Every Day is Thanksgiving

Program Notes As part of an ongoing artistic collaboration between the conductor Hingrid Kujawinski and composer Edgar Girtain, Every Day isThanksgiving is a choral adaptation of a quotation by Gladys Widdis, elder of theWampanoag Native American tribe. As the Wampanoag are reputed to have been the tribe present at the first thanksgiving feast, Widdis's thoughts on the holiday are particularly apt. Her words of wisdom are worthy of meditation by all people: "Every day [is] a day of thanksgiving to the Wampanoag...[We] give thanks for the dawn of the new day, at the end of the day, to the sun, to the moon, for rain for helping crops grow...There [is] always something to be thanksful for...Giving thanks comes naturally for the Wampanoag..." About the Composer Edgar F Girtain IV is an American composer who work has been hailed as "immediatley captivating" by the NewYork Times. A commanding poly-stylist, his orchestral, chamber, and vocal work has garnered acclaim for its poetic temperment and dramatic scope, with recent performances at the Imperial College in London, the Conservatories of Helsinki and Seville, Northwestern University, and Carnegie Hall. A native of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, he currently lives and teaches in Puerto Montt, Chile. His scores are available for purchase on JW Pepper, Sheet Music Plus, and through his website, www.EdgarFGirtainIV.com