CHORAL MUSIC, DISCUSSION TO ADDRESS VIOLENCE

The HC-BMC Chorale practices

A musical meditation on violence and retribution will be the prelude to a panel discussion of similar issues in a program titled "'An Eye for an Eye' Revisited — Responding to Violence in the Post-9/11 World" on Sunday, Dec. 5. at 4 p.m., in Roberts Hall at Haverford. The Haverford-Bryn Mawr Chorale, led by Thomas Lloyd and accompanied by the Chorale Chamber Orchestra, will perform Sir Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time. The performance will be followed by a panel that will address the question: "Are there responses to violence in today's world that are either truly effective or morally defensible?" These two back-to-back events are sponsored by the Haverford College Department of Music, Distinguished Visitors' Office, and Center for Peace and Global Citizenship.

A Child of Our Time, which Tippett began to write the day World War Two began in 1939, is an hourlong oratorio composed in response to Kristallnacht, the massive Nazi attack on German Jews that is often regarded as the initiating event of the Holocaust. The composition's three parts describe a world in darkness and winter and tell the story of a young man who seeks justice through violence. Tippett modeled the structure of the piece on Handel's Messiah and Bach's Passions. The lyrics of the libretto, also written by Tippett, are often stark and brutal; they are interspersed with African-American spirituals, which he used in a manner analogous to Bach's use of traditional Lutheran chorales.

Four distinguished guest soloists will sing with the chorale in the soprano, alto, tenor and bass roles of Mother, Aunt, Boy (the Child of Our Time) and Uncle. The soloists for this performance are soprano Rebecca Whitlow, mezzo-soprano Megan Dey-Toth, tenor Guy Rothfuss, and bass Michael Riley. The Chorale itself consists of 120 performers from Bryn Mawr and Haverford.

The discussion panel will include invited guests Elizabeth Ann Linehan, professor of philosophy and ethics at St. Joseph's University, Bridget Moix, legislative secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington, D.C., and Michael Radu, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and co-chair of the FPRI's Center on Terrorism, Counter Terrorism and Homeland Security. Linehan will speak specifically on the issues from the Roman Catholic "just war" philosophy, Moix will speak on the Quaker perspective of active nonviolent resistance, and Radu will speak for the conservative viewpoint on pre-emptive war. There will be an audience question-and-answer period at the end of the discussion.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information on the performance, please call (610) 896-1011. For more on Sir Michael Tippett and A Child of Our Time, visit http://www.michael-tippett.com/iocchildeng.htm.

— Allison Siegenthaler '07

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