Joseph Jay McIntyre, the Silver Spring-born composer and principal timpanist with the Maryland Symphony, will introduce his latest work, Ghosts of Antietam, at the Symphony’s “Salute to Independence” concert at Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD, July 5.

“Ghosts of Antietam is a tribute to the 23,000 who died at the Battle of Antietam – and all the other men and women who have given their lives so that others may live in freedom,” McIntyre said from his Rockville home.  “It is my intent that by the end of the piece, the audience will think beyond the Civil War to all the victims of war, past and present.  This is for all the Johnnys who won’t come marching home again.”

This is the 23rd year that the Maryland Symphony – now under the baton of Elizabeth Schulze -- has performed at Antietam National Battlefield to celebrate the nation’s founding.  More Americans died at Antietam on September 17, 1862, than on any other day in U.S. history.

There have long been those who say that ghosts do haunt the bloody battleground, especially along the Sunken Road, where legend holds it that the songs of the Irish Brigade can still be heard, as they prepare to charge the Confederate lines.  Others say that when the fireflies come out on a summer’s evening, you can see the spirits of Antietam’s fallen, rising once again.

Ghosts of Antietam, is scored for full orchestra in three sections, Doloroso, Marciale, and Funebre, and contains many familiar Civil War era tunes, such as, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Gary Owen, and Taps, played by a solo trumpet.

McIntyre is best known for his MissaBrevis for Chorus, Organ and Percussion, which British choral master Jonathan Willcocks conducted at Carnegie Hall in 2000.  Other prominent works include: Salute!, written for Maryland Symphony founder Barry Tuckwell; Maillot Jaune; the Firth of Fourth; and Echoes of a Forgotten Dream, now all published by TRN Music.

For more information about the Maryland Symphony’s 7:30 PM, July 5 concert at Antietam Battlefield, call the Maryland Symphony office at 301-797-4000.