NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wild coyote
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
A7
Composer celebrates Malheur Refuge
By KATHY ANEY
EO Media Group
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Everybody has to eat — this coyote was out hunting
underground rodents in a pasture near Mt. Jospeh on
Christmas Day.
Fishtrap offers memoir
writing workshop
Local author Pam Royes,
in conjunction with Fish-
trap, is offering a four-week
memoir writing workshop,
Steering the Craft.
Unleash your writ-
erly voice this winter,
and join Pamela Royes to
explore your unique style,
how to use dialog, the use
of description to paint a
physical reality, and dis-
cover what’s at stake for
you emotionally. You’ll
explore the craft of mem-
oir writing through a num-
ber of literary luminaries
Over four weeks you’ll
support,
commiserate,
encourage, applaud, scrib-
ble, discuss, and get ready
to write a story that’s wait-
ing to be told.
Beginning and seasoned
memoir writers are wel-
come, and the workshop is
open to all ages.
Participants will meet
Wednesday evenings Jan.
23 — Feb. 13 from 6:00-
7:30p.m. The registration
fee is $48 and limited to 12
participants.
Fishtrap is located at
400 E. Grant St. Enterprise.
Learn more and reserve
your seat at fishtrap.org or
call 541-426-3623.
Local students make
Oregon State honor roll
CORVALLIS — Names of students who have made
the scholastic honor roll fall term have been announced
by Oregon State University.
A total of 1,483 students earned straight-A (4.0).
Another 4,752 earned a B-plus (3.5) or better to make
the listing. To be on the honor roll, students must carry at
least 12 graded hours of course work.
Students on the honor roll included:
Enterprise
3.5 or Better: Cody C. Irish, Senior, Forest Engi-
neering; Reanna J. Royse, Junior, Design & Innovation
Management.
Joseph
Straight-A Average: Derek A. Huff, Post Baccalaure-
ate, Civil Engineering; Raymond L. Seal, Sophomore,
Crop and Soil Science.
3.5 or Better: Tucker L. Van Winkle, Freshman,
Pre-Mechanical Engineering.
Wallowa County Chieftain
SPACE RESERVATION DEADLINES
for weekly display advertising is 5pm Friday
for the following week. Ad copy is due on
Monday at 10am. Ads must be
approved by 12pm Tuesday
To advertise call Jennifer at 541-426-4567
209 NW First St. Enterprise, OR 97828 • www.wallowa.com
“We took
our daughter to
Dr. Allen on several
occasions, and we
were extremely
happy with the care
we received…”
-Enterprise Mom
Dr. Allen is a family
practice physician and
doctor of osteopathic
medicine.
Call Dr. Allen to
schedule your appointment today!
541-426-7900
Mountain View Medical Group
603 Medical Parkway
(next to Wallowa
Memorial Hospital)
Enterprise, Oregon 97828
We treat you like family
601 Medical Parkway, Enterprise, OR 97828 • 541-426-3111 • www.wchcd.org
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is a equal opportunity mployer and provider
As the occupation of the
Malheur National Wild-
life Refuge unfolded in
early 2016, Jay Bowerman
watched with growing incre-
dulity. The feeling escalated
as the armed militants pro-
tested federal regulations
regarding public lands by
squatting for 41 days inside
the headquarters of the fed-
eral bird refuge.
The occupation, he felt,
had tainted one of Oregon’s
most beautiful spots.
“It was disturbing,”
Bowerman said. “Malheur
deserves to be remembered
not for its armed occupation,
but for its natural beauty,
wildlife diversity and rich
cultural heritage.”
After the court verdict
in which seven occupi-
ers were acquitted, Bower-
man found comfort in listen-
ing to a haunting orchestral
work called “Cantus Arcti-
cus” (subtitled “Concerto
for Birds”) by Finnish com-
poser Einojunhani Rau-
tavaara. The work has birds
sounds layered in with the
music
“I listened to the music
over and over and over,” he
said. “It was so soothing.”
He wondered if music could
help the people who love
the refuge to heal from the
occupation. Bowerman isn’t
a guy who thinks thoughts
and lets them float away.
The son of legendary
University of Oregon track
coach Bill Bowerman, Jay
Bowerman was U.S. cham-
pion in the biathlon in 1969.
He served as executive direc-
tor of the Sunriver Nature
Center and Observatory for
30 years and now researches
and writes about such things
as amphibians, spotted frogs,
fungi and leeches.
He pitched the idea of
the musical tribute to his
wife, Teresa, and to Michael
Gesme, music director and
conductor with the Cen-
tral Oregon Symphony.
Intrigued, Gesme suggested
composer Chris Thomas for
the job.
Thomas, a Pendleton
native who now lives in
Bend, composes and orches-
trates for television and
movies. Thomas, 36, was
nominated for Best Orches-
trator by the Film and TV
Music Academy in 2007
and Best Film & TV Music
at the eWorld Music Awards
in Hollywood in 2011. Bow-
erman met with Thomas and
bonded immediately over
the project.
“Chris jumped in with
Staff photo by Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Curlews and their operatic call inspired composer Chris Thomas to write the “Curlew Scherzo,”
the fourth movement of the Malheur Symphony.
Photo by Jen Klewitz/East Ore-
gonian
Jay and Teresa Bowerman helped launch the Malheur
Symphony project.
Chris Thomas spent a year
and a half composing the
Malheur Symphony as a way
to push aside the Malheur
occupation and focus instead
on the beauty of the place.
both feet,” Bowerman said.
Thomas and the Bower-
mans toured the refuge with
members of the Friends of
Malheur Wildlife Refuge.
While Bowerman had spent
plenty of time there, Thomas
got his first look. Like Bow-
erman, he was blown away
by the wildlife, the big sky
and the color and texture of
the hills.
“Between April and June,
there’s a cacophony of bird
sounds that washes over
you,” Bowerman said. “It’s
like the way the waves make
a continuous sound.”
Thomas recorded some
of those calls to insert
into the symphony along
with other sounds col-
lected from the refuge.
The soundtrack would join
images meant to comple-
ment the music and make
it a more full-body experi-
ence. The sound tech person
becomes another player in
the orchestra. Future orches-
tras that perform the sym-
phony are expected to use
the recordings.
“They are written right
into the score,” Bowerman
said.
Thomas witnessed a thun-
derstorm on one of his trips
to the refuge. It’s the short-
est, darkest movement. The
fourth, Thomas’ favorite,
“Curlew Scherzo,” show-
cases one of the refuge’s res-
idents, the long-billed cur-
lew, and its operatic call.
The final movement is a
big, brass fanfare called
“Awakening.”
The Central Oregon
Symphony will perform
the work at a world pre-
miere in Burns in May and
later in Bend. Thomas said
the orchestra is considering
doing a multi-city tour in the
Pacific Northwest. He hopes
his hometown is one of the
destinations.
“It would mean the world
to me to go to Pendleton,” he
said.
Bowerman couldn’t be
happier with the result.
“My hope is that this
music will help with the
healing process, including
the communities affected as
well as the land itself, and
remind people about the
special place that is the Mal-
heur Refuge,” he said. “It is
pretty exciting stuff.”
Contributed photo/East Oregonian
Thomas said he did most
of his composing walking
around in nature. Ideas don’t
come when he sits down at
his computer, but when he
walks a trail, they often “hit
like lightning.” When they
strike, he sings them into his
phone’s recorder.
“It’s important to be by
myself,” he said, laughing.
In the beginning, the
two men envisioned a
12-to-20-minute
piece.
After speaking with vari-
ous groups of people who
care about the refuge, things
expanded. Each of the
groups — tribal members,
birders, Friends of the Mal-
heur National Wildlife Ref-
uge and geologists — gave
different input about what
they thought the symphony
should say.
Thomas realized he had
full symphony on his hands
with five different move-
ments. The first is “Dawn-
ing Light,” the sound of
life beginning. The sec-
ond, “Sacred Basin,” tells
the story of the thousands
of years the Paiute people
lived freely in the basin. The
third, “Thunder,” came after