MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A symphony inspired by the 9-11 terror attack on New York will be featured in a performance by the Middle Tennessee State Wind Ensemble.
Composer Mohammed Fairouz is the Composer in Residence for the MTSU Wind Band Conference being held on the MTSU campus this week. Fairouz says he wanted his piece In the Shadown of No Towers to be “in some way a reflection of our post 9-11 world.”
Fairouz says that - in his opinion - the wars fought since 2001, and the way politicians appropriated the tragedy for their own ends, caused the nation to lose sight of what’s important.
“How we’ve sort of lost focus, lost track of the people; the children who lost parents or the parents who lost children…just the human element. I think it’s the role of the artists to remind people of the human element.”
Fairouz based his symphony on a comic book by Art Spiegelman also entitled In the Shadow of No Tower.
“I engaged in the comic book because I thought to myself, ‘If I’m working with a very distinctly American medium such as the Wind Ensemble, I could also engage another distinctly American medium which is the comic book.’”
The symphony will be featured Friday night during the MTSU Wind Ensemble concert in the Hinton Recital Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus beginning at 8 p.m.