Performing Esther on Stage: Questions on Gender, Image, and Music

Wednesday, March 27 at 7:00 PM in the Kahaner Auditorium 

In this presentation Katharina Galor will introduce the forgotten opera Esther de Carpentras by Jewish French composer Darius Milhaud, originally performed in Paris in 1938, and then fallen into oblivion.

Inspired by the composer’s Provençal heritage, the work is based on a Purim play staged in the ghettos of southern France while under papal rule (17th through 19th centuries). In her talk Katharina will explore the place of women and the role of sound and music in the original performances and how they shaped an opera of one of the early 20th century's most important composers.