BSO Releases Digital Premiere of “Hope Begins With Truth”

Bangor, ME — In March 2020, the long anticipated premiere of Lucas Richman’s The Warming Sea was thwarted by COVID-19. Now, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and Maine Science Festival have released a digital performance of the work’s concluding anthem, “Hope Begins With Truth”, recorded remotely by BSO musicians and guests from around the country. Viewers can visit the Bangor Symphony Orchestra Facebook or YouTube pages to watch the music video, which  premiered Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.

In addition to featuring members of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, contributors to the remote recording of “Hope Begins With Truth” include the Bangor-based choir Divisi, the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, and invited guest vocalists, many of whom have previously worked with Richman. 

After months of planning, the cancelled premiere of The Warming Sea in March 2020 marked a painful start to the COVID-19 pandemic for the composer/conductor Richman, and for the Maine Science Festival and Bangor Symphony Orchestra, who together were ushering the creation and performance of the work. Richman’s piece traces the warming of the Gulf of Maine over the course of 200 years, utilizing unique compositional techniques inspired by the extensive research on the subject being done around the state of Maine.

Richman said, “In addition to the incredible amount of information gleaned from numerous scientists and legislators up and down the Eastern seaboard of Maine, I felt an obligation to convey in my music the hopes and fears about climate change expressed by the hundreds of middle school children with whom I met during the course of my creative preparation. I am ever-grateful to the countless individuals who have given of themselves to help bring this timely and urgent artistic expression to life.”

The concluding anthem, “Hope Begins With Truth” for children’s chorus, women’s chorus and orchestra, charges today’s global population with the responsibility of enacting change based upon the truths of climate science in order for there to be hope for future generations.

Dickerson, who has been working with Richman on this project for over three years, noted that “the Maine Science Festival will be presenting a full performance of The Warming Sea as part of a MSF event centering on climate change in Maine as soon as it is safe to do so.”

For more information, visit thewarmingsea.me.

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About Bangor Symphony Orchestra

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1896, making the BSO one of the oldest continuously operating orchestras in the U.S. The Symphony’s 70 musicians annually present classical and pops concerts; The Nutcracker with the Robinson Ballet; and diverse community and education programs, including the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestras, Young People’s Concerts, and Music and Wellness Program.

About Maine Science Festival 

The Maine Science Festival is an independently funded program of the Maine Discovery Museum, and is the first and only science festival in Maine. The MSF launched in 2015 and is a celebration of the national and world leading science by the Mainers who do it. Since the inaugural festival in 2015, more than 50,000 people have joined to celebrate Maine science.

About Lucas Richman

Grammy award-winning conductor Lucas Richman has served as Music Director for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and held the position as Music Director for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2015. Over the course of nearly four decades on the podium, he has garnered an international reputation for his graceful musical leadership in a diverse field of media.

 

HOPE BEGINS WITH TRUTH – Words and Music by Lucas Richman

HAVE YOU TOLD THEM?
HAVE YOU TOLD YOUR CHILDREN THE TRUTH? THEY NEED TO KNOW…
THINGS ARE CHANGING, THEY MUST KNOW THAT
THINGS WILL NOT REMAIN AS THEY WERE ONCE LONG AGO.

DO YOU WONDER
HAVE YOU FILLED THEIR SAILS FULL OF HOPE? HOPE HELPS THEM SOAR…
TIDES ARE SHIFTING, SEAS ARE WARMING
UP AHEAD THERE’S NO TURNING BACK WHEN THERE’S NO SHORE.

TEACH THEM THAT HOPE BEGINS WITH TRUTH
TELL THEM THE TRUTH – THEY NEED TO KNOW
SO GIVE THEM HOPE AND GIVE THEM LIFE!
HOPE BEGINS WITH TRUTH…
Copyright © LeDor Group, Inc. 2020