Columbia, SC
Feb. 1, 2013
The conference has been fascinating so far. If you listen to the (optional) lecture I posted on Wagner and 19th c. culture, you'll get an idea of what is being discussed here. Every aspect of German history and culture crisscrosses with Wagner in some way, so the range is wide. The whole conference will ultimately be posted at this YouTube channel, though the earlier sessions in Bayreuth, Germany, are there now.
So far, aside from Alex Ross's keynote address on African American reception of Wagner (WEB Debois) one of the most interesting presentations has been about a multimedia, performance art project done in the Munich, in the Nazi-designed Haus der Kunst. The trailer is here. Typically "modern," the show was designed by an Israeli woman, the child of Survivors, and addresses (visually and musically) many of the complexities of the Wagner debate.
