The Multicultural Affairs Office at Flathead Valley Community College will welcome Craig Thomas Naylor for his musical composition presentation, “We Are All Americans,” March 12. The presentation honors Civil War hero Ely S. Parker and is the second in a series of musical compositions by Naylor commemorating unknown heroes of the Civil War.
Naylor’s presentation celebrates the life and devotion to country of Ely S. Parker who was a Seneca sachem (or chief) and a negotiator for his tribe and the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Parker was trained in law and fluent in multiple languages, and he worked as a civil engineer for both New York and the United States. He was a Mason and was one of Ulysses Grant’s core staff during the Civil War. Parker later became a negotiator with the tribes of the West and was the first American Indian to head the precursor of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In addition to teaching theatre and music courses at FVCC, Naylor is an active composer with numerous commissions whose compositions have been played worldwide by ensembles ranging from elementary school bands to the orchestral soundtrack for the IMAX film, “To the Limit.” An active educator, Craig has taught in four states, from kindergarten through university graduate, and holds teaching certificates in California and Montana. Craig earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., and master’s and doctorate degrees in composition from the University of Southern California. He currently resides near Kalispell where he composes music, guest conducts, teaches private lessons and has an organic orchard of heirloom apple varieties.
Free and open to the public, the event will take place at 12 p.m. in the board room inside Blake Hall on the FVCC campus. For more information, contact the FVCC Multicultural Affairs Office at 756-3945 or [email protected]