Look Who it Was Random video

Dennis Speed, Introduction - The Aesthetical Education of Humanity Through Music

584 views · Published 7 July 2017 · 4:01 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Schiller Institute · 2017 · Education

Watch on YouTube

On June 30, 2017, singers, teachers and other lovers of wisdom gathered in the New York Public Library's Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, for a symposium which explored the indispensible role of classical music and beauty in society, the need for a scientific tuning of A=432 Hz, and the rich history and depth of knowledge and experience represented by the singers and artists who participated. 

This unique gathering was part of a two-day tribute to master musician and teacher Sylvia Olden Lee, whose 100th birthday anniversary was celebrated the night before in a concert at Carnegie Hall, in which many of the great singers of the symposium participated.

Sylvia Olden Lee was a rigorous and beloved teacher, unsparing in her insights into how an individual could find within themselves the desire and power to move forward. She offered this gift to the nation as a whole, so the whole nation, and indeed the whole world could progress. Much will have to be “unlearned” from modern culture to again create what Dvorak called "a great and noble school of music", and no such school of music will ever exist, without "great and noble" individuals. Thus is the "aesthetic education of humanity through music" demonstrated. And in this way is the mission described by "the poet of freedom", Friedrich Schiller, in his poem, "The Artists", fulfilled: "The dignity of man is in your hands. Its keeper be!; It sinks with you! With you, it will ascend!"

Symposium participants include: Simon Estes (bass-baritone), Elvira Green (mezzo-soprano), John Sigerson (conductor), Gregory Hopkins (tenor, conductor), Tony Morss (conductor), Osceola Davis (soprano), William Ray (baritone), Carmela Altamura (soprano)

More from this channel