“Tate’s connection to nature and the human experience was quite apparent…
rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.”
 – The Washington Post

“All of these were dispatched with the requisite fireworks by Irina Muresanu,
whose combination of fire and poise made the performance irresistible.”
 – The Boston Globe

Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, is composing Hattak Hiloha, his violin first concerto, for internationally renowned Romanian violinist Irina Muresanu. This composition marks the first known violin concerto written by an American Indian citizen.

Hattak Hiloha is the composer and violinist’s second collaboration. Irina Muresanu commissioned, recorded and performed Tate’s Oshta (Four) on “Four Strings Around the World,” her acclaimed multimedia project celebrating global cultures through the unifying voice of the violin. Written specifically her and commissioned by Muresanu, Hattak Hiloha is a new grand adventure following the connection made with Oshta.

PERFORMANCE AVAILABILITY

Hattak Hiloha violin concerto has been fully funded by the University of Maryland and the National Philharmonic orchestra. The concerto will be available to orchestras for performance with Irina Muresanu as featured violin soloist beginning with the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 seasons. 

Recording rights are an option with the GRAMMY® Award-winning record label Azica Records. Interested parties can also benefit from masterclasses, workshops, and pre-concert lectures, offered by the composer and performer.

Instrumentation: 

Solo Vn.; 3(1.2.3/Pic.) 3(1.2.3/EH) 3(1.2.3/Bcl.) 3(1.2.3/Cbsn.) - 4 3 3 1; Timp. 3Perc. Hp. Str.

Length: ~ 25-28 minutes

Tate describes the genesis of the three-movement work:

Hattak Hiloha is a new violin concerto composed for violinist Irina Muresanu and is based upon the Chickasaw legend of the Thunder Beings. It is the ancient Chickasaw belief that our spirits make a new home in the clouds, after this life, where they become Thunder Beings. Whenever there are thunderstorms, it is a time that the good spirits and bad spirits are at battle. Chickasaw warriors would shoot their arrows and fire their guns into the clouds to help the good spirits win.

This concerto is a remembrance of the old Chickasaw ways and is divided into three movements and features three ancient Chickasaw melodies. The violin soloist is an active storyteller, leading us through a rhapsodic expression of different aspects of Chickasaw life.

All of the songs featured in this concerto are melodies I sing to my six-year-old son, Heloha (hee-low-hah), at bedtime. He will recognize them when he hears this concerto and this work is dedicated to him.

Hattak Hiloha Concerto Story

I. Iyaakni' (Homeland) (Drum Dance) 8 min.

A movement is full of vibrant and nostalgic feelings of playful, undisturbed and innocent times. These are my colorful impressions of simply enjoying our relations and good times with family and community.

II. Nokfónkhat Intaloowa' (Memorial Song) 11 min.

The memorial song is commonly sung when a loved one dies and this movement is in honor of our ancestors who transition into Thunder Beings.

III. Shawi' Hilha'(Racoon Dance) 9 min.

A fast and furious dance representing my own family raccoon clan and is meant to celebrate the victorious battle between the spirits, ensuring many happy and safe days to come for Chickasaw people.

About Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a Chickasaw-American father, classical composer, and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. The Washington Post raved that “Tate is rare as an American Indian composer of classical music. Rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.” He is a 2022 Chickasaw Hall of Fame inductee and a 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient from The Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2021, he was appointed a Cultural Ambassador for the U. S. Department of State. In 2025, Tate won the Wise-Hinrichsen Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Among Tate’s recent premieres, highlights include commissions from the New York Philharmonic–for which The New York Times praised Tate’s “gifts for texture and color”–the American Composers Orchestra, Cantori NY, and Turtle Island Quartet. The Dover String Quartet commissioned Tate’s new quartet, Woodland Songs, as well as a newly-commissioned orchestration of Pura Fe’s Rattle Songs, and continues to tour the works throughout the world. In fall 2024, Oklahoma’s Canterbury Voices performed the world premiere of Tate’s Loksi' Shaali' (Shell Shaker), the first opera written by an American Indian composer in their native language, and it was reprised at Mount Holyoke University in spring 2025 under the baton of Tian Hui Ng. Post Classical Ensemble presented an all-American Indian program curated by Tate at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and his popular work Chokfi’ has been programmed by symphonies across the country. His American Indian Symphony was performed at the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in April 2025.

Tate has recently been commissioned by Roomful of Teeth, violinist Irina Muresanu, Skaneateles Festival, and Big 10 Band Directors Association. Tate’s other commissioned works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Canterbury Voices, Dale Warl and Singers, Santa Fe Desert Chorale and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. His music was also featured in the HBO series Westworld.

Tate is a three-time commissioned recipient from the American Composers Forum, a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program recipient, a Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Achievement Award recipient, a governor-appointed Creativity Ambassador for the State of Oklahoma and an Emmy Award-winner for his work on the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority documentary, The Science of Composing.

Tate’s recording credits include Iholba' (The Vision) for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Chorus and Tracing Mississippi, Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, recorded by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, on the GRAMMY® Award-winning label Azica Records. In 2021, Azica released Tate’s Lowak Shoppala' (Fire and Light), recorded by Nashville String Machine with the Chickasaw Nation Children’s Chorus and Dance Troupe and the label recently released Tate’s inaugural composition, Winter Moons, and his Moon Strike, recorded by Apollo Chamber Players. His Metropolitan Museum of Art commission Pisachi (Reveal) is featured on ETHEL String Quartet’s album Documerica.

Tate earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and his Master of Music in Piano Performance and Composition from The Cleveland Institute of Music. His middle name, Impichchaachaaha', means “their high corncrib” and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw house name. Learn more at www.jerodtate.com.

Project Booking Contact: Jill Arbetter | jarbetter@elmaroliveiraivc.org

Jerod Tate PR Contact: Katy Salomon | katy@primoartists.com

Photo Credits:

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate by Shevaun Williams