Anna Scoppettone graduates from Montpelier High School this month, and will head to the University of Connecticut Honors College in the fall. Her piece Where Do We Go? premiered in April, and tells the story of a Syrian refugee family.
The idea for Anna's work came to her while driving on the highway at night, after seeing road debris. After briefly thinking about how scary a car accident would be, she began to imagine how much more frightening it would be to be one of countless refugees who are fleeing war.
"I looked at several different firsthand accounts of crossing and of the experience that refugees have had, and compiled them to create a fictional family of a father, mother, son and daughter that come to America and receive discrimination here." The work is for a quartet of voices, each as a different member of the family.
"I want people listening to this piece to take away the idea that refugees are people just like us, who have gone through something really, really hard."
Performers for Where Do We Go? are soprano Stefanie Weigand, alto Linda Radtke, tenor Erik Nielsen and bass Eric K. Brooks. It was premiered at Music-COMP’s Opus 31 concert on April 27th of this year.
The Student Composer Showcase is produced in collaboration with Music-COMP’s online composition mentoring program. Find out more at music-comp.org
