School of Music celebrates bicentennial birthday of Richard Wagner through lectures, roundtable discussions, conversations, and film screenings — a month-long exploration, September 30–October 23
Boston, MA – In celebration of the bicentennial birthday of Richard Wagner, one of the most important and controversial European figures of the nineteenth century, the School of Music at the College of Fine Arts at Boston University is pleased to announce Wagner in Context, a month-long exploration of Richard Wagner’s legacy featuring lectures, roundtable discussions, conversations, and film screenings.
“Opera is by nature interdisciplinary, involving several of the humanities: music, theatre, history, poetry, dance, and visual arts,” said Deborah Burton, Assistant Professor of Music at Boston University who is organizing the series. “Wagner’s work transcends any one discipline and his influence extends far beyond his musical creations to the realms of politics, philosophy, literature, and the status of the artist.”
Marking this anniversary, a series of broad-appeal events at BU collectively entitled Wagner in Context will be held in September and October 2013, examining not only Wagner’s music, but also his poetry, ideas, philosophy, and politics. As befits the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, the organization of these events in multi-faceted, including scholarly discussions, musical performances, and electronic communication. Events include:
September 30, 8pm
Boston University Chamber Orchestra
Program includes Wagner’s “Prelude and Transfiguration from Tristan und Isolde.
Featuring Guest Conductor, Neal Hampton.
Tsai Performance Center
October 7, 7pm
“Ears First: Hearing a Live Wagner Production through the Score.” with Donald Palumbo and Will Berger
Presented by opera professionals from the Metropolitan Opera regarding the staging of Wagner operas. Hosted by BU Alumnus Donald Palumbo, the chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera, and William Berger, author of Wagner Without Fear (1998) and host of the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts and Opera Quiz.
Tsai Performance Center
October 15, 7pm
“Opera and Politics: Richard Wagner (1813–2013) — a minefield”
A multimedia event hosted by Gottfried Wagner, the great-grandson of the composer.
CFA Concert Hall
October 21, 7pm
Interdisciplinary Round-Table Discussion (with BU Professors)
Participants include James Petosa (Director, School of Theatre), William Waters (Center for the Study of Europe), Paul Katsafanas (Philosophy), Thomas Peattie (Musicology), and Deborah Burton (Composition and Music Theory).
Tsai Performance Center
October 23, 7pm
Hilan Warshaw’s Documentary “Wagner’s Jews”
The film tells the story of Wagner’s Jewish associates, including Hermann Levi, a rabbi’s son who conducted the premiere of Parsifal, and Joseph Rubinstein, a pianist who lived with the Wagner family for years and committed suicide when Wagner died. Interviewees in the film include Yossi Beilin (Israeli politician), Leon Bostein (President of Bard College and Conductor Laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra), Uri Hanoch (Deputy Chairman of the Central Organization of Holocaust Survivors in Israel), Johnathan Livny (President, Israel Wagner Society), and Zubin Mehta (Music Director, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra).
Tsai Performance Center
In addition, there will be small exhibit of Wagner-related materials from BU’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center (Vita Paladino, director) at Mugar Library.
Wagner in Context s is sponsored by the BU Center for the Humanities, the BU Arts Initiative, the BU Arts Initiative, the BU Jewish Cultural Endowment, the BU Center for Study of Europe, the BU CFA Dean’s Office, and the Boston Wagner Society. For more information, please visit facebook.com/wagnerincontext.