Music Institute of Chicago

Learn about the Chinese role in the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and how Eastern tradition influenced culture on the West Coast.

4pm » Interview/Discussion

Guest Speaker: David Haward Bain, award-winning author of "Empire Express" and "The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West"

5pm » Concert

19th century railroad songs from California

Chinese Opera (selections)

Jon Jang: Island Immigrant Suite No. 2

6:30pm » Film Screening*

"Transcontinental Railroad"

Part of the acclaimed American Experience series, this film documents a remarkable story of greed, innovation, and determination that reveals why the railroad was built and how it shaped the nation.

 

4pm » Interview/Discussion

Rick Kogan follows the trail of westward expansion with special guest speaker Michael P. Conzen, Professor of Geography at the University of Chicago and author of "The Making of the American Landscape" and "Mapping Manifest Destiny: Chicago and the American West." Discover the role maps played in imagining the West as a land of promise and how they drove a nation to expand across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.

5pm » Concert

Western Swing with special guest artists:
Howard Levy, harmonica
Don Stiernberg, mandolin
Andy Brown, guitar
Jim Cox, bass

Louis Moreau Gottschalk: "The Banjo"
Matthew Hagle, piano

Songs influenced by the West
Wendy Morgan, vocals
Dean Rolando, piano

Aaron Copland: "Appalachian Spring" for 13 instruments
James Setapen, conductor

6:30pm » Film Screening

"The West: Empire Upon the Trails"

Episode Two of director Stephen Ives' ambitious documentary chronicles the many migrations that forged America's manifest destiny in the expanding frontier.

 

Rick Kogan engages guest speaker John Low in a discussion about the cultural impact of this incredible journey. The event also features Native American Dance and Drumming, music by Glass and Farwell, and a special exhibit by Chicago Tribune photographer, Chris Walker.

4pm » Interview/Discussion

Guest Speaker: John Low
Visiting Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies,
University if Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3-8pm » Special Exhibit

"On the Trail of Lewis and Clark"
Photographs by Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

5pm » Concert

Native American Dance & Drumming
*Made possible by the American Indian Center of Chicago

Philip Glass: "Sacagawea" from Piano Concerto No. 2 "After Lewis and Clark" Meret Fon-Revutzy, Native American Flute
Fiona Queen, piano, James Setapen, conductor

Arthur Farwell: "Navajo War Dance No. 2 "
Kay Kim, piano

6:30pm » Special Film Screening*

"Summer Sun Winter Moon"

Shred the pages of textbook history! Follow composer Rob Kapilow and Blackfoot poet, Darrell Robes Kipp as they create a symphony exposing the reality of the American Indian perspective of Lewis and Clark's legendary "Corps of Discovery" mission.

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*Made possible by Illume Productions