Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church filled with sound, celebration and optimism Wednesday night when current and former Watertown band students and community members took the stage to play “A Mother of A Revolution!”
Composer Omar Thomas, who traveled to Wisconsin to be part of the event, stood before the musicians to conduct the instrumental composition that’s inspired controversy in the community.
Thomas said he has spent the last decade “throwing pebbles” into a chasm he hopes will inspire people to tell their own stories.
Understanding Wisconsin, Together.
WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.
“It’s the commons that we’re telling that fill in the gaps of humanity,” he said before conducing the piece. “We start to learn about one another, we start to see all the ways in which we intersect. And then all of our differences become places of fascination, rather than points of view.”
The Watertown High School Band practiced the music for five months.
But last week, the Watertown School Board banned “A Mother of A Revolution!” from the high school spring concert, saying it violated the district’s controversial issues policy.
Instead, the band substituted Robert Jager’s “Esprit de Corps” on Monday night.
On Wednesday, Watertown clarinet player Kacie Tripp said she feels lucky to get to perform the music she has worked so hard on, and to have Thomas there to lead.
“Honestly, I’m really happy to be a part of this,” Tripp said. “All of our hard work paid off in the end.”
At the church on Wednesday, hundreds of people showed up for the performance, lining up around the block to get into the church. An overflow crowd listened outside under windows. And online, more than 3,000 people joined to watch the performance on a livestream.
Before the performance, Thomas went outside to greet the people who couldn’t get inside.
“It’s my honor to be here today,” he told the group. “Thank you for pulling up outside. It’s kind of chilly, but it means more than I can express. And you’re setting an example for people all over the country.”
Kent Jacobson, a retired Watertown middle and elementary school principal, was one of the community members who attended the performance. He said he worked for more than 25 years to teach children to accept every one and to be kind.
“That is what we taught for all those years. And then to have this happen just didn’t make any sense to me,” Jacobson said. “I feel like a lot of hard work has taken a step back, and I’m hoping we can take a step forward tonight.”
“A Mother of A Revolution!” begins with intense bassoons and oboes before exploding into a faster tempo.
Thomas, a self-described “super nerd,” said he wanted to write a superhero theme that transitioned into a giant disco.
In the program notes, Thomas wrote: “This piece is a celebration of the bravery of trans women, and in particular, Marsha ‘Pay it No Mind’ Johnson. … Existing as a trans woman, especially a trans woman of color and daring to live authentically, creating a space for oneself in a transphobic world is one of the bravest acts I can imagine.”
Johnson was a central figure in the LGBTQ+ rights movement and was involved in the Stonewall Uprising.
Thomas’s dedication to Johnson is why the Watertown School Board voted 7-1 to ban the music, calling it a “celebration of violence.”
In a statement, the school board later said its responsibility is to provide students with a “values-neutral” education.
Thomas, an award-winning composer and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, travelled to Wisconsin to conduct the piece Wednesday at the invitation of people in the community who were upset by the ban.
David Morstad organized the event at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church. He said he takes issue with the phrases the school board has used to defend their decision.
“The action by the school board is anything but values-neutral,” Morstad said Wednesday on “WPR’s Wisconsin Today.” “It’s just driven by a separate set of values. I’m not sure that in any educational environment you can ever achieve anything that’s values-neutral.”
At the church, Morstad told the crowd no Watertown school staff members were involved in organizing the event, and no school supplies, equipment or instruments were used at the performance. He said the sheet music the musicians used was donated by Thomas.
One of the people who helped put together the event was Sauk Prairie School District’s band director Matthew Koscinski.
On Wednesday night, Koscinski said labeling a musical tribute to human dignity as indoctrination is a “hollow tactic born of fear.”
“They forgot one fundamental truth: you cannot extinguish light by closing your eyes,” Koscinski said.
Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church Pastor Carina Schiltz told “Wisconsin Today” the congregation is openly welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ people.
“There’s been an outpouring of gratitude and excitement and joy,” Schiltz said. “And we hope that this evening is one of connection and community and appreciating the musicality of this piece and the hard work that the performers and musicians have done to prepare for this evening’s performance.”
Morstad said there is one thing he does agree with the school board on: music is powerful.
“I think they saw that in a very negative way,” he told “Wisconsin Today.” “I don’t see it that way. Music will have its own way of reaching in and touching individuals, and I’ve heard recordings of the piece a number of times. It moves me every time.”
After the performance, Thomas thrust his fist into the air and jumped up and down, cheering along with the crowd that was on their feet for the musicians.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2026, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
