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Upcoming Events
An Evening with Kai Bird
About the Event
Keynote speaker Kai Bird is a Pulitzer Prize—winning biographer, journalist, and co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, on which the blockbuster movie Oppenheimer was based. He is the executive director and distinguished lecturer of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.
His most recent books include The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter and The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, which was a New York Times best-seller. He chronicled his childhood in the Middle East in his memoir, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis. He is the author of biographies of John J. McCloy, McGeorge Bundy, and William Bundy. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2006 for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (co-authored with Martin J. Sherwin). His work includes critical writings on the Vietnam War, Hiroshima, nuclear weapons, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the CIA.
He won the National Books Critics Circle Award and the Duff Cooper Prize for History and is the recipient of numerous fellowships. He is an elected member of the prestigious Society of American Historians.
Bird’s keynote presentation will include performances of works inspired by the festival’s theme by Cleveland Orchestra musicians and soloists. The event will be livestreamed on The Cleveland Orchestra’s digital home, adella.live (subscription fee applies). It will be available on-demand in June on CHQ Assembly.
*A book signing with Bird will immediately follow the event.
Ticket holders for Mozart’s Magic Flute (May 16, 18, 24, & 26) and Mozart’s Gran Partita (May 23 & 25) qualify for and can claim complimentary tickets for the festival’s keynote event.
Guest Speakers
Kai Bird, speaker
Michael E. Hill, EdD, President of Chautauqua Institution, moderator
About the Performances
Jung-Min Amy Lee, violin
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Christina Dahl, piano
Miloš Repický, piano
SARASATE Fantasy on The Magic Flute
JOHN ADAMS “Batter my heart” from Doctor Atomic
@ 12:00 am
CHQ Travels: Beethoven in Vienna with David Levy
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Europe’s promising young musicians flocked to Vienna, producing and performing what would become the masterpieces of the Classical period. Join Chautauqua in Vienna during the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiere and explore the life and works of Beethoven in Vienna. On an itinerary curated by Professor David Levy, Beethoven scholar and regular Chautauqua speaker, we will follow in the footsteps of Beethoven to the homes where he composed, the palaces where he performed and the cafés he frequented. Vienna is also a city of great art collections; we will enjoy a visit to Gustav Klimt’s “Frieze” at the Secession Building that was inspired by Beethoven’s composition. There will be tours to the National Archives, a long-standing family-run Music publishers and a tour of the Habsburgs Historic Instruments collection. See where Beethoven sought sanctuary for his many ailments on an excursion to the spa town of Baden bei Wien and we will learn about the current state of music education in the city from Ulrike Sych, Rector of the University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna, the world’s largest music conservatory. This week-long program in the city of music promises to be a veritable “Ode to Joy” for classical music lovers.
Pricing: $6,890 per person; For a single room add $1,200
Preview Premiere and Reception: Gamelan Dharma Swara
Gamelan Dharma Swara is proud to present at Chautauqua the Preview World Premiere of a new Dharma Swara commission, co-created by Artist-in-Residence Gusti Komin and longtime dance teacher and choreographer Shoko Yamamuro. The traditional welcome piece to open a performance or event is reimagined. Works of this genre — typically in the female style — often focus on notions of reception and invitation alongside purification and blessing; however, this exploratory work will also consider the group’s identity as New Yorkers performing Balinese arts via the lens of expatriate artists.
Following the preview premiere, mingle with fellow attendees and performers at the Strohl Art Center for a reception. Enjoy an assortment of hearty hors d’oeuvres; refreshments will be available for purchase.
About Gamelan Dharma Swara
Gamelan Dharma Swara — “a duty of perpetuating sound” — is one of the United States’ leading Balinese music and dance ensembles. From their beginnings at the Indonesian Consulate of New York to the present day, they have been captivating audiences with raucous performances for over 33 years and counting. The group performs a spellbinding blend of iconic traditional pieces paired with bold, contemporary compositions, spanning some 500 years. It has been called “thrilling, mesmerizing and powerful” (New York Times) and “sublime, receiving perhaps the weekend’s most rapturous response” (The New Yorker).