08/16/2026
Our summer concert, "The Songbook" is only two weeks away!
Please enjoy the following letter from Dr. Zastoupil:
Dear Friends,
As I was putting this program together, I kept coming back to one word: songbook.
Most of us have one, even if we don't think about it that way. It's made up of the songs that have stayed with us throughout our lives—songs we learned as children, songs we sang in church, songs that remind us of family, celebrations, heartbreak, hope, or home. They become part of our story.
This program is a journey through several different songbooks.
We begin in Renaissance England with The Earle of Oxford's March, a melody that has survived for hundreds of years because people continued to play it, teach it, and pass it along. From there we move into the American South with Donald Grantham's Southern Harmony, inspired by the powerful tradition of shape-note singing and the hymns that brought communities together.
In the first half you'll also hear one of the most beloved songs ever written, George Gershwin's Someone to Watch Over Me. Whether you know it from Broadway, jazz, or an old recording, it's a reminder that great songs have a way of finding each new generation.
The second half of our concert is Benjamin Horne's Spiritual Symphony, a work built on African American spirituals. These songs are among the most important chapters in America's musical story. They carried faith, resilience, hope, and, at times, coded messages of freedom. Long before they appeared on concert stages, they were sung by people whose voices deserved to be heard, and their message continues to resonate today.
What I love most about this program is that these works come from different centuries, different cultures, and different traditions, yet they all remind us of the same thing: music is how we remember. Songs preserve history in a way that books sometimes cannot. They tell us where we've been, who we are, and what we value.
Thank you for allowing the Tennessee Wind Symphony to share a few pages from humanity's songbook with you. We hope you'll hear something familiar, discover something new, and perhaps leave thinking about the songs that have become part of your own story. Enjoy the concert!
Warmly,
John
Music Director & Conductor
Tennessee Wind Symphony
FREE tickets remain available:
THE SONGBOOK
