 8.

The Children’s March is a
choral and theatrical piece
about the 1963 Children’s
Crusade in Birmingham, Ala.

On May 2 of that year, more
than 1,000 students, most of them
black, skipped class to march in
the downtown area in support of
the civil rights movement. They
were met with clubs, dogs, paddy
wagons and high-powered hoses,
all under the direction of the
notorious Bull Connor, then the
commissioner of public safety in
Birmingham. The images were
broadcast to millions of televi-
sion viewers around the world,
eventually bolstering the cause
of the marchers. A few days
later, an agreement to deseg-
regate important public spaces
was reached.

It was this radical history
that Bleckner had in mind
when he was commissioned
to compose the music for The
Children’s March back in 2013.

Bleckner, a native of Rockland
County, N.Y., has composed
music for decades. Though he
found much of his inspiration
in the work of Beethoven, Bach
and other luminaries of classi-
cal music, he also found it an
unconventional place.

“When I was in 11th grade,”
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Andrew Bleckner
Alston is also the piece’s narrator.

The Children’s March,
Bleckner said, is not only a
performance that seeks to exalt
a pivotal moment of the Civil
Rights movement, but one
that speaks to “the universal
human story of our fight with
tyranny and injustice.”
“I believe The Children’s
March is, in fact, a sacred jour-
ney,” he said. “It is a march
for freedom and justice, and
the conclusion — a setting of
‘There is a Balm in Gilead’ —
lifts the listener to a higher
spiritual plane.

“In today’s dark times,” he
concluded, “I naturally hope
that listeners will be inspired
to activism against resur-
gent forces of prejudice and
intolerance.” l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Photo provided
he said, “I read a short book
by Martin Buber that had a
profound influence upon me.

Buber posits that each indi-
vidual has a unique place in
the world, and that we should
find our own path, and thereby
honor God in doing so by
fulfilling our unique path. I
started to learn piano at that
point, and I felt that sitting at
the piano was a form of the
highest prayer possible, that it
was my unique path in which I
could honor God and fulfill my
potential in the universe.”
Bleckner continued to draw
from Judaism as he made his
way through the world of clas-
sical music. He counts a setting
of Psalm 150 for choir and
percussion that he composed
towards the end of his time in
grad school as his first real suc-
cess as a composer. Since then,
he’s become a nationally recog-
nized composer, with numer-
ous fellowships and awards to
his name.

In 2012, he and Alston were
commissioned to write The
Children’s March by Singing
City. Singing City was founded
as an integrated choir in 1948,
and over the years has per-
formed with everyone from the
Philadelphia Orchestra to the
Israel Philharmonic.

“I was so excited when I
learned of the project, because
I felt such a powerful connec-
tion to the story,” Bleckner said.

“The Children’s March project is
both theatrical and choral, so it
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