LECTURES

This is at 515 South Street, Epstein Building, Women's Studies Research Center. Details below. Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar Amelia LeClair will present a free lecture/demo with her women’s music ensemble Cappella Clausura on Thursday, February 14, 12:30PM, at Brandeis University. Spanning the centuries, the presentation Hildegard von Bingen: Medieval, Mystical and Modern makes the connection between Hildegard (1098 – 1179), the medieval mystic of the Rhine, and contemporary composers inspired by her: Hilary Tann, Patricia Van Ness and Emma Lou Diemer. Live and recorded choral pieces will be interspersed within the lecture program. The 12th century composer, Hildegard, was a remarkable German Benedictine abbess who experienced visions and wrote theological, botanical and medicinal treatises in addition to her poetry and music. She is known for her dramatic, soaring melodies and the close relationship she established between music and text in her compositions. Her Ordo Virtutum, a morality play, is widely considered the first opera (1150). The free program will be presented at Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center, Epstein Building, 515 South Street.