On March 20 in Huntington Recital Hall, Capital students will be lifting their voices to share the personal stories of people who came to the United States through Ellis Island, New York, during the wave of European immigration 100 years ago.
Adjunct music faculty member Tammi Regensburger proposed the piece “Vignettes: Ellis Island” when the music department was looking for a theme for their annual community recital.
“My doctoral thesis, or document, as it’s called in music, was on this piece,” Regensburger said. “I heard this piece of music and thought, ‘Wow, that is really powerful and really moving.’ I wanted to study the piece, meet the composer, and coach the work with him.”
Part of her research involved visiting Ellis Island to visualize the experience herself.
“I walked through the museum there, and you’ve got a room that’s all filled with old suitcases that got left behind, things that are very powerful in a lot of ways,” Regensburger said. “These were humans, these were real people that were here and had this experience.”
The texts featured in the song cycle were all taken from quotes collected by the Ellis Island Oral History Project. Starting in 1973, immigrants who had come through Ellis Island were invited to come back to record their stories. Ellis Island operated as an immigration station from 1892 to 1954, so they were sharing their experiences decades after their journey had taken place.
“The way that people captured their memories, some talked about them as if it was happening right there and then,” Regensburger said. “Others made it sound like a more distant thing. It’s beautiful storytelling because it’s captured through the eyes of children, even though they were adults retelling the stories.”
Ellis Island Project director Paul Sigrist met composer Alan Louis Smith through a mutual friend and inquired about sending some excerpts to Smith in case he might be inspired to use them.
“(Sigrist) sent packets of all kinds of stuff, and the composer cut them into strips and smaller quotations and posted them up all over his house. He started to get to know these immigrants. Their words would greet him every day.”
Smith named each piece of the song cycle using the immigrant’s first name, age, and country of origin, offering perspective about the person behind the story. The stories represent people from several European countries, including Austria, Germany, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and others.
The range of voices is mirrored in the piece’s musical diversity, which includes polkas, sambas, songs in three-quarter time, and recognizable folk themes.
“There’s one that’s based on a Stephen Foster theme and his big, full American folk music,” Regensburger said. “His ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ is in there as one of the melodies that accompanies one of the pieces. It’s just beautifully crafted.”
Other pieces focus more on the physical and emotional experiences of immigration.
“Some of the immigrant stories are funny, and some of them are sad,” Regensburger said. “There’s one that tells the story of a woman who was very old and didn’t survive the boat journey. There’s another one about how being seasick was their big experience, and that music has all this sort of jostling and roiling. The composer did all this text painting and creating stories, even within the accompaniment music.”
Regensburger was inspired to propose this piece partially due to the current national conversation around immigrants and their contribution to the country.
“It’s become a racial thing instead of us being able to tell the story of how immigration has positively shaped our country,” Regensburger said. “In some ways, as artists, we don’t have a lot of powerful tools. But we can use our gifts and our art to create a narrative, to create a positive thing to put in society.”
Regensburger also wants to center the event in inclusivity by inviting participation from regional immigrant and arts communities. She has reached out to several organizations in hopes that they might want to facilitate bringing the program to other venues. Regensburger is working with Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus for a second performance because the church has close ties with Community Refugee Immigration Services.
Capital students will participate as volunteers after submitting video auditions to earn roles, which helped Regensburger determine which vignette was the best fit for each singer. To prepare, the students received a copy of the score and a live recording of the piece performed at Lincoln Center in New York by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, for whom the piece was written.
The final product of 26 songs will include 21 Capital students and three faculty members accompanied by professional pianist Michael Lester. Regensburger herself will sing the opening and the finale.
Vocal Music Education major Savannah Nyang is a student manager of the production and a performer. The piece resonates with her because of her own family’s history.
“My father immigrated here from Senegal by himself when he was 20 years old,” Nyang said. “When English is not your first language, the idea of traveling to a foreign world where the culture is different is daunting. The barrier that it can put on you is hard. I love that this work highlights what it is like to find joy, hope, and tackle your fears on a new journey.”
Nyang’s focus for the performance is a piece called “Kaj.”
“I love it because the melody feels like a lullaby,” Nyang said. “The first time I listened to it, I felt like I had heard it before. I think that nostalgia is what makes this piece captivating. While the words that Kaj is saying to himself are sad, they are twinged with the idea of strength and self-assurance that he is ready for this journey.”
Regensburger hopes the students will grow as musicians, performers, and people because of their involvement in the work. She hopes to train them in intentional study of their musical texts, helping them transition from playing a role to feeling genuine empathy and connection.
“As a singer, your job is a communicator and an interpreter,” Regensburger said. “Every song is built on the genius of a composer, the genius of a poet or librettist. (The singer) is being given the privilege to present these stories and present the voices of these other geniuses that have put this music into the world.”
“This project has helped me to take a step back and really remember and cherish that we all come from different walks of life and can offer new life and perspective to our world because of it,” Nyang said.
Nyang encourages everyone to attend the concert and experience the pieces.
“I think all people would benefit from this performance, but especially first-generation Americans,” Nyang said. “It is so powerful to feel acknowledged and understood that this world is hard but that our different perspectives and upbringings contribute so much to life.”
“Vignettes: Ellis Island” will be presented on Thursday, March 20, at 6 p.m. in Huntington Recital Hall at Capital’s Conservatory of Music. The event is free and open to all.