Ellis Island: The Dream of America
Ellis Island: The Dream of America is a work for actors and orchestra with projected images by American composer Peter Boyer, composed in 2001-02, commissioned by the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. The work combines first-person narrations of seven immigrants who entered the United States through Ellis Island between 1910 and 1940, selected by Boyer from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, with Boyer’s original orchestral music. The work has received over 170 performances by more than 75 orchestras. A recording of the work released on the Naxos record label was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in the 48th annual Grammy Awards. In April 2017, performances by Pacific Symphony of "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" were filmed for broadcast on PBS’ "Great Performances" series in the 2017-18 broadcast season.
Abraham George Ellis
Ellis graduated from the Royal Netherlands Naval College in Den Helder on 1 September 1864. He spent over forty years in the navy serving tours to the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, China, South America and Japan. In between tours he worked ashore with the Naval Torpedo Service and the Personnel Department of the Navy. In June 1902, Ellis was promoted Rear Admiral and appointed director of Willemsoord naval wharf and the Commander of the Den Helder defense line ("Stelling Den Helder"). There Ellis cracked down hard on the social democratic sailor's union, earning him a reputation as a "Devourer of Socialists" ("Socialistenvreter").