GALLOWAY NJ – On Saturday November 8, 2025 local veterans, Stockton students, friends and family gathered for A Musical Tribute to All Veterans. The School of Arts & Humanities, The Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center, and Office of Military & Veteran Services collaborated to ensure the event’s success.

Music Director, Jed Gaylin, addressed the importance of such celebrations: “We appreciate veterans and active service, the families of veterans and active service members, and the friends, as well, those who are here to support and honor those who have devoted so much of their lives, who have sacrificed, who have really given so much so that we can enjoy the life that we do enjoy here in the United States of America.”

The symphony opened the program with Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. Gaylin educated the crowd on the historical significance of the arrangement: “There were all kinds of heroic things being written about during World War II for heroes. And Copland’s point was that all who were involved were heroes, that you know, there were the people whose names weren’t necessarily on plaques, who showed up and did what they needed to do, volunteered or conscripted or whatever whatever it was, people who were there, who made possible what had to happen with often extreme sacrifice.”

Before continuing with Fanfare for Life Gaylin spoke on the background of composer James Kimo Williams saying, “He vowed when he was in Vietnam, that if he got out of there alive, that he would cherish every moment of his life. And so when he was confronted with this, he wanted to celebrate the young lives of the people that were involved gang violence in that time, which was also very harrowing. So for him, those two difficult things in American life sort of came together in this brave powerful and very optimistic, beautiful piece.”

Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” was the only song from the program that was not written by an American composer. After moving to the United States, Dvorak wrote this piece after finding cultural inspiration. Gaylin added: “He was especially interested in Native American music in African American music, but also, I think he was really struck by the grandeur and the scope of the land”.

Some other events that will occur in the Performing Arts Center can be found here: https://stockton.edu/pac/. These shows and performances consists of anything from “Swift Nation Tribute Show” to “Stockton Theatre Project” performance from November 13 through the 16.