Notable Quotable: Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate (Chickasaw)

"I have incredible pride in bringing American Indian identity onto the classical stage, and I love bringing our languages into the same stage as Latin, Italian, French, Chinese, and Russian. We belong there absolutely. I have written pieces in a lot of different tribal languages, and I am very, very on fire in my passion for bringing our language and culture to the concert stage. We belong there, just like we belong in a genetic engineering lab or in agriculture changing the world, just like we do being astronauts. We belong on the concert stage as well." — Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate (Chickasaw)

As a composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate fuses the many artistic traditions that saturated his childhood—from flamenco to opera to ballet to theater—with the strong sense of Chickasaw identity he inherited from his father, and proudly embraces his identity as an American Indian classical composer. His music has made new space for Native voices on American classical stages, with works commissioned and performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Colorado Ballet, and others. We spoke with Tate about how his heritage informs his work, his many projects, and what he hopes his legacy will be.