Seattle Symphony Will Perform Composer Portrait of Chickasaw Composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

On Friday, June 12 at 7:00pm and 9:00pm, the Seattle Symphony will present a portrait concert of Chickasaw American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate. The intimate performances showcase Tate's chamber music works, with points of inspiration from Pacific Northwest tribes, and integrate nature photography, artwork, and narration. Audiences are invited to celebrate and consider the 250th anniversary of our nation through shared connection and unforgettable music. Pieces performed during this concert include Talowaʹ Hiloha (Thunder Song), Pisachi (Reveal), and MoonStrike. Additional performers include first violinists Emerson Millar and Jacqueline Audas, violist Ursula Steele, and cellist Katherine Audas.

Talowaʹ Hiloha (Thunder Song) explores the intersection of American Indian and classical musical cultures. "The Chickasaw word for thunder and lightning is Heloha, and, in history, Chickasaw people believed thunderstorms were the beloved, or holy people at war above the clouds," Tate says. "In an attempt to show their bravery and fearlessness of death, warriors would shoot their guns into the air during thunderstorms. This work is an homage to those old ways."

Pisachi (Reveal) is composed in six epitomes (sections) and was originally commissioned to be performed within a slide show exhibit for ETHEL's touring project entitled Documerica. For this project, Pisachi was assigned to accompany images of the American Indian Southwest. In doing so, the work draws specifically from Hopi and Pueblo Indian music, rhythms, and form. The opening viola solo is a paraphrase of a Pueblo Buffalo Dance and becomes material throughout the work. Later, the work refers to Hopi Buffalo Dance and Hopi Elk Dance music. The composer intends to honor his Southwest Indian cousins through classical repertoire. Pisachi is the Chickasaw word for reveal and is pronounced pee-sah-chee.

MoonStrike, composed in 2019 for Apollo Chamber Players, commemorates the 50th anniversary of The Apollo 11 moon landing and features American Indian stories with narration by Swil Kanim. "American Indian legends are very colorful and have a tendency to take twists and turns within the narrative," Tate says. "Regarding the Moon, it is very consistent that the traditional tales involve trickster characters and competitions for ownership of this precious object." MoonStrike involves three diverse American Indian legends, includes traditional songs and is bookended with an arrangement of a Calusa Corn Dance. For Southeast Indians, the Green Corn Dance took place during the annual fall Harvest Moon.

About Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a Chickasaw-American father, classical composer, and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. The Washington Post raved that "Tate is rare as an American Indian composer of classical music. Rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism." He is a 2022 Chickasaw Hall of Fame inductee and a 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient from The Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2021, he was appointed a Cultural Ambassador for the U. S. Department of State. In 2025, Tate won the Wise-Hinrichsen Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Among Tate's recent premieres, highlights include commissions from the New York Philharmonic - for which The New York Times praised Tate's "gifts for texture and color" - the American Composers Orchestra, Cantori NY, and Turtle Island Quartet. The Dover String Quartet commissioned Tate's new quartet, Woodland Songs, as well as a newly commissioned orchestration of Pura Fe's Rattle Songs, and continues to tour the works throughout the world. In fall 2024, Oklahoma's Canterbury Voices performed the world premiere of Tate's Loksi' Shaali' (Shell Shaker), the first opera written by an American Indian composer in their native language, and it was reprised at Mount Holyoke University in spring 2025 under the baton of TianHui Ng. PostClassical Ensemble presented an all-American Indian program curated by Tate at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and his popular work Chokfi' has been programmed by symphonies across the country. His American Indian Symphony was performed at the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in April 2025.

Tate has recently been commissioned by Roomful of Teeth, violinist Irina Muresanu, Skaneateles Festival, and Big 10 Band Directors Association. Tate's other commissioned works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Canterbury Voices, Dale Warland Singers, Santa Fe Desert Chorale and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. His music was also featured in the HBO series Westworld.

Tate is a three-time commissioned recipient from the American Composers Forum, a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program recipient, a Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Achievement Award recipient, a governor-appointed Creativity Ambassador for the State of Oklahoma, and an Emmy Award-winner for his work on the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority documentary The Science of Composing.

Tate's recording credits include Iholba' (The Vision) for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Chorus and Tracing Mississippi, Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, recorded by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, on the GRAMMY Award-winning label Azica Records. In 2021, Azica released Tate's Lowak Shoppala' (Fire and Light), recorded by Nashville String Machine with the Chickasaw Nation Children's Chorus and Dance Troupe, and the label recently released Tate's inaugural composition, Winter Moons, and his MoonStrike, recorded by Apollo Chamber Players. His Metropolitan Museum of Art commission Pisachi (Reveal) is featured on ETHEL String Quartet's album Documerica.

Tate earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and his Master of Music in Piano Performance and Composition from The Cleveland Institute of Music. His middle name, Impichchaachaaha', means "their high corncrib" and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw house name. Learn more at www.jerodtate.com.