Several days after the November 20th premiere, the Purchase of Manhattan still reverberates within Indian Country. Check out this latest review from Indian Country Today, "Purchase of Manhattan: Opera Tells History of Lenape and Dutch" including a couple clips from the concert opera! 

"...The concert opera shows the differences between how the Indians and the Dutch saw the land. 'My mother’s bones rest in this mound,' sings Stephen Powell, the baritone who represented the Lenape people. 'I see handsome profits from this ground!' sings John Bellemer, Wampanoag, the tenor who plays Minuit...

'What did we bring to purchase this island?' Minuit asks. 'Many strings of beads, which they greatly prize. They sweat to make the beads, but we make them so easily,' replies the Dutch chorus. 'Sixty guilders worth of trinkets,' suggests Minuit. The opera makes it clear that the Indians thought the Dutch were offering their friendship, and that they had no idea what Minuit was trying to get them to sign, or why?..." (Leann Root, ICT, Nov 26, 2014)

Read the full review HERE!

"...The truly extraordinary singing of the evening came from a personified Spirit of the Land, an earth-mother figure, performed by Alexandra Loutsion. She filled the enormous room with gorgeous earth-mother sound, so deep and resonant that I thought her a contralto, then high (though the role is not writtenvery high), flowering without a break or a seam... 

Not only is the voice beautifully colored and deeply moving, her words were so clear one did not need to consult the libretto, her consonants lashed with anger or molten with emotion...

Two small choruses, including members of eight Indian tribes, contributed a less European-sounding, more folk-ways, puzzled but peaceable crowd of Lenapes and eight greedy, hymn-singing Dutchmen, whose scrappy energy enlivened things considerably. The small orchestra, rather wind-heavy and string-light, was led with graceful enthusiasm by Sara John, and featured the plaintive, breathy sound of a native flute played by the purple-coated composer himself.

Davids’ music is what one might describe as tonal with benefits—the choral songs, in particular, reminded me of Benjamin Britten’s operas. Twisting harp and marimba, oboe and flute effects mimicked the birdsong of this forested scene and the breezes ruffling the trees (“valuable timber!” think the Dutch), twining into layers of not-quite-traditional string melodies..." (John Yohalem. Parterre Box; he’ll take manhattan. Nov 23, 2014).

READ MORE HERE!

James Barron has written a great article in today's New York Times! Here's a sample but please check out the entire article! Tickets are still on sale for this one night only world premiere!

"...Mr. Bellemer said that idea came through clearly. 'The baritone' — Stephen Powell, in the role of a Lenape — 'is singing these beautiful lines about hearing the music and the leaves and his mother’s bones being in the ground,' Mr. Bellemer said. 'The juxtaposition is brilliant. It’s the beginning of how these communications between these two peoples are passing ships in the night. They just don’t get each other at all...' (New York Times, Nov 19, 2014; p. A23).

The new concert opera Purchase of Manhattan made the Huffington Post  yesterday! 

"...While some dispute the exact price, a new opera entitled "Purchase of Manhattan" explores this little-known history, hitting the stage for one night on November 20 at New York's Marble Collegiate Church... 

Joe Baker, co-founder and Executive Director of the Lenape Center, said he recognized an important role the opera could play in promoting and perpetuating Lenape culture through the arts. 

'I feel so strongly that the appropriate platform for the telling of this complicated and at times conflicted history [of the Lenape people] is the arts,' Baker told HuffPost. 'When we had the opportunity to work with Brent Michael Davids to create an original work that spoke to this moment in history [...] we felt that we were fulfilling our mission'..." 

Read more HERE!

Purchase of Manhattan is on the Mommy Poppins calendar! "Written by local parents who love to seek out the coolest, off-the-beaten-track things to do with kids, Mommy Poppins shares activities that aren't just pleasant time passers, but promise enriching experiences for your family."

Check it out! 

"The groundbreaking opera tells the untold story of how the early Dutch settlers of what was then New Netherland unjustly “purchased” the island of Manhattan from the Lenape people, supposedly for 60 guilders or the modern equivalent of $24. From the perspective of the Lenape, whose culture did not operate on the concept of land ownership, the opera explores the myth of the island’s sale" (Mommy Poppins).

Purchase of Manhattan is featured in two great articles today, one in Epoch Times ("Debunking the Myth of the Manhattan Purchase" by Arleen Richards) and another in the Our Time Press ("Lenape's Griot Voices: Of Truth They Sing" by Bernice Elizabeth Green). Check out these two great features, that give part of the back story on the formation of Lenape Center and how the new concert opera came about!

"...The concert opera is the first step in the Lenape Center’s goal toward 'creating a better world for generations to come.' A common understanding for Native Americans is to take actions that will benefit their people for seven generations to come, emphasizing long-term goals that will ultimately benefit their grandchildren..." (Epoch Times).

"...In a sense, 'Purchase of Manhattan' is responding to Lenape ancestral calls for justice echoing through time–from the Marble congregation’s reaction to the price of the ticket at $24, which benefits the establishment of the 'bricks and mortar' Lenape Cultural Center in Manhattan where, Mr. [Joe] Baker says, 'young Lenape people can come to their ancestral homeland. Such a point of reference does not exist now. Now, these many years later, we are back in contact again. As Lenape people, we look beyond boundaries as a way to envision and secure our relevance in a changing world. I have always felt we can best understand our present realities if we understand our history.' So from this production, a new Lenape village center will grow on Manhattan island. 'And that return to our ancestral island takes shape in the form of this platform, this center, for the Lenape today,' Baker said..." (Our Time Press, p6).

It was 2008 when Joe Baker (Delaware Tribe of Indians) and Hadrien Coumans developed the concept for what is today Lenape Center. However, the idea was a long time coming, guided by the influential Lenape people who planted the seeds. Three important individuals for Joe Baker and Hadrien Coumans were Nora Thompson Dean, Jim Rementer and Jim Revey.

As Joe Baker recollects,

“In the early 1970s tribal member, Nora Thompson Dean, broke the silence of 400 years of separation by a series of unprecedented trips East to our ancestral lands. A native speaker,  she visited museums, universities and participated in various symposiums contributing immensely to the scholarship of Lenape cultural practice. An imposing native woman who still held the medicine of plants and the voices and songs of the animals, I was inspired by her bold actions and creativity. She stirred within me the curiosity to know more about the world extending far beyond Oklahoma. It is her spirit that has guided the formation of Lenape Center as we dream and shape our future in the greater Manhattan area.” 

Jim Rementer is project director for the Talking Lenape Project, and the tribally appointed Director of the Lenape Language Project. Rementer “began his study of the Lenape or Delaware language in the summer of 1961. He returned the following summer and resumed his study with James H. Thompson, one of the oldest tribal members. After Mr. Thompson’s death in 1964, Jim continued his study primarily with Nora Thompson Dean, daughter of James Thompson. Jim continued his studies with other speakers, and in 1997 the Delaware Tribe appointed him director of the Lenape Language Project” (Lenape Talking Dictionary).

And looking back, Hadrien Coumans reminisces about Jim Revey,

“I visited with Jim in my youth, privileged to be able to share many conversations in his office. Revey was Sand Hill Lenape from New Jersey and head of New Jersey Indian Office. Nora would meet with him on the historic trips back east. I knew him growing up and through College."

James L.B. Revey, a Delaware Lenape, "was the chairman of the New Jersey Indian Office for the Delaware Lenape Nation in Orange for more than 24 years. Mr. Revey also was the designated state representative and spokesman for the federally-recognized Delaware tribe. He was a genealogical consultant, researcher, author and lecturer on the Delaware Lenape Tribe, New Jersey's first settlers. Mr. Revey gave presentations about his heritage to state universities, museums and other educational and historical institutions throughout New Jersey” (Star-Ledger, Sep 15, 98, Newark, NJ).

By 2009, those early seeds germinated into the Lenape Center, whose mission is to continue the cultural presence in Manhattan by promoting Lenape language and the creation, development, distribution and exhibition of Lenape arts and culture. That year, Lenape Center engaged with Intersections International—a multi-faith, multi-cultural, global social justice initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York—to facilitate a reconciliation event in Manhattan called Healing Turtle Island. Many Lenape people participated, with a look back at the history of Manhattan and an acknowledgement of the treatment of the Indians by the early colonists.

As a Mohican composer, I was invited to attend a formative meeting of the Lenape Center in 2010, where Joe Baker, Hadrien Coumans and Curtis Zunigha (Delaware Tribe of Indians) had the idea to sponsor an artistic work to benefit the mission of Lenape Center. The concept was proposed to commission a work from me, and when asked about this commission, I chuckled that we should do “the purchase of Manhattan!” I had just visited 1 Bowling Green in lower Manhattan, the Heye Foundation, that is now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) near Battery Park. Just south of the Museum entrance is a stone obelisk featuring a carving of an Indian man sharing some wampum with a Dutchman, with the inscription underneath “Purchase of Manhattan.” It’s why the notion for a new musical theater work popped into my head when asked. But what first started as a passing thought, next became an impactful suggestion, and finally a significant concrete plan.

After much fundraising on my part, I secured enough support to compose the work, together with Joseph Bruchac on the libretto. Many organizations and individuals have contributed to the works’ formation. Neva Pilgrim, Society for New Music, played an instrumental part in producing the first performance of the shorter 38-minute work (and significantly on the new version as well)! With her highly successful organization, Purchase of Manhattan took to it’s wings! With our deep appreciation, the new 52-minute concert opera—premiering a week from now in Manhattan—owes much to Intersections International, the Collegiate Churches of New York, and to the Society of New Music and Neva Pilgrim! Thank you all!

The world premiere of the new concert opera, Purchase of Manhattan, is the first large performance production of Lenape Center, and is designed to put our best foot forward toward Lenape Center’s mission into the future. I am incredibly privileged and proud to contribute to the Center’s mission, and I invite all of you—wherever you live—to join us in this vital endeavor “to continue the cultural presence in Manhattan by promoting Lenape language and the creation, development, distribution and exhibition of Lenape arts and culture.” The seeds were planted long ago by many Lenapes including Nora Thompson Dean, Jim Rementer and Jim Revey. And today, Joe Baker, Hadrien Coumans, and Curtis Zunigha of Lenape Center are nurturing the growing tree! 

Please come see the world premiere of the new concert opera Purchase of Manhattan on November 20, 7 PM, at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. It’s going to be an exciting one-night-only, one-of-a-kind evening! Please join us!

Posted today, the new concert opera Purchase of Manhattan was featured in Time Out New York! "See a performance that won't cost you the price of an island—tickets are just $24!" www.purchaseofmanhattan.eventbrite.com