I had the total honor and joy of being a guest speaker for the Engaging Performance class at UMich today. This remarkable class is all about live performance and everything that entails. Students are from all over the campus, all the colleges, and their questions and thoughts are provoking and fabulous. I was there to talk about orchestras and being a conductor. It was a blast, and also a challenge. It was gratifying to hear about the things students found fascinating – how musicians play together, how programming and rehearsing work – but it was also a wakeup call to hear from students who felt invisible or profoundly out of place at classical performances.
And, as I left the course, I checked into social media to get the latest, terrible news about the latest terror attack. Such a heavy day, which began for me with energy and inspiration. I’m deeply grateful to Gillian Eaton and to all the participants for inviting and including me this morning. Every move we can make to engage and connect with each other has deep, desperate meaning in this world. Onward.
This video talks about the course.
And these are the students.
