Beginning in the fall of 2007 USAO will be sponsoring a "Festival of Music and Ideas", centered around the life and times of five major composers; Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Bela Bartok and Leonard Bernstein. Each trimester there will be a week-long festival of lectures, movies and concerts focusing on one of the composers.
The festival will explore the life and times of each composer through a liberal arts perspective, involving interactive and multimedia presentations giving insight into relevant and related topics in history, politics, science, philosophy and other disciplines. University faculty members from various disciplines will present lectures interspersed with music performances each night of the week.
The schedule for the festivals is as follows:
Fall 2007 - Bach
Spring 2008 - Beethoven
Summer 2008- Brahms
Fall 2008-Bartok
Spring 2009-Bernstein