Humanities West presents Late Czarist Russian Artistic Brilliance

Nov 2, 7:30-9:30pm, and Nov 3, 10am-4pm

Late Czarist Russian Artistic Brilliance is a two-day program of lectures, discussions, and musical performances exploring the enduring contributions of Russian art, music, and literature created during the twilight years of Czarist Russia.

The phrase “European with Asian characteristics” expresses an continuing fascination with the prolific contributions to world culture created during the late 1800’s by Russian artists, including the music of Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev; the artwork of Kramskoy, Repin, and Levitan; and the writings of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov. This program will examine the cultural and historical influences that helped Russians, and then the rest of the West, to recognize and to reward the gifts of these Russian artists.

The Friday evening program opens with A Russian Success Story, a lecture/performance by Robert Greenberg, confirming the emergence of a concert music tradition in 19th-century Russia as one of the great success stories in the history of European art. Russia began the 19th century with virtually no native tradition of concert, or “literate music.” This talk shows how, by the end of the century, Russia was able to export music across the globe and boast two of the world’s greatest schools of music, while producing composers who would change the nature of European literate music.

Saturday presenters are Luba Golburt (UC Berkeley) with a presentation on Pushkin or Gogol: Two Blueprints for 19th-Century Russian Literature, Gary Hamburg (Claremont-McKenna College) with Dostoevsky and the Golden Age of Russian Literature, and Molly Brunson (Yale) on Painting the Russian Word.

The program includes a musical performance introduced by Clifford ‘Kip’ Cranna (SF Opera). Excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s brilliant operatic setting of Pushkin’s verse novel Eugene Onegin will be performed by soprano Rhoslyn Jones and baritone Eugene Brancoveanu.

$25-$80.

Presented by Humanities West.