Orpheus' Son, the Life of Sidney Lanier
Mon, Jun 27
|CLE Lecture Hall
Time & Location
Jun 27, 2022, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
CLE Lecture Hall, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC 28741, USA
About the Event
The story Gran will share with you is one of utmost passion and dedication to one's Muses. It is not only a great Southern Story, and a broad sweeping American one, it cuts to the very marrow of the fundamental challenge of a life in performances. Our collective inheritance as Americans is complicated, conflicted, and still not resolved. On the state of world history, we are a young nation, and our Art reflects and reveals that about us. The language of learned people in the mid to even late 19th century often falls strangely on our ears, and personal decisions made a hundred and sixty years ago should not be solely interpreted or judged with 21st century realizations or expectations. The Lanier story is in no way an apologia for the decisions of a teenager or culture in which he was raised. Rather, it is a remembrance of the arc of a man's life desperately trying to find means to express his deepest most soulful convictions. We think we choose our heroes, but sometimes they choose us. What Gran will share with you is testament to that mystery.
Location: CLE Lecture Hall
Presenter: Gran Wilson, a native of Bessemer, Alabama, distinguished himself as a leading operatic tenor on three continents, over a dozen countries, and in 35 states. he currently is the Voice-Opera Division Coordinator of Maryland, where he has been a member of the voice faculty for 21 years. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Voice at Sanford University, and Masters degree in Voice, and post graduate work at Indiana University. In 2019 he received the Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Faculty Mentor Award at the University of Maryland. he now has former students engaged by opera theaters in both North America, and throughout Europe.