Justin Merritt Presentation

Professor Justin Merritt (Music Department) will give a presentation on his composition "River of Blood," which uses music to tell the story of a 1980 massacre of Salvadoran peasants at Rio Sumpul by U.S.-supported right-wing military forces. At least 600 people, including women and children, were killed at the hands of the Honduran and Salvadoran armies. The operation was kept secret from the world, with the U.S. State Department denying it for years, and it has only been through tedious work by investigative journalists that the truth has emerged. Merritt's "River of Blood" premiered with the Minnesota Orchestra on November 7, 2008.

This event will be in Regents Hall 150.