Ian Bostridge: “Musical Identities” - Lecture 1: Identity in Performance

Acclaimed tenor Ian Bostridge looks at how classical music can express the inexpressible: the nature of existence; the fluidity of identity; the inevitability of death. Through three Berlin Family Lectures focused on “Musical Identities,” Bostridge sets out to explore and evaluate some of the works at the very center of the classical vocal repertoire, asking how they construct identities—historically, poetically, and musically.

Registration is free of charge and open to the public.
These Berlin Family Lectures will be delivered on Zoom Webinar.

Lecture 1: Identity in Performance

Introduction and discussion with Berthold Hoeckner, Professor of Music and the Humanities in the College

Classical music offers a fluid and complex perspective on identity. This lecture will focus on three vocal works from disparate eras, which explore and use identity in different ways:

• Monteverdi's Renaissance work for narrator and instrumental ensemble, Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (the battle between Tancred and Clorinda)
• Robert Schumann's 1840 song cycle for voice and piano, Frauenliebe und Leben (A woman's life and love)
• Benjamin Britten's 20th century "church opera" Curlew River, inspired by Japanese Noh theatre, in which a female protagonist is played by a male singer