Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. She has degrees in composition from The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music, and received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music in India. She is currently artist-in-residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. 

The History of Red was commissioned by soprano Kathryn Mueller and a consortium of orchestras. The piece was first performed on April 24, 2021 by River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Brett Mitchell, with Mueller as soloist. 

Inspired by Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Esmail made a setting of Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan’s poem, The History of Red. Like Knoxville, Esmail notes, “the singer grapples with the world around her. And yet it is different—Linda Hogan’s beautiful text is clearly the voice of an adult woman, aware not only of her own current world, but of the entire, complex history of her ancestors. Perhaps that is why her words instantly grabbed me—at this time in the world, when we are each grappling with our own complicated, intertwined histories, her journey felt so resonant to me. I wrote this piece as the pandemic was raging around the world, as the effects of decades of racism hit a new fever pitch in the US, and as we headed into the 2020 presidential election with so much trepidation. My own complicated history, and the history of this time, is also embedded in every note of this piece.”

~ Program notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2023