{"id":199524,"date":"2026-03-20T18:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199524\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T18:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:54:09","slug":"ft-myers-symphonic-mastersingers-perform-new-work-inspired-by-civil-war-memoir-wgcu-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199524\/","title":{"rendered":"Ft Myers Symphonic Mastersingers perform new work inspired by Civil War memoir | WGCU News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers<\/a> is an ensemble of more than 100 volunteer vocalists from all walks of life who\u2019ve been coming together to perform great choral works since 2001. <\/p>\n

On March 21-22, they\u2019ll be performing a specially commissioned ten-part choral composition inspired by a book authored by James Waxler in 1888, about his time serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James Waxler\u2019s civil war memoir inspired his great great grandson Matthew Koller to commission The Witness. <\/p>\n

Waxler is the great-great grandfather of the Artistic Director of the Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers and the City of Palms Youth Choir<\/a>, Matthew Koller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book has been in my family for my entire life. And, you know, when I was in my early 20s, after my son was born, I got into that phase that I think most men do, and they wonder where they came from and what they\u2019re passing down,\u201d said Koller.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I decided to take the memoir out and transcribe it so that we could easily see what it was. And as I\u2019m reading it, I\u2019m wondering why nobody else has heard these stories.\u201d
Koller initially looked into having it published, but after finding no interest from publishers, he conceived the idea of turning the story into music. That\u2019s when he reached out to his friend, composer Thomas LaVoy<\/a>, who spent the next two to three years researching and writing the piece.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Amanda Inscore Whittamore<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU<\/p>\n

The Witness is based on a civil war memoir by James Waxler, the great great grandfather of Matthew Koller. <\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I think it was pitched as a cantata, but we had also talked about it having theatrical elements, sort of, and the form kind of changed a little bit over time, and what it turned into is not a strict cantata. It\u2019s not an oratorio. It is an extended choral work, but it also has this pretty grand narration and tenor solo and this mezzo soprano solo,\u201d said LaVoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it kind of does defy expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memoir begins with Waxler and his brother heeding the call of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin for support as Confederate forces were approaching Gettysburg. Seeking what they thought would be the excitement of war, Waxler and his brother signed up for the emergency infantry and fought in a few skirmishes prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.<\/p>\n

After that limited engagement, Waxler re-enlists as a cavalryman for Pennsylvania and spent another two years fighting in the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle by little, the more loss that he witnesses, the more broken he becomes,\u201d said Koller.
The climax of the piece stems from an account in Waxler\u2019s memoir about the murder of an enslaved Black girl at the hands of a Union soldier in Charlottesville, Virginia. Koller said, the white supremacist \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally that occurred in Charlottesville in 2017 reignited his vigor for this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the main reason that I wanted this story told was so that that little girl could be remembered. And so, yes, indeed, he does witness a drunken Union soldier killing a young Black slave and it\u2019s one of the worst things that he ever witnessed in his time in the Army,\u201d said Koller.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Amanda Inscore Whittamore<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU<\/p>\n

The Witness is based on a civil war memoir by James Waxler, the great great grandfather of Matthew Koller. It was composed by Thomas LaVoy.<\/p>\n

LaVoy and Koller knew early on that input from the Black community would be essential.
\u201cBecause of that moment with the murder of the young slave girl, we wanted to approach this in a way that was sensitive to that, but also didn\u2019t shy away from the horror of that moment, which is a very difficult line to walk,\u201d said LaVoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially as a white man myself, Matt, being a white man, I think we just had to get the input of people whose ancestors went through these things and who still deal with the repercussions today. And so, we had a fundraising event at Southern Charm Bistro, and we basically opened up the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they said, \u2018we don\u2019t want to hear apologies. We want to hear from the slaves,\u201d added Koller.<\/p>\n

The names and stories of some 10 million enslaved people in America between 1500 and 1865 are largely missing from historical records, so addressing that void sent LaVoy down a different creative path that wound up redefining the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI opted for a very different approach that involved the music of Black composers who were either enslaved themselves and subsequently freed, or whose ancestors had been enslaved and those sort of tendrils weave around the words of James Waxler throughout the work and really make up the DNA of the music itself,\u201d said LaVoy.<\/p>\n

One of the enslaved composers LaVoy\u2019s composition draws from is Sawney Freeman<\/a>, recognized as potentially one of the earliest Black composers in the U.S., but whose work was only recently rediscovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sort of incredibly talented fiddler\/violinist who had written all this incredible music, including the piece that we have in the work, which is \u2018The New Death March,\u2019 which of course, the Civil War. As soon as I saw the title of that, I was like, \u2018Okay, that\u2019s going in.\u2019 And it becomes this line that runs throughout the entire piece,\u201d said LaVoy.<\/p>\n

The music is composed for a choral ensemble, piano, string quartet, and tenor soloist representing the part of Waxler, and a mezzo-soprano vocalist embodying the part of the murdered Black girl. For that, Koller reached out to his long-time friend and three-time Grammy-winning vocalist Tanisha Anderson<\/a>, who agreed to the project before the music was even written.<\/p>\n

\"Grammy-winning<\/p>\n

Amanda Inscore Whittamore<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU<\/p>\n

Grammy-winning mezzo soprano Tanisha Anderson is a soloist in The Witness. The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers are performing the piece on Saturday and Sunday. <\/p>\n

When Koller called and pitched the idea to Anderson, he did mention the killing of the enslaved girl, but she said what she really remembered them discussing during that phone call, was another incident in Charlottesville they witnessed together as college students in the early 90s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ku Klux Klan had held a rally. So, we were all just walking around the streets, and basically the main road, and the Ku Klux Klan they\u2019re just marching down, and we\u2019re all just standing there,\u201d said Anderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, me as myself, being down there, one of the only persons of color in the group, experiencing that, alongside with my fellow Westminster Choir members, it just was an intense moment for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson said thinking about the enslaved girl in the story got her reflecting on her own childhood, and a time she remembers white parents protesting their kids being transferred to a predominantly Black school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally remember, like crossing the picket line one day and one of my friend’s parents, she spit on me, and she said, \u2018If you tell your parents that I did this to you, we’re going to kill you.\u2019 And I think I was in the second or third grade, I was a little kid, and I didn’t understand,\u201d said Anderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this little girl, this music, represents little Tanisha, honestly, to the core of who I am, and just going through life, my experiences, my point of view, which is so different from other people, and representing how far I’ve come, or what I became, despite it being almost taken away from me or threatened, and just staying firm that I belong here. I’m supposed to be here, and this is what I’m supposed to do. So, it definitely represents who I am, especially the woman I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tenor soloist for this weekend\u2019s premiere concerts is Matthew\u2019s son Christian Koller<\/a>, meaning the words of James Waxler will be performed by his very own great, great, great grandson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Christian Koller is the tenor soloist and narrator for The Witness. He is the great great great grandson of James Waxler. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really an honor to step into his shoes and to be able to be part of sun an incredible piece,\u201d said Christian.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe words are written as a warning to his son, essentially and to describe what it\u2019s like to be in war and to be in that moment. And yet, sometimes it feels like he\u2019s talking right to us, or he\u2019s right in that moment then. And so, you hear the fear in his voice. You hear the compassion in his voice. It just sounds like he\u2019s right there,\u201d said Christian.<\/p>\n

Matthew Koller says he finds his great-great-grandfather\u2019s message eerily relevant today.
\u201cThe Civil War was the country\u2019s most divided time, to be sure, but I think there could be an argument made for us being in the next most divided time right now, you know, where people are just so polarized,\u201d said Matthew.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if we\u2019re able to listen and witness to one another then maybe we can make a change in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

If You Go:<\/p>\n

Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers world premiere of \u201cThe Witness: Incidents of the War of the Rebellion\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 5 p.m.Faith Presbyterian Church4544 Coronado Pkwy, Cape Coral, FL<\/p>\n

Sunday, March 22, 2026 at 4 p.m. First Presbyterian Church of Bonita Springs, Bonita Springs, FL<\/p>\n

WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and\u00a0donate now<\/a>. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers is an ensemble of more than 100 volunteer vocalists from all walks of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-199524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}