New York University’s inaugural Humanities Festival, Sun., April 15, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Warren Weaver Hall (251 Mercer Street at West 4th St.) focuses on the impact of the epics in a range of texts. The day concludes with the New York premiere of “War Music” by the ensemble Aurea. “War Music” is an adaptation of Christopher Logue’s contemporary retelling of “The Iliad.” Tickets are free and available starting at 6 p.m. on day of the performance at the Skirball Box Office. For more information, call 212.998.2100.
New York University’s inaugural Humanities Festival, Sun., April 15, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Warren Weaver Hall (251 Mercer Street at West 4th St.) focuses on the impact of the epics in a range of texts. Sessions include the following:
- George Hearn, the Tony-Award-winning star of Sweeney Todd and Sunset Boulevard, will read from Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels.
- Lawrence Weschler, director of the Institute for the Humanities at NYU, will draw from his recent books, including Vermeer in Bosnia and Everything that Rises: A Book of Convergences (the latter the winner of this year’s National Book Critics’ Circle Award), to consider the stymied transition from the epic to the tragic in the Balkans.
- Greil Marcus, the renowned cultural critic and author, most recently, of The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice, will analyze the remarkable life and afterlife of Bob Dylan’s seminal protest masterpiece, Masters of War.
- Yusef Komunyakaa, Distinguished Senior Poet at NYU and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems, will read from his own war-inflected poetry and unveil passages from the new translation of “Gilgamesh” upon which he collaborated with Chad Gracia.
- Laura Slatkin, a professor of classics with NYU’s Gallatin School and the author of The Power of Thetis, will probe the role of gender in The Iliad.
- Members of the renowned Aquila Theatre Company, permanent company in residence at the Center for Ancient Studies at NYU, will read from the first books of Stanley Lombardo’s widely praised translation of The Iliad.
The day concludes with the New York premiere of “War Music” by the ensemble Aurea. “War Music,” to be performed at 8 p.m. at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South), is an adaptation of Christopher Logue’s contemporary retelling of “The Iliad.” Tickets are free and available starting at 6 p.m. on day of the performance at the Skirball Box Office. For more information, call 212.998.2100 or go to www.nyu.edu/fas/institute/nyih. Reporters interested in attending the performance must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu.
“War Music,” Logue’s adaptation of “The Iliad,” has been hailed as “the best translation of Homer since Pope’s,” by historian Garry Wills. The Providence, RI-based Aurea, comprised of six chamber musicians and five actors, transforms the work into a multi-disciplinary performance that combines live music, movement, narration, and theatre. Conductor Paul Phillips composed the score for the production.
[Subway Lines: A, B, C, D, E, F, V (West 4th Street); R (8th Street); 6 (Astor Place)]
The event is co-sponsored by the NYU Humanities Initiative and the New York Institute for the Humanities.