Hebrew Union College-University of Cincinnati Ethics Center and the Cincinnati Opera Present "Ethics in the Arts"

The Hebrew Union College-University of Cincinnati Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems and Cincinnati Opera present "Ethics in the Arts" -- The Musicality of Violence: The Aesthetics of Terror, on Sunday, June 20th, 2004 at 5:00 PM at the S. H. and Helen R. Scheuer Chapel at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati. This public symposium features Lydia Goehr, America's leading thinker on music and politics, and composer Peter Bengtson, in advance of the US premiere of his opera The Maids.

Lydia Goehr, Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, will explore the attempt to humanize inhumane events and situations, using the opera The Maids as an example, and the role of music in concentration camps as demonstrated in the opera The Emperor of Atlantis. Lydia Goehr has taught at Columbia University since 1995 and is an internationally acclaimed musicologist. Peter Bengtson, one of Sweden's leading young composers, will discuss his opera The Maids -- based on Jean Genet's play Les Bonnes -- which is being produced by Cincinnati Opera for its American premiere.

This provocative discussion is part of the interactive lectures related to Cincinnati Opera's 2004 Summer Festival conducted at community venues throughout the Tristate and coincides with Cincinnati Opera's upcoming double-bill production of the company premiere of Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis, written while the composer was in the concentration camp at Terezín, and the U.S. premiere of Peter Bengtson's The Maids.

Presented by the Hebrew Union College-University of Cincinnati Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems in cooperation with the Cincinnati Opera, this event is open to the public and free of charge, however, reservations are required. For reservations or for more information contact the HUC-UC Ethics Center at (513) 221-1875, ext. 367.

Cincinnati Opera's 2004 Season Presenting Sponsor is U.S. Bank. The 2004 Summer Festival also is made possible with support from the Fine Arts Fund, Ohio Arts Council, City of Cincinnati, and many generous foundations, corporations, and individual donors. Delta Air Lines is the official airline of Cincinnati Opera, and Jaguar is the official automobile of the 2004 Summer Festival season.

Established in 1986, the HUC-UC Ethics Center promotes teaching, learning, and research in applied ethics and ethical literature and offers an open and respectful setting for scholarly discourse of various religious and secular ethical traditions. The Ethics Center serves as a resource for faculty, students, professionals, and members of the community to help them identify ethical issues and to make personal and professional ethical decisions..