CityMusic Cleveland to Present Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate'sKo'koom'fena: Our Grandmother

Chickasaw American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate will unveil his latest work for orchestra, Ko'koom'fena: Our Grandmother, commissioned and performed by CityMusic Cleveland led by John McLaughlin Williams, from October 16-19, 2025. Featuring soprano soloist Kirsten C. Kunkle, Ko'koom'fena: Our Grandmother honors our grandmothers and the wisdom they pass down through generations.

The program celebrating the sounds of our shared human experience also includes William Frederick McKay's Tlingit, Samuel Barber's Knoxville Summer of 1915, and Erich Korngold's Suite from Much Ado About Nothing and will be presented at Fairmount Presbyterian Church (October 16), St. Jerome Church (October 17), Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus (October 18), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (October 19).

Tate shares, "For the Shawnee, the idea of creation came from the Supreme Being, who is called Moneto, but the actual work of creation was performed by Ko'koom'fena (Our Grandmother), and she is a deeply loved figure in Shawnee life.

In this work, the solo soprano is the spirit of Ko'koom'fena. While telling her account of shaping the earth, she expresses her love and adoration of her new people. During the creation, she gives them their cultural ways and the land upon which they will thrive. Most importantly, she gifts them their new language, and she is gripped by the mystery of what will come from them:

Nimiilaaki howesikalawiiwe.
I give them their new words.

We'kalawiiki howe we'piyeetoonaawa hoskitaam'kwe lenaweewiiwe!
They will speak and bring the world to life!

Nehiwe wehiwaki?
What will they say?

Mata nita'waakota.
They are a mystery to me.

Yooma kalawiiwe wiikoci howesinootaakoofi!
Our new language is beautiful!

Ko'koom'fena is an archetypal parent who is embracing the beautiful and complicated mystery that comes with raising children. She loves them so much, and they love her.

Ko'koom'fena (Our Grandmother) is dedicated to three magnificent Shawnee women: Ruthe Blalock Jones, Nancy Boyett and Ruthe Margaret Boyett. It is sung entirely in the Shawnee language, with the translation created by Joel Barnes."

In addition, on October 5, 2025, Tate's Abitahánta': The Hunter Who Was Not So Great and Shawi' Imanompa' (Raccoon Talk) will be performed as part of CityMusic Cleveland's October Chamber Concert at Praxis Fiber Workshop and outreach concerts to local schools.

Program Information

Chamber Concert

Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Praxis Fiber Workshop | Cleveland, OH

Link: www.citymusiccleveland.org/chamber-concert-schedule-20252026/october-chamber-concert

Program:

Florence Price - Five Folksongs in Counterpoint

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate - Abitahánta': The Hunter Who Was Not So Great

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate - Shawi' Imanompa' (Raccoon Talk)

Antonín Dvořák - String Quartet No. 12 in F "American"

Kirsten Kunkle, soprano/narrator

Katie Lansdale, violin

Karen Ferry, violin

Claire Zogaib, viola

Nora Willauer, cello

Sounds of Home

Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Fairmount Presbyterian Church | Cleveland Heights, OH

Link: www.citymusiccleveland.org/orchestra-series-20252026/sounds-of-home

Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM

St. Jerome Church | Cleveland, OH

Link: www.citymusiccleveland.org/orchestra-series-20252026/sounds-of-home-eltar

Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus | Cleveland, OH

Link: www.citymusiccleveland.org/orchestra-series-20252026/sounds-of-home-eltar-2cj9z

Sunday, October 19, 2025 at 2:30 PM

Cleveland Museum of Art (Gartner Auditorium) | Cleveland, OH

Link: www.citymusiccleveland.org/orchestra-series-20252026/sounds-of-home-eltar-2cj9z-92grp

Program:

William Frederick McKay - Tlingit

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate - Ko'koom'fena: Our Grandmother (World Premiere)

Samuel Barber - Knoxville Summer of 1915

Erich Korngold - Suite from Much Ado About Nothing

CityMusic Cleveland

John McLaughlin Williams, conductor

Kirsten C. Kunkle, soprano

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.