Michael Slon and the University Singers Revisit Bristow's Wartime Legacy
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
Following the University Singers' Spring Concert 2026 at UVA's Old Cabell Hall — a special America250 Anniversary celebration conducted by Michael Slon, marking both the nation's 250th birthday and Slon's own 25th year leading UVA's choral program — I did something I hardly ever do: I reopened the final edit of Life and Music in the Age of George Frederick Bristow. The program had included Bristow's own music alongside settings of Jefferson's words from the Declaration of Independence, tracing America's history through musical narrative. Hearing his name spoken in that hall, on that occasion, made the manuscript feel unfinished in a way I couldn't ignore.
The occasion led me to replace the music in the Civil War sequence with a more fitting performance of a long-forgotten composition from Bristow's own era. Hearing it brought to life by the University Singers — voices that had spent the weekend tracing America's history through song — offered a fresh perspective on a remarkable piece that has waited far too long to be heard."
The addition of "voices that had spent the weekend tracing America's history through song" ties it back to the concert and gives the moment more resonance.
My sincere thanks to Michael Slon and to the University Singers at the University of Virginia.
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