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Composer Kurt Erickson spent three days in the Syracuse University archives in Bird Library, pouring over personal letters, papers and other memorabilia of the victims of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack. Inspired by their stories, Erickson worked with poet Brian Turner to compose a musical piece commemorating the disaster.

“(Doing the research) changed me as a person,” Erickson said. “You find yourself mourning the loss. To write a piece that comes from this personal connection makes it a thousand times more authentic and you find yourself a thousand times more invested.”

The pair’s commissioned piece, “Each Moment Radiant,” premiered Sunday as part of the Malmgren Concert Series at SU’s Hendricks Chapel. The concert marks the beginning of Syracuse’s annual Remembrance Week, honoring the 36th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103, a flight bringing 35 Syracuse University students home from study abroad, along with other passengers.

Erickson said he’s always looking for compelling stories to inspire his music. After his research in the archives, he traveled to Lockerbie, Scotland, where the plane crashed, to speak with the townspeople affected.

“It reinforced my already strong connection and made the story a lot more personal,” he said.

Sunday’s program began with a performance of Erickson and Turner’s previous collaboration, “Here, Bullet,” followed by Johannes Brahms’s Piano Trio No. 3. “Each Moment Radiant” closed the evening. Faculty from the Setnor School of Music and accompanying guest musicians performed the pieces together.

Anne Laver, a Setnor professor and SU’s organist, serves as artistic director for the Malmgren Concert Series. She was involved in choosing the performance pieces in the concert series.

“It felt like a natural fit for the Chapel and certainly for the start of Remembrance Week,” Laver said. “This is a nice way to see how creativity and beauty can come out of even a terrible tragedy.”

The music has a cyclical structure that’s meant to mimic the literal seasons that have passed since the tragedy and the subsequent stages of grief, Erickson said. The pacing of the first two measures represents the time when the bomb went off and how long it took for the plane to fall. The words were written as poems by Turner that Erickson then set to music.

Stella Bellman | Contributing Photographer

Mezzo-sopranos Katie Weber and Setnor professor Kathleen Roland-Silverstein sing parts of the piece “Each Moment Radiant,” in Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel. The work honors the 35 students who died in the Pan Am Flight attack.

“It’s nearly impossible to write about and to create art about. It’s a very daunting thing,” Turner said. “But we’re left with silence otherwise. In processing and meditating and thinking through these things, we can find ways to live with the world and to carry the past.”

The piece begins with a long instrumental introduction titled “Care Falls Like Rain,” which slowly eases the audience into the song and subject matter, Erickson said. Individual vignettes of both song and spoken word follow to form the story before its conclusion with a reprise of the same score. The singers were able to improvise musical elements at certain points in the song to make each performance unique.

Erickson said it was important that the concert didn’t feel overwhelmingly dark and heavy. Instead of reliving the bombing, Erickson wanted to communicate to the audience that life is precious and beautiful even amidst tragedy. Baritone singer Joel Balzun said the piece achieved this goal.

“There’s an element of light, a resilience in the way that (Erickson) has structured the music that makes it easier to sing and engage with in a meaningful way,” Balzun said.

During “Colin,” a vignette within the piece, mezzo-sopranos Katie Weber and Setnor professor Kathleen Roland-Silverstein read the names of the 35 victims who were SU students from the sanctuary’s balcony.

Annie Spank, a first-year master’s student in Setnor, said she was particularly touched by this part of the performance. She said it emphasized the gravity of the event and humanized the victims.

For its debut performance, Turner hoped the audience would feel connected to the concert’s message and theme. Attendees were receptive to the music and gave a standing ovation.

“Each person will have their signature connection to it,” Turner said. “I want people to explore love and loss in ways that can help us move forward.”

Published on October 20, 2024 at 10:05 pm

ehrosen@syr.edu