Author: John Canver

“Rhetoric, Ambition and the Function of the Capella Palatina in Palermo”

A Lecture by Professor Beat Brenk, University of Rome Join world-reknowned scholar Dr. Beat Brenk as he considers the meaning and use of spiritual architectural space in Sicily’s twelfth century Capella Palatina, looking at the development of this sacred building and its dialogue with the temporal and political concerns of the day. The Capella reflects […]

“Sounds of Enlightenment: Mozart’s Magic Flute”

A Lecture by Professor Christopher I. Lehrich Mozart’s last opera is a bizarre fairytale filled with monsters, a dark Queen, a sorcerous brotherhood, bird people, and a prince rescuing a princess. Only genius could spin musical gold from such a tangle of straw. But is there a deeper meaning there? Why does Die Zauberfote still […]

Ecstatic Arabic Music, Karim Nagi

Join us on April 8 for a performance and Q&A by Arab Hand Percussionist Karim Nagi. Karim Nagi is a native Egyptian drummer, DJ, and folk dancer. He has released two internationally distributed CDs of this unique brand of Arab House/Electronica using acoustic instruments. He is well versed in the ultra-traditional styles of music and […]

“The Song that Can be Sung is Not the Eternal Song”

Professor Paul Humphreys Join us for a screening of “the song that can be sung is Not the Eternal Song,” a musical setting of nine chapters selected from the Daodejing for women’s chorus and harp. The film draws images from four live cameras that document a 2008 performance in Los Angeles. A film/art installation by […]

“Popular Scriptures in Turkish Islam”

DUNYA Ensemble Many devotional and liturgical poems composed in the Turkish language by Suleyman Celebi (early 15th c.), Yunus Emre (13th c.) and others still reserve a very popular place in Islam in Turkey. Join us for a lecture on Anatolian Islamic musical and ritualistic traditions that use the Turkish language in their poetry, followed […]

2009 Academy Award Nominee

Trouble the Water A free screening and discussion with directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, and Brian Nobles, a featured subject of the film. Moderated by Dale P. Andrews, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology in the Boston University School of Theology. From the film’s Web site: “Winner of the Grand […]

“When Jesus Laughed: Historical Fiction: Religion, Readers and Reality”

Avi When writing historical fiction the writer almost inevitably deals with religion.  Readers read such work in a variety of ways—joy, shock, confusion—but mostly in the context of their own religious experience. Is there a message in the text? Is the text the message? Is there any message? Whose is it, anyway?  Does it matter […]

Two Lectures by Mohamed Zakariya

Mohamed Zakariya is an Islamic calligrapher, artist, and maker of custom instruments from the history of science. Born in Ventura, California, in 1942, he began his study of Islamic calligraphy in 1961. After continuing his studies in Tangier, Morocco, and at the British Museum, he was invited in 1984 to study at the Research Center […]