True Concord celebrates D-M with Tucson Song Fest finale

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base turns 100 this year, and True Concord Voices & Orchestra wants to throw the base a party.

Not a big-bang fireworks kinda shindig; that will come later in March when the base hosts its annual “Thunder & Lightning Over Arizona” air show March 22-23.

True Concord’s “The Tucson Spirit, The Love of Flight: An All-American Program” is centered on Marc Blitzstein’s post-World War II musical homage to the evolution of flight and its role in warfare.

The two-time Grammy-nominated ensemble is performing the world premiere of a revised version of Blitzstein’s Airborne Symphony that trims the hourlong piece in half. The concert closes out the winter leg of the 2025 Tucson Desert Song Festival.

True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan said they worked on the revisions with the Kurt Weill Foundation, which owns the rights and licenses to Blitzstein’s intellectual property. The changes mostly involved removing references to World War II battles, Hitler and other enemies of that era.

“We focused on the parts of the piece that celebrate the miracle of flight and airplanes in general and man’s fascination with flight,” Holtan said, explaining that some of the original references might not resonate with today’s listeners.

Blitzstein, a World War II veteran, composed Airborne Symphony for narrator, voices and large orchestra on commission from the Army Air Force, predecessor to today’s U.S. Air Force. The work is divided into three parts, with a narrator reading the texts and the choir and soloists singing the recitative and ballad.

The work premiered in April 1946 to a warm public reception but has rarely been performed since. Leonard Bernstein made two recordings, with the New York City Symphony Orchestra and Robert Shaw narrating in 1946 and, 20 years later, with the New York Philharmonic and Orson Welles narrating.

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Bruce Chamberlain, who headed the University of Arizona choral activities for 41 years and was the founding Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus director, is narrating for True Concord.

“It was kind of a cool idea to have a revered (local) choral master be the narrator,” said Holtan, a former graduate student of Chamberlain at the UA.

“Tucson Spirit” includes Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” which quotes Abraham Lincoln’s famous speeches, and Randall Thompson’s “The Testament of Freedom,” which references Thomas Jefferson’s writings on freedom and liberty. Tucson classical music radio personality James Reel will narrate the Copland.

“The message is timely as we anticipate the 250th anniversary of 1776 coming up next year,” Holtan said. “These words of Lincoln about the importance of democracy and freedom and Jefferson’s words on the testament of freedom that speak out against tyranny and despotism, I think those are messages that are timely at any time.”

The concert features True Concord’s basses and tenors and guest soloists tenor Hugo Vera and bass/tenor Bernardo Bermudez. Both are veterans of the Tucson Desert Song Festival.

Performances are at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino Del Sol in Green Valley; and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 1, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 2, at Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive. Tickets are $23.50-$63.50 through trueconcord.org.

Photos: 2023 Thunder & Lightning Over Arizona Air Show preview day