The tintype photograph, taken some time between 1879 and 1880, captures his crumpled hat, thick sweater and thoroughly lived-in boots, an 1873 Winchester carbine rifle in his left hand and a Colt .45 single action revolver in a holster on his right hip. Born William Henry McCarty in November 1859 in New York City, he was to become one of the Wild West’s most enduring legends: this blue-eyed, sandy haired boy was just a teenager when he first embraced the life of an outlaw, killing as many as 21 men before being gunned down by Sheriff Patrick Garrett in New Mexico in 1881.
Not long after the shooting, the sheriff published a hugely sensationalised biography of McCarty, also known as William H Bonney: The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid. It was the first of many works inspired by the young outlaw, among them US composer Aaron Copland’s 1938 ballet, Billy the Kid. This one-act suite, which debuted in Chicago, paints Billy – the only authenticated photograph of whom sold last year for $2.3 million, eight times its pre-sale estimate – as a romanticised emblem of the passions and dangers of the Wild West, with widely spaced harmonies that conjure a sense of the loneliness of the vast open prairies. American pianist Mark Damisch – who first played the organ at the age of four, performed his first piano concert three years later and orchestrated the first of three musical tours of Eastern and Western Europe in his teens – will be bringing Copland’s suite back to life at Meta House, along with Rodeo, El Salon Mexico and “some extra pieces where we will ask the audience to sing along”. Damisch, a former mayor and public prosecutor, performs classical concerts around the world to promote peace and goodwill. “It’s all about trying to leave the world a little better when I left than when I arrived,” he says.
Easier said than done, apparently: “I quit for a long time because, believe it or not, of stage fright. I could introduce the President of the US in front of 5,000 people on 24 hours notice, no problem. Play for 50 people in town? I was a wreck.” Damisch will be joined by his daughter Alexandra, who will play Chopin and percussion. “It’s going to be a very fun night,” he says. “I’m going to do Blowing in the Wind to bow to the troubles both of our countries have gone through together.”
WHO: Mark Damisch
WHAT: Piano concert
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: 8pm July 14
WHY: Billy the Kid, ballet-style