Leonard Bernstein: Crises of Faith, and the Search for Place
Session Abstract: In 1977, Leonard Bernstein perhaps surprisingly stated, “The work I have been writing all my life is about… the crisis of our century, a crisis of faith.” He embedded his views on this crisis into several of his major choral and vocal works, and simultaneously took up a search for places of sanctuary, evident in his lyrics and pluralistic musical language. Why does this matter to us in our own historical moment of cultural crises, reflections, revisions and displacements from belonging? This session will offer an answer as we review his music and themes, which remain as timely as ever.
Michael Slon
University of Virginia
Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and theatrical repertoire, Michael Slon is Director of Choral Music and professor at the University of Virginia, where he conducts the University Singers, Chamber Singers, and guest conducts the Charlottesville Symphony. He is also Music Director of the Oratorio Society of Virginia, recently leading the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork/Rita Dove’s The World Called. He has led performances of Bernstein’s Candide, Chichester Psalms, and Mass – and his work on Bernstein has appeared in the Choral Journal, won ACDA’s Herford Prize, and appears in the forthcoming Bernstein in Context from Cambridge University Press.
