Orpheus' Son, the Life of Sidney Lanier

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.

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Location:  CLE Lecture Hall

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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.