Start: September 23, 2024 10 a.m.
End: September 23, 2024 3 p.m.
Location: Hahn Recital Hall
About
Composer
Gregory Spears' creative work spans multiple vocal and instrumental genres, including several commissioned and critically praised operas that center such topics as sexuality, faith, politics, and race in the United States. Spears wrote The Righteous (Santa Fe Opera, 2024) and Castor and Patience (Cincinnati Opera, 2022) with librettist and former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith; his 2016 opera Fellow Travelers has been produced multiple times in cities nationwide. Spears is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Yale and Princeton Universities, and is a former Fulbright Scholar. He teaches composition and orchestration at Purchase College Conservatory (SUNY).
Schedule
“Why is it so hard to talk about the music in opera?”
10 a.m. in Hahn Hall
In this conversation with music history students and guests, Dr. Spears will share his perspectives on writing for and about the voice in opera. He admits that it is often easier to focus on operatic plots and characters, but thinking about the voice and legacies of opera writing should be foregrounded more in conversations about new opera.
“Making Music Matter: Finding and Communicating Motive in Music”
1 p.m. in Sursa Hall
In today’s world, our attention is pulled in many directions. Sometimes, music can feel like “background noise” to more pressing concerns about the environment, human rights, systemic injustice, etc. In this General Recital Hour presentation for music students and guests, Dr. Spears will explore how individual musical works give us a sense that they matter—that something important is at stake when we play, study, or listen to them. This applies to not only genres that tell stories (e.g., songs), but also more abstract types of music. How can we as musicians articulate and communicate musical significance to our audiences?
“Making Opera about Recent History and Contemporary America”
2 p.m. in Hahn Hall
In this presentation and discussion, Dr. Spears will share his processes as a composer and collaborator on opera projects that address historical and ongoing issues of race, sexual identity, and religion in the U.S. The event will coincide with a graduate course about opera history, but will be open to the public.
Free Admission
These presentations are free and open to the public.
Parking
Parking is available in the McKinley Parking Garage (entrance on Ashland Avenue) located immediately south of Sursa Hall. On weekdays, metered parking ($1/hr) is available on the first floor of the garage until 7 p.m. at which time parking is free. This garage is free on weekends.