Patrick Summers, Houston Grand Opera’s artistic and music director, will sign copies of his new book, The Spirit of This Place: How Music Illuminates the Human Spirit. Copies of the book will be available for purchase in advance and on the day of the event.
With arts funding and curricula in school districts under attack, the book is a soul-searching series of essays that examine the role of art in society and in individual lives, arguing that art nurtures freedom of thought and is more necessary now than ever before. Summers notes that the place of the arts in our civic future is uncertain. Faced with the problems of the modern world—from water shortages and grave health concerns to global climate change and the now-constant threat of terrorism—one might question the urgency of supporting the arts. For Summers, the answer to whether the arts are worth fighting for is an emphatic “Yes.”
Summers guides readers through his personal encounters with art and music in disparate places, from Houston’s Rothko Chapel to a music classroom in rural China, and reflects on musical works he has conducted all over the world. Assessing the growing canon of new operas performed in American opera houses today, he calls for musical artists to be innovative and brave as opera continues to reinvent itself.
Patrick Summers, Houston Grand Opera’s artistic and music director, will sign copies of his new book, The Spirit of This Place: How Music Illuminates the Human Spirit. Copies of the book will be available for purchase in advance and on the day of the event.
With arts funding and curricula in school districts under attack, the book is a soul-searching series of essays that examine the role of art in society and in individual lives, arguing that art nurtures freedom of thought and is more necessary now than ever before. Summers notes that the place of the arts in our civic future is uncertain. Faced with the problems of the modern world—from water shortages and grave health concerns to global climate change and the now-constant threat of terrorism—one might question the urgency of supporting the arts. For Summers, the answer to whether the arts are worth fighting for is an emphatic “Yes.”
Summers guides readers through his personal encounters with art and music in disparate places, from Houston’s Rothko Chapel to a music classroom in rural China, and reflects on musical works he has conducted all over the world. Assessing the growing canon of new operas performed in American opera houses today, he calls for musical artists to be innovative and brave as opera continues to reinvent itself.
Patrick Summers, Houston Grand Opera’s artistic and music director, will sign copies of his new book, The Spirit of This Place: How Music Illuminates the Human Spirit. Copies of the book will be available for purchase in advance and on the day of the event.
With arts funding and curricula in school districts under attack, the book is a soul-searching series of essays that examine the role of art in society and in individual lives, arguing that art nurtures freedom of thought and is more necessary now than ever before. Summers notes that the place of the arts in our civic future is uncertain. Faced with the problems of the modern world—from water shortages and grave health concerns to global climate change and the now-constant threat of terrorism—one might question the urgency of supporting the arts. For Summers, the answer to whether the arts are worth fighting for is an emphatic “Yes.”
Summers guides readers through his personal encounters with art and music in disparate places, from Houston’s Rothko Chapel to a music classroom in rural China, and reflects on musical works he has conducted all over the world. Assessing the growing canon of new operas performed in American opera houses today, he calls for musical artists to be innovative and brave as opera continues to reinvent itself.