Ian Bostridge: “Musical Identities” - Lecture 3: Meditations on Death

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 3: Meditations on Death

Introduction and discussion with Martha Feldman, Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor of Music and the Humanities in the College

The final lecture will look at identity's ultimate dissolution—death—and explore some of the ways in which classical composers have confronted it, in private and public mode. The lecture focuses on three works by Benjamin Britten.