Columbus Alive wrote a feature article on the new "Shawnee, Ohio" project. The piece will be premiered at the Wexner Center for the Arts this fall, and received support from Creative Capital and the National Endowment for the Arts. Here is an excerpt:
"Shawnee, Ohio, is being commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts, which recently was awarded a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to support creative residency artists. Harnetty is one of three nationally acclaimed artists who are receiving support from the grant.
Charles Helm, director of performing arts at the Wexner Center, said he is excited for the premiere of the composition, scheduled for Oct. 28, 2016. 'It talks about issues like environment, Appalachian culture, the history of coal mining, organizing labor and fracking’s impact on population decline,' said Helm. 'He’s dealing with this material in a very profound and artistic way. That’s exactly the kind of project we want to embrace.'
The premiere will feature a live performance with Harnetty and a handful of other artists, along with an accompanying video. The album is scheduled to be released on the Dust-to-Digital recording label in September 2016.
'The Wexner Center for the Arts has a strong commitment to local artists, and I think that it’s pretty amazing for Columbus,' said Harnetty.
Harnetty quotes Wendell Berry, a Kentucky poet, activist and farmer who writes about agrarian and environmental issues.
'He said that he used to think that art was a refuge from all the troubles in the world, but he no longer thinks that way,” Harnetty said. “Art is his place and he lives in it. I took that pretty literally.'"
And, here is the full article:
http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2015/12/17/composer-brian-harnetty.html