| Ring Seminars for Life-long Learners |
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Ring Seminars for Life-long Learners Throughout the festival there are a number of educational offerings for life-long learners who are interested in discovering more about the Ring and its influence on life and culture in history and the present day. LA Opera has partnered with three of Los Angeles' premier art institutions - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Huntington Library, and the J. Paul Getty Museum - to develop a series of in-depth seminars to enhance your experience and deepen your knowledge of Wagner's Ring cycle. Entertaining and informative for both for the novice and Ring devotees, these seminars offer a unique focus special to each landmark location. June 5, 2010, 10am-4pm Mythic Legends and Wagnerian Fables Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Inspired by LACMA's exhibit Myths, Legends, and Cultural Renewal: Wagner's Sources, the seminar will delve into the heroic mythologies that Wagner drew from when developing his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen. Presenters for the day include James Conlon, LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director; Timothy O. Benson, LACMA Curator; John Deathridge, Wagner scholar; Mitchell Morris, UCLA musicology professor; and Desirèe Mays, opera lecturer. Lunch and admission to the galleries is included in the fee. Open to 200 participants. Location: Bing Theater, LACMA (5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles) Reservations: $65, visit www.LAOpera.com or call (213) 972-8001 June 9, 2010, 10am-4pm Wagner, His World and His Critics The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens The Huntington Library is the repository of a first edition of George Bernard Shaw's famous criticism: The Perfect Wagnerite, on display in the Library. Featuring LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon; Wagner scholar John Deathridge; UCLA musicology professor Mitchell Morris; and opera lecturer Desirèe Mays, the seminar will explore how Wagner's contemporary critics viewed his work and the world. The seminar day includes a musical performance, lunch and admission to the galleries and gardens. Open to 190 participants. Location: Friends Hall, The Huntington Library (1151 Oxford Road, San Marino) Reservations: $65, visit www.LAOpera.com or call (213) 972-8001 June 19, 2010, 9:30am-3:30pm Wagner's Mythology: Classical Roots and Inspiration J. Paul Getty Museum, The Getty Villa Richard Wagner culled from many sources-including ancient Greek drama-to create his masterwork Der Ring des Nibelungen, four operas based on German and Scandinavian folklore. This seminar features three talks exploring the classic sources that compelled Wagner to create his magnum opus, with a special presentation by LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon, tours of the Museum's antiquities collection, and a musical performance. Open to 200 participants. Location: Auditorium, The Getty Villa (17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Los Angeles) Reservations: $95; $75 students. Call the Getty at (310) 440-7300 to register. For more information about these seminars and other Ring Festival LA events visit: www.RingFestivalLA.com; For more information LA Opera's Ring or to purchase tickets visit: www.LAOperaRing.com In addition to the LA Opera seminars there are other fascinating seminars taking place at educational institutions across the Southland. May 4, 2010, 1-5:30 pm Occidental College Wagner's Ring: Historical, Artistic, and Philosophical Perspectives An interdisciplinary symposium whose focus is the artistic, cultural, historical, political and performative context for Wagner's monumental Ring cycle. Participants include speakers from the Music, German, History, Art History and Visual Arts departments. Themes addressed in the symposium include the "intersection between music, politics and prejudice" (Tommasini, NY Times, 8/5/09) and music-analytic approaches to Wagner's musical language. Info: www.departments.oxy.edu/music/RingFestivalLA.htm or (323) 259-2785 Johnson Hall 200, 1600 Campus Rd., Los Angeles, CA, 90041 June 1-2, 2010, 10 am-6 pm Hammer Museum & University of California, Los Angeles Wagner in LA: The Opera of the 21st Century? A conference on the productivity, even urgency of Wagner for contemporary art and critical theory, with talks by some of the most innovative musicologists and philosophers in the world today including David J. Levin, Mary Ann Smart, John Deathridge, Clemens Risi, Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek, and Fredric Jameson. Info: www.hammer.ucla.edu or (310) 443-7000 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 June 6, 2010, 10 am-3 pm American Jewish University Art & Morality-Music of an Anti-Semite Dr. Michael Berenbaum moderates this seminar. Presenting scholars include Sander Gilman, Steve Lowenstein, and Marc Weiner. LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon will share brief remarks and Gottfried Wagner will make an afternoon presentation. Info: www.ajula.edu RSVP: (310) 440-1279, seating is limited Gindi Auditorium (AJU), 15600 Mulholland Dr., Bel-Air, CA, 90077 June 7, 14, & 21, 2010, 7:30-9:30 pm; June 12, 10 am-12 pm University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Wagner's Ring Cycle: Meanings, Sources, Influences Enrich your understanding of the Ring with an in-depth study of the operas with USC faculty and other guest speakers. The four-part series includes a back-stage tour of LA Opera's Siegfried production on June 12. Info: www.college.usc.edu or (213) 740-1349 Admission: $200 (open to the public) Register: www.regonline.com/wagnerringcycle USC Campus, Taper of Hall Humanities, 3501 Trousdale Pkwy., Los Angeles, CA 90089 June 11-12, 9 am-4 pm Mount St. Mary's College Myth and Imagery of the Ring This seminar explores the significance of the "ring" in Wagnerian operas, compares it to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and focuses on LA Opera's Ring production. The lectures, video clips, handouts, and panel of scholars will stimulate small-group discussions inspired by the ancient Northern saga of warriors, dragons, and heroic encounters with evil. Admission: $100 (April), $125 (May-June) Register: www.msmc.la.edu/ringseminars June 14-15, 9 am-4 pm Architectural Seminar & Tour This seminar, with on-site tours, studies three imaginative treasures of Los Angeles architecture: The Getty Center (Richard Meier), the Schindler Kings Road House (Rudolf Schindler), and Walt Disney Concert Hall (Frank O. Gehry). Visits to the three buildings are preceded by lectures and discussions of imaginative connections: classic Valhalla on the hill over Brentwood, the patio-beach primal nature style introduced by Schindler, and the Brothers Grimm fantasy of post-modern Disney Hall. Seminar is limited to 20 participants with priority for participants in the Ring seminar. Admission $100 (April), $125 (May-June) Register: www.msmc.la.edu/ringseminars The Doheny Campus of Mount St. Mary's College, 10 Chester Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90007 |
