Film Festival Breakout Session: Music - SOLD OUT

TICKET PRICES
SOLD OUT

Saturday, February 11 / 11:45 am

The Music of Ken Burns SOLD OUT

Music by Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and Jacqueline Schwab has been essential to more than a dozen of Ken Burns’ documentaries. Jay's composition “Ashokan Farewell,” and Jacqueline’s piano playing are hallmarks of the Grammy Award winning soundtrack for The Civil War series. We will hear the musicians describe and demonstrate working with Ken to adapt and interpret historic melodies to dig deeper into the “emotional archaeology” of our history and its meaning for today. 

Speakers: Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Jacqueline Schwab; Moderator: Jake Boritt

Musical performances by Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and Jacqueline Schwab have been been a essential ingredients of numerous Ken Burns film soundtracks since the 1980s. Most notably, Jay's composition “Ashokan Farewell,” and Jacqueline Schwab’s lyrical and evocative piano playing were hallmarks of the Grammy Award winning soundtrack album of Ken’s groundbreaking series The Civil War.

The emotional power of "Ashokan Farewell" and the historic music that Jay, Molly, Jacqueline, and friends performed for the film, opened the ears of America to a rich musical heritage that had long been forgotten. This resulted in new opportunities them to record and compose, and to perform at venues like Wolftrap, Tanglewood, major historic sites, the White House and more.

But more importantly, through their work with Ken all three came to better understand their own artistic potential and more deeply explore the music they love, and its meaning and message for today.

During their breakout session Jay, Molly and Jacqueline will describe and demonstrate how they worked with Ken in the studio to adapt and interpret historic melodies to express the deep emotions of the Civil War era. They’ll go on to talk about and perform music inspired by their ongoing collaboration with Ken, much of which speaks to issues of crucial importance today. Musical performances by Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and Jacqueline Schwab have been been a essential ingredients of numerous Ken Burns film soundtracks since the 1980s. Most notably, Jay's composition “Ashokan Farewell,” and Jacqueline Schwab’s lyrical and evocative piano playing were hallmarks of the Grammy Award winning soundtrack album of Ken’s groundbreaking series The Civil War.

All speakers and topics subject to change.

Will Call opens Feb. 6 at 3 pm. Find more Film Festival FAQ here.

Platinum Sponsors
Ken & Elizabeth Lundeen

Gold Sponsors
David & Pauline LeVan
Monica E. Oss & J. Jay Mackie
Dave & Cynthia Salisbury

Silver Sponsors
The Union Hotel
The Vesta Fund

Hospitality Sponsor:
Gettysburg Hotel

Media Sponsor

Ticket reservations are required for this session and are not available online. Call (717) 337-8200 or visit 25 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg, PA to reserve your tickets. Use the form available here to plan your festival reservation. Advanced reservation strongly recommended. Please click here for a timeline version of the schedule.