Graham School Saturday Seminar

Great Conductors and the Art of Interpretation

Sat 10:00 am—04:00 pm, June 22, 2024
Deadline to register online: Tuesday, June 4 at 5:00 PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at University of Chicago Gleacher Center

Why is every performance different, when the score remains the same? This course will provide insight into the decision-making process of an interpreter and the factors involved and offers an overview of some of the great and frequently notorious conductors of the historical and modern eras. Especially useful for those who collect recordings or attend concerts, this course will educate participants in perceiving the essential characteristics that distinguish different interpreters of symphonic and operatic repertory. Musical literacy is not required. Syllabus

Graham School 8-Week Classes

Note: Tuesday classes are ONLINE. Thursday classes are IN PERSON. (Reversing the trend from recent semesters.)

The Tone Poem and Musical Pictorialism

Tuesdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, June 11-July 30, 2024
Deadline to register online: Tuesday, June 4 at 5PM CT
Location: ONLINE (Note: this is a change from recent semesters.)

How does music paint pictures and inspire emotion? Is it the power of suggestion from program notes, or is there really a musical language? This class examines the program music of Berlioz, Liszt, Strauss, Respighi, Debussy, Stravinsky, and others. Syllabus

Operas That Changed the World

Thursdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, June 13-August 8, 2024
Deadline to register online: Tuesday, June 4 at 5PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at the Gleacher Center, Downtown Chicago (Note: This is a change from recent semesters.)

Opera is an especially sensitive barometer of trends in Western culture. This seminar discusses the history of opera: its structure, vocal types, relationship between words and music and social purposes and reception. Iconic operas are then examined In detail, including works by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet and Puccini. Significant videos and also archival materials are presented in bringing this most grandiose of art forms to life. Syllabus

Summer Registration Deadline: Tuesday, June 4 at 5:00 PM

Too Late to Register Online? Please call 773-702-7249 to register. If space is available, you’ll be able to sign up!

Graham School COVID-19 policies:

For up-to-date Education Guidance including vaccine requirements and masking requirements, please visit goforward.uchicago.edu/education-planning/.

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Picks for Beethoven's 9th

Some recordings we like, and a app.

Revealed: The 8 Operas That Changed the World

Audio: John Gibbons reveals (and defends) the operas to be covered in his next Graham School course, and discusses some of the works he cosidered, but didn't make the cut. 10-minute audio file.

Celebrating Beethoven's "Greatest Concert Ever"

“On December 22, 1808, Beethoven himself rented a hall in Vienna and promoted the concert to end all concerts: the debut, over four hours, of three of his greatest works .. And yes, it was a fiasco. But imagine: It was as if Orson Welles premiered Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Touch of Evil on the same night — with The Lady from Shanghai thrown in for good measure.” (Greg Mitchell)

Why "The Little Drummer Boy" Is So Annoying

That’s the subtitle, amusingly similar to a complaint I recently made to an innocent conference worker at the Chicago Hilton, of a fun, light read by Daniel J. Levitin in The Wall Street Journal.

Guest Blogger "Charley in the Box" Unveils the "Island of Misfit Scores"

“We so-called “unwanted toys” may not delight boys and girls as we would like, but we solace ourselves by looking at the majestic lights of the North, the Aurora Borealis. But how many bores can you fit in Borealis? Boring works should go to the Island of Misfit Scores!”

"Cardillac" Arrest: Hindemith's Work is the Operatic "Caligari"

A delightful development in the world of opera video has occurred. Two (!) versions of Paul Hindemith’s 1926 opus Cardillac have recently appeared. I make the assumption that even serious opera fans may not be acquainted with this fascinating piece, except in Germany.

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