Oklahoman Although he hasn't lived in Oklahoma long, Alexander Mickelthwate has become a super fan of one the state's composers. For the second time in as many seasons, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic music director will conduct the orchestra Saturday in performing a work by the late Jack Frederick Kilpatrick (1915-1967), a prolific Stilwell native who infused the majority of his works with Cherokee folklore and traditions — and whose entire body of work was lost for decades and then rediscovered by sheer happenstance. "It's, first of all, that bizarre Oklahoma story that is not only an Oklahoma story, but a very American story of cultures organically growing together. It's absolutely the story of the melting pot, of his parents — white parents from Texas — moving to Cherokee country in the early 20th century," Mickelthwate said. "He really grew up talking Cherokee, the Cherokee language, married a Cherokee wife, they lived the Cherokee lifestyle. He studied classical music, and then started to compose with all the elements of his surroundings. ... So, he is a reflection of a true American sense of being part of that melting pot — and in a very positive way."