Lakota Music Project
Phase III: 2017-2019
While Phases I and II introduced the Lakota Music Project to communities across South Dakota, Phase III focused on building deeper, longer-lasting relationships through education and cross-cultural activities.
Sisseton became a key partner because of the enthusiasm, commitment, and leadership the community had shown throughout the project’s earlier phases. Together with Black Hills State University, Sisseton also became home to the Music Composition Academies established in 2017.
Phase III introduced a new Lakota Music Project concert program, premiered in Sioux Falls in March 2019, as well as a chamber ensemble program that traveled to Washington, D.C., later that year. The first time the Lakota Music Project ever performance outside of South Dakota.
The three initiatives of Phase III include:
1. The Lakota Music Project Chamber Ensemble
In October 2019, the Lakota Music Project brought a newly created chamber music program to Washington, D.C. The ensemble included nine SDSO musicians and two Native American Music Award-winning artists: Emmanuel Black Bear and Dakota cedar flutist Bryan Akipa.
The program featured chamber arrangements of music created for the Lakota Music Project by Jeffrey Paul and Bryan Akipa. The performances also invited audiences into conversations about classical music inspired, created, and performed by Native American artists.
Ronnie Theisz, professor emeritus of American Indian Studies at Black Hills State University, and Lakota elder Chris Eagle Hawk joined the musicians as storytellers. Led by Music Director Delta David Gier, the ensemble served as musical ambassadors for the Lakota Music Project and the state of South Dakota.
Performances took place at Washington National Cathedral as part of PostClassical Ensemble’s Native American Festival: From Spillville to Pine Ridge and at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
2. Music Composition Academy
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw), then the SDSO’s composer-in-residence, created the Music Composition Academy in 2017. Composer-in-residence Ted Wiprud continued the program in 2018 and 2019.
The weeklong summer academies were held in two locations: Sisseton in eastern South Dakota and Black Hills State University in western South Dakota. During each academy, students worked individually and as a group with a team of three composer-mentors. Each student created an original piece for either string quartet or woodwind quintet.
After the academy, SDSO musicians rehearsed the new works with the student composers and performed them for audiences in Sisseton, Rapid City, Pine Ridge, and Sioux Falls. The academies gave young composers the rare opportunity to hear their own music brought to life by professional musicians.
3. A new program exploring leadership and mentorship
Phase III also introduced a new collaborative concert centered on leadership and the influence of elders and mentors in Lakota, Dakota, and broader American cultures. The program premiered at the Multi-Cultural Center in Sioux Falls in March 2019.
At its center was the chamber orchestra version of Waktégli Olówaŋ (Victory Songs) by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. Originally premiered during Phase II, the song cycle honors five Lakota leaders and warriors: Red Cloud, Gall, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Two Strike.
The SDSO developed the program in close collaboration with Lakota music scholar Ronnie Theisz and Pine Ridge tribal elder Chris Eagle Hawk. The performance featured the Creekside Singers and baritone Stephen Bryant.