Artists: Jan Boland, flute / John Dowdall, guitar / Carey Bostian, cello

Three Rivers, a three-movement work for flute, cello & guitar, was composed by Michael Gilbertson in 2013 and commissioned by Red Cedar Chamber Music with funding from The Augustine Foundation. Three Rivers is dedicated to the life of Robert A. Dennert, who was an avid supporter and friend of Red Cedar Chamber Music. This world premiere performance of Three Rivers took place at CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday, June 1, 2014 and featured Red Cedar Trio members, flutist Jan Boland, guitarist John Dowdall and cellist Carey Bostian.

This performance completed Michael Gilbertson's three-year tenure as Red Cedar Chamber Music’s composer-in–residence. The world premiere performances of his previous compositions for the Red Cedar Trio, Circle the Wagons (2011) and Long Journey Home (2012) are also posted on YouTube.

Iowa’s rivers and folklore are reflected in Three Rivers, which explores the impact of Iowa’s rivers on Iowans and our communities. The Cedar River, Cedar Rapids’ namesake, is a tributary of the mighty Mississippi River, which flows by Michael’s hometown of Dubuque, Iowa. Since America celebrated the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War from 2011-2015, Michael sought melodic inspiration for Three Rivers in songs from the 1860’s.

According to Michael, “The work is based on thematic material from Civil War folk songs, each of which describes a river crossing or a journey along a river's banks. In Three Rivers, I attempt to capture the unbroken motion and constant renewal that rivers bring. The first movement is based on a song called The Soldier's Return. The second movement is based on a song called The Dying Soldier and the third movement is based on Along the Potomac."

Michael’s music reaches out to Iowa towns that coexist with the beauty and destructive power of the mighty Mississippi River and its tributaries. Each of the three movements of Three Rivers evokes different moods and motions of rivers, allowing audience members to create their own personal river imagines, be it raging rapids, serenely flowing waters or destructive floods.

Michael Gilbertson’s music has earned wide recognition, including five Morton Gould Awards from ASCAP and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Gilbertson’s opera Breaking, a collaboration with playwright Caroline McGraw, was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and premiered at The Kennedy Center as part of their American Opera Initiative in November, 2013. He has twice composed and conducted ballets for the New York Choreographic Institute, working with choreographers David Morse and Daniel Baker. His fifth ballet, a collaboration with choreographer Norbert De La Cruz, was premiered by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in July, 2013. In 2009, Michael founded an annual music festival, ChamberFest Dubuque, which brings young classical artists to his hometown of Dubuque, Iowa for concerts and educational outreach. Michael currently teaches Hearing and Analysis as a lecturer at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Ezra Laderman and Christopher Theofanidis and received a Master's Degree in Composition in June 2013.

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