COMMUNITY VOICES | Words from a composer: Creating “Olorund and the Orishas”

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There is a new, intriguing orchestra on the Northside today – the Hopewell Community Orchestra.  The orchestra is comprised of students of a variety of ages, skills, and has both Hopewell students and community members. At Hopewell’s 2nd Annual Founders Day Funder this past April the orchestra had the opportunity to give a world premiere of Dameun Strange’s “Olorund and the Orishas.” Andre Bronson, age 18, plays the violin and when asked how he felt about performing the piece, stated “Playing Dameun’s piece was a lot of fun. I was nervous because no one has heard it before… but I thought of the story the piece told while playing it and had fun and the piece practically played itself.” Staff member Martha Chataleine asked Mr. Strange if he would explain the process he went through in composing his piece, and he was kind enough to put it into the following words. They will be playing it again as a part of their program during their Contemporary Composer Concert on Saturday, May 17th/3pm at North United Methodist Church, 4350 Fremont Ave North, Minneapolis, which is free and open to the public.What type of musical piece is your orchestral composition? Continue Reading