The piece was created in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

On April 17th, "Pressing Truths" makes its world debut on the Pioneer Center stage. It's a newly commissioned orchestral work honoring the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Laura Jackson, Conductor of the Reno Phil, came up with the idea about two years ago, and searched the nation for the perfect composer to create the piece. That turned out to be Michelle Isaac.

The Chicago-based composer spent years researching and putting it together, trying to represent the story as it deserved. The piece follows the journey of the only woman to have her name printed on the Declaration of Independence, Mary Katharine Goddard.

"I found that she was this incredibly fascinating, powerful mother of the revolution that I had never known about. It was so inspiring to me," said Jackson.

"That act of bravery really stuck with me, and that's what I latched on to the most," said Isaac. "So, this piece to me is important, because her whole journey through the ups and downs really teaches us. It invites us to reflect."

Goddard printed the document and added her full name to it. She faced many struggles before and after as a woman in the 1700's.

To create the piece, Isaac found inspiration in the historical places Goddard existed, then took the text of the document itself to create the lyrics. Isaac used an unheard of process to do so.

"I first set the text to the Declaration of Independence, the part that we know and love. So, while we hold these truths to be self-evident, and I said it in a very pure, simple, beautiful kind of way, there's also a more troubling dark side to a story where [Goddard's] fired from her job... So, I wanted to make sure that this text was reflected on the opposite end of the spectrum as well.

I was thinking about the newspaper printing process where you have this great newspaper finished product. But in order to get that, you have this upside down and backwards text that is set and then covered in the sticky ink... I was thinking about that musically. I took that melody and I literally held it up in a mirror, and I held it and put it upside down and backwards. And so the notes became different notes. But there are still from that original melody, and that created two new melodies that I use throughout the piece that kind of showed this darker side of her experience," said Isaac.

Tickets to see the performance are available here: Carmina Burana — The Reno Phil.