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Native American composer Brent Michael Davids has composed a charming quartet about James Fenimore Cooper. Davids, who embraces indigenous themes and subjects in his music, considers Cooper’s ignorance of native culture in “The Last of the Mohicans” in this delightful work for string quartet, featuring members of your Albany Symphony. This event is featured as part of the Sanctuary for Independent Media’s Freedom Festival in collaboration with the American Music Festival.
Meet the Composer
Brent Michael Davids (Mohican/Munsee-Lenape) is an internationally celebrated composer, and a music warrior for Native equity and parity, especially in concert music where there is little Indigenous influence. Davids is co-director of the Lenape Center in Manhattan and is enrolled in the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. Davids places Native voices front and center. He co-founded the renowned Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP) with the Grand Canyon Music Festival, championing Indigenous youth to compose their own music.
He uses Indigenous instruments, including handmade quartz flutes, and pens performable notations that are themselves visual works of art.
His composer career spans nearly five decades, with myriad awards and commissions. In 2022, the Venice Biennale Musica featured the choral works of Davids, premiering a newly commissioned work. In 2015, the prestigious Indian Summer Festival awarded Davids its “Lifetime Achievement Award.” Davids holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music Composition from Northern Illinois University and Arizona State University respectively, trained at Redford’s Sundance Institute, and apprenticed with film composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love). He has garnered the Distinguished Alumni Awards from both of the universities he attended.
