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“Wakonda’s Dream” composer Anthony Davis will speak about the opera and perform on the piano on Thursday at noon in the Durham Outpatient Center West Atrium. |
Dancers from the American Indian Dance Theatre, who are featured in the opera, will perform on Tuesday. On Thursday, Davis will speak about the opera, which UNMC is sponsoring, and perform on the piano. Both performances will be held in the Durham Outpatient Center West Atrium.
The performances are part of a series of events related to the world premiere of “Wakonda’s Dream,” which will take place on Wednesday at the Orpheum Theater.
“It will be wonderful to have these world-class talents perform right here on campus,” said Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance Don Leuenberger, who helped with the medical center’s sponsorship of the opera. “I whole-heartedly encourage everyone to take some time to attend these events.”
Davis, professor of music at the University of California at San Diego, also composed music for “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” “Tanya” and “Amistad.”
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Members of the American Indian Dance Theatre will perform on Tuesday at noon in the Durham Outpatient Center West Atrium. |
“Wakonda’s Dream,” which will run Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at the Orpheum, focuses on a modern-day American Indian family and how they were affected physically, emotionally and spiritually by events that occurred in Nebraska in late 1800s concerning the legendary American Indian figure, Chief Standing Bear.
Standing Bear was detained along with 13 fellow members of his tribe for coming back to Nebraska in 1877 after being sent to Oklahoma’s “Indian Territory.” Standing Bear’s detainment was later deemed unlawful by a federal judge, who ruled that “Indians are human beings under the law” and entitled to all human rights. The case was a landmark moment for American Indian civil rights.