The movie Shenandoah (1965) is set in the year is 1863. James Stewart plays a wealthy Virginia landowner who is a man of peace despite his autocratic behavior, steadfastly refuses to take sides in the Civil War. Bit by bit, Stewart's isolationism--and his way of living--is torn apart. His daughter falls in love with Confederate soldier . His youngest son is captured by the Union Army and accused of being a spy (and is rescued from immediate execution by his childhood friend, an ex-slave). His farm is confiscated by Northern troops. The son's wife dies in childbirth. And his oldest son is accidentally killed. How all of these personal tragedies culminate in a successfully sentimental finale is the peculiar charm of Shenandoah, which proved to be a hit with audiences on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. James Lee Barrett's screenplay was later adapted into a successful Broadway musical.

Frank Ticheli (born 1958 in Monroe, Louisiana) currently lives in Los Angeles where he is an Associate Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California. From 1991 to 1998 he was Composer in Residence of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, California. His works for orchestra, concert band, solo voice, and chamber ensembles have been performed throughout North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. Frank Ticheli received his doctoral and masters degrees in composition from The University of Michigan where he studied with William Albright, George Wilson, and Pulitzer Prize winners Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom.