CASPER, Wyo. — A little over two years ago, Stephanie Ann Boyd was in a car between Cody and Casper when she looked in the side mirror.
There was a full moon on the horizon just after sunset, with a dark blue sky above and the snow-spotted high desert landscape below.
“I took so many photographs,” she recalls. “Of course, nothing came nearly close to the beauty that I was seeing with my own eyes.”
As soon as she got back to Casper, she immediately started writing music, what she describes as “painting” with sound. They were the first strokes in what would become a full, four-movement symphony written specifically for the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, titled Julia Louisa Esther.
Boyd, an American composer who is currently splitting her time between New York and Germany, was asked by WSO music director Christopher Dragon in 2019 to compose a piece to celebrate the 150th anniversary of women earning the right to vote in Wyoming. That December, the WSO brought her to the state for research, where she spent a week meeting people, learning the state’s history and experiencing its places.
“I am really grateful to the Wyoming Symphony for bringing me out there, because in our day and age, there’s not much money that gets earmarked for contemporary new pieces,” she said. “It was a real special thing.”
Boyd, who describes herself as a “melodist,” went back to New York to finish the piece in time for its scheduled premier with the WSO in March 2020.
As fate would have it, that Wyoming trip would be her last one for months. While making her final edits on the piece, New York and other large cities were shutting down as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread, eventually making its way through the country and world. “Those memories have been fresh in my mind because there’s been no new business to write over them,” she said.
Boyd finally returned to Wyoming this week in preparation for the long-awaited premiere of her symphony, which clocks in at around 25 minutes, making it a rare example of a new full symphony.
“Usually, composers don’t write this much these days, because there’s not enough time,” she said, “and orchestras usually don’t spend time rehearsing much contemporary classical music on a program.”
Capturing Wyoming in four movements
Each movement of Boyd’s Julia Louisa Esther symphony draws on her experience and research here, and aims to capture the state’s history and future in music.
It starts off “loud, exciting and super rhythmic,” said Boyd. “I wanted to capture the frenetic energy of settlers and cowboys, and this incredible optimism of moving to a place when you don’t know what it looks like.”
“I was taken by the absolute courage of the people, particularly the women deciding to make that change in their lives.”
The second movement is what she calls the “love song,” and draws on her trip to Cody and the ride back. Boyd says it also references the Native American population that thrived before the settlers, and their history after the population changed. Boyd says she was overcome with emotion while making final adjustments and listening to a computer rendering of the orchestration.
The third movement specifically reflects the suffrage movement and social evolution, drawing on her conversations with local historians. “I want you to really hear how political change happens at the dining room table,” she said, “so the third movement is like a conversation. You’ll hear melodies going from one part of the orchestra to another.”
Boyd says the fourth and final movement is “a huge anthem.”
“The final movement is an anthem to the justice that Wyoming gave its women, the justice that inspired other states to follow suit, in this most necessary the most basic of human freedoms, an action that prompted Susan B. Anthony to declare that, ‘Wyoming is the first place on God’s green earth which could consistently claim to be the land of the free.'”
“Landmark Piece” for the WSO
Other smaller pieces have been written for the orchestra over its history, said WSO’s executive director Rachel Bailey. However, Julia Louisa Esther is its first “full-scale” piece that also intends to be tied into the state’s history.
In spite of the local significance, there is no additional preparation time for the WSO’s players leading up to the premiere.
“I think it is a little bit more challenging, because there are no auditory examples of what it might sound like out there,” said Bailey. “Typically, when we play pieces, there’s a lot of different orchestras that have played it, so they can kind of hear how other orchestras have put the piece. So this is different.”
Since the piece was written specifically for the WSO, Boyd was able to tailor the sound to the orchestra’s specific strengths. She’s also sitting in during rehearsals this week, making any needed adjustments with director Christopher Dragon.
“The musicians are really excited about it,” said Bailey. “They know that this is a big moment for the symphony.”
The WSO doesn’t want that moment to be lost. Using grant money from the Wyoming Humanities Council, the WSO has hired a professional video production crew out of Boise, Idaho, that will use four cameras to record the premiere on Saturday night. High quality multi-miked audio has also been arranged. The professional production will be both recorded and livestreamed for free, said Bailey. In addition, a documentary on the project — as well as the full performance — will be broadcast by Wyoming PBS later this year.
A complicated history
While the Julia Louisa Esther celebrates Wyoming’s history, its complicated legacy is not lost on Bailey or Boyd.
This year, Wyoming politicians have focused on reproductive rights, addiction problems, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation all aimed at women or transgender people. There is also the historic mistreatment of the Native American population.
“Wyoming has had a lot of firsts, but we haven’t had a lot of seconds when talking about women,” said Bailey.
These issues will be explored during a free panel discussion on Wednesday evening at the Ramkota Hotel and Conference Center. The panel includes Boyd, director of the Wyoming Women’s Foundation Rebekah Smith, and Casper College History Instructor Tanis Lovercheck-Saunders, and will discuss sociopolitical challenges facing the state. It will also be streamed live.
Bailey says the discussion is designed to contextualize the music and “enrich that experience” of the performance on Saturday.
Optimism
Boyd often compares her compositions to paintings. They’re made to be enjoyed, but also to raise questions.
“My job as a composer is not to paint the Royal Portrait, but to paint a portrait with just enough emotion and truth that gets us asking these questions,” she said.
Boyd says she ended the piece with melodies describing the landscape of Wyoming, “nature itself,” which she feels gives an optimistic viewpoint.
“I didn’t let the men win or the women win; I wanted to bring it back to the Earth itself,” she said. “It’s sort of subliminal in a way: At the end of the day we should be kind to everybody on God’s green Earth.”
The Suffragette Symphony panel discussion is Wednesday, March 9 at the Ramkota, with a happy hour starting at 5:15 p.m., and is free of charge.
The premier of the Boyd’s “Julia Louisa Esther“ is Saturday, March 12 at the John F. Welsh Auditorium. Doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 7:30. An access code for the free livestream is available here.
