Fanfare for a Weapon-Free World – Steve Heitzeg

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Composer: Steve Heitzeg

Instrumentation: 2-2-2-2/4-3-3-1/timp, perc (3 players)/peace crane maker/strings

Duration: Approx. 5 minutes

Date Written: 2019 (and 2024)

Premiered by: Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, Ruth Lin, Music Director ASWARA Academy, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 01/28/2020 

Commissioned: Gustavus Adolphus College through gifts from the Class of 1954 Carillon Bells Endowment Fund In celebration of the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra’s 2020 international tour

Dedicated: to Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN),and recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

Additional Information:  

On October 24, 2020, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons reached the required 50 states parties for its entry into force, after Honduras ratified just one day after Jamaica and Nauru submitted their ratifications.  In 90 days, the treaty will enter into force, cementing a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, 75 years after their first use.

ICAN’s Executive Director Beatrice Fihn welcomed the historic moment.  “This is a new chapter for nuclear disarmament.  Decades of activism have achieved what many said was impossible: nuclear weapons are banned,” she said.

Performance Note: During the piece, one person sits to the left of the conductor and folds an origami peace crane.  At the close of the piece (on the last chord), this person stands and places the completed paper peace crane in their palms and then raises their arms up in celebration of this icon for a nuclear weapon-free world.