Bill of Rights Performance Celebrates Democracy Through Music
On the eve of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, John Spencer Camp Professor of Music Neely Bruce led Wesleyan faculty, students, local singers, instrumentalists, and community partners in a unique performance to celebrate our collective history on Friday, Oct. 10, in Crowell Concert Hall. “The Bill of Rights: Ten Amendments in Eight Motets” showcased the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution in spoken word, song, and instrumental music.
“I hope this work calls attention, in the minds of listeners and performers alike—citizens of every age and background—to this astonishing, powerful text that is so fundamental to our democracy and has had such a positive influence on political thinking around the globe,” said Bruce, who composed and conducted the piece. “It is as fresh and relevant as it ever was.”
Pamela Tatge '84, executive and artistic director of Jacob's Pillow and former director of Center for the Arts, provided an introduction for the event. "'The Bill of Rights' is Neely's most performed composition and this afternoon marks its 37th performance in colleges, churches, and human rights gatherings. Neely talks about the purpose of this work being primarily educational—if you sing a text, you never forget it," she said. "I can't think of a more important time to be reminded of our most fundamental rights."
Performers included Festival Harmony, Alchemy, instrumentalists, and the following readers of the amendments: Jill Lepore, professor of history at Harvard; Gregory Harris, lawyer, Dzalo, Pickett and Allen of Middletown; Quincy Segal '26, filmmaker and history major; Khalilah Brown-Dean, executive director of the Albritten Center at Wesleyan; Carolyn Engle, cellist, public school music teacher, and charter member of The Bill of Rights Band; Darrell Miller, professor of law, University of Chicago Law School; David Calderon, '26, College of Social Studies and co-chair of the International Student Advisory Board; Maryam Gooyabadi, assistant professor of the practice in Wesleyan’s Quantitative Analysis Center.
