2017-2018

In post-Fascist Italy, Luigi Nono attempted to reverse the darkness of Mussolini and rescue art from being the handmaiden of the state. His one-act opera Intolleranza 1960 speaks out against dictatorship. It follows a migrant worker travelling home as he gets caught up in a political protest, is tortured in prison, and escapes to fight…

Despite the brutal suppression of Jewish culture in the late 1940s under Stalin, Jewish composers sustained a vibrant and active musical culture, as these grippingly beautiful works reveal. Explore the tenacity of Jewish culture through one of its most embattled phases. Expression cannot be silenced, especially when friends like Shostakovich have the courage to help.…

Each of these composers was influenced by confrontation with authoritarian regimes, both fascist and communist. This concert reveals the compositional response to resistance, inner emigration, and exile by three leading twentieth-century composers from Russia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the music in a lively 30-minute Conductor’s Notes Q&A at 7 PM…

American democracy was shaped by the ideals, vision, and principles of its leaders, particularly Roosevelt and Kennedy. These presidents protected our liberties, including freedom of expression, and stood by the common people against the interests of the rich and powerful. Their legacy inspired the music of Sessions, Bernstein, and Copland, who wrote Canticle of Freedom…