BANGOR – The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded $10,000 to the Bangor Symphony Orchestra to tour a new orchestral work that celebrates the cultural heritage of the Penobscot River. The symphonic piece has as its theme, “Back to the River: Discovering Bangor’s Roots.” The tour will take a 35-piece orchestra, dancers and chorus to perform the celebratory piece in two venues on the river: Millinocket and Bucksport. The concerts are scheduled for May.

The composition will be the fruit of BSO’s composer-in-residence program, which will bring composer Thomas Oboe Lee to the Bangor community where he will immerse himself in the history of the region. He already has begun studying Bangor history and is at work on music inspired by the songs of the North Woods, American Indian dance and song, Franco-American jigs and reels, and the Irish hymn from which Bangor takes its name.

“I am very excited at the opportunity offered by my residency in Bangor, and to be presenting a piece to the community that will bear so much significance – what a rich and colorful history you share,” Lee said.

“Back to the River” also will celebrate the Penobscot River drivers (also called the Bangor Tigers), Irish, English and French immigrants and American Indians who drove the logs from deep in the Maine woods to Bangor, where they were milled and loaded on vessels and shipped all over the world. As an educational component, music ensembles will work with schools in Millinocket and Bucksport before the performances, and the Maine Folklife Center will participate by offering an oral presentation about traditional native, Franco- and Irish-American music and art to concert attendees.

Lee will visit Bangor in May and will spend time working in area schools to discuss the project and work with young students. Other collaborators in the composer-in-residence project include the Maine Folklife Center, the Robinson Ballet and the University of Maine music department.