The Score | The Sound of Peace

Music has long been an instrument for promoting peace, and this spring the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra honored that idea with a commission celebrating some of the most revered peacekeepers of our time. On April 15, the orchestra gave the world premiere of Peacekeepers by James Aikman, ICO’s first composer in residence and an Indianapolis native. The multimedia work recognizes nine global peacemakers from the 20th century: Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Yitzhak Rabin, Anwar Sadat, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jimmy Carter. Music Director Matthew Kraemer led the concert, which featured area ensembles including the Indianapolis Children’s Choir and Encore Performing Arts as well as soloists. Mike Halerz’s accompanying video (in photo) incorporated footage of Robert Kennedy’s remarks in Indianapolis on the evening of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.