David Gaines (born October 20, 1961) is an American composer.

Biography

He wrote the first orchestral symphony to incorporate texts written in

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

, and an Esperanto choral song, ''Povas Plori Mi Ne Plu'' ("I Can Cry No Longer"), which concerns the former military situation in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

. This song won First Prize at the 1995

World Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 th ...

's ''Belartaj Konkursoj'' (competitions in the field of ''Belles lettres'') in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

. Gaines holds degrees in music composition from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

, American University, and

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

Peabody Conservatory of Music The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869), ...

. His Esperanto symphony, available as a CD with Vit Micka conducting and Kimball Wheeler singing mezzo-soprano, was premiered by the Moravian Philharmonic in

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on th ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

in October 2000. The four movements feature texts originally written by renowned

Esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperan ...

s including

L. L. Zamenhof L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof first dev ...

and Marjorie Boulton, as well as Bulgarian poet Penka Papazova and Gaines himself.
Nia unua simfonia "La Esperanta"
', 20 November 2000,
Our new symphony 'La Esperanta'.
Accessed 4 October 2019. Within the

Esperanto movement The Esperanto movement, less commonly referred to as Esperantism ( eo, Esperantismo), is a movement to disseminate the use of the planned international language Esperanto.See the definition in theDeklaracio pri la Esenco de la Esperantismo ("Bu ...

, Gaines serves as an advisory board member of the

Esperantic Studies Foundation The Esperantic Studies Foundation, abbreviated ESF is a non-profit organisation initiated in 1968 by Jonathan Pool, E. James Lieberman and Humphrey Tonkin, with the aim to further the understanding and practice of linguistic justice in a multicult ...

and holds the title of Honorary President of the Music Esperanto League (''Muzika Esperanto-Ligo'').

References

External links

Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaines, David 1961 births Living people American composers Esperanto-language singers American Esperantists