2024 is fast becoming a monumental year for Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate – an Oklahoma-based classical composer who’s already enjoyed a fair share of accolades and accomplishments throughout his still burgeoning career.
In February, Tate was named among the year’s USA Fellows, which came with a $50,000 cash prize from the nonprofit which annually honors artists across the nation for their “unique perspectives and groundbreaking contributions.”
On March 7th an orchestral version of Tate’s Pisachi makes its ‘Big Apple’ premier with the New York Philharmonic at the Lincoln Center.
“So, the New York Philharmonic contacted me and asked me to create a full string orchestral version of (what) I composed for ETHEL, a (string) quartet in New York City,” Tate said. “Pisachi has now been transcribed for a saxophone quartet, and that came after the New York Philharmonic commission. I’m just having this really interesting wave of transcribing my works for different ensembles… and it seems that the music is resonating enough that folks are wanting to play it in different mediums and that’s quite a compliment.”
And there’s much more in store for fans of Tate’s work in the coming months, including an October premier of Loksi' Shaali' (Shell Shaker): A Chickasaw Opera—a grand opera sung entirely in the Chickasaw language—with Canterbury Voices and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
Each of these accomplishments owes a great bit to Tate’s ‘origin’ story (as told to KGOU above), wherein he credits his parents and an upbringing which included, as he puts it, “a real robust mix of American Indian culture and American fine arts.”
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