ABOUT THE LECTURE
During the 1860s to 1890s – a period of rapid industrialization, new social freedoms, and extreme political violence – the arts in Russia flourished, competing on the world stage in literature, painting, and music. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky stood at the center of this ferment, looking to both native Russian and defiantly cosmopolitan sources for his symphonies, operas and ballets. Exploring the world of Tolstoy, Repin and Mussorgsky, Dr. Luke Parker, Assistant Professor of Russian at Colby College, will set the scene for Tchaikovsky’s work.
ABOUT DR. LUKE PARKER
Originally from London, Luke Parker (PhD Stanford) is a scholar of Russian literature, theater and film. He has published articles on early chess championships, window displays in Weimar Berlin, exile and poetry, and Russian beauty contests. He has also translated Vladimir Nabokov for the Times Literary Supplement. His current book focuses on Nabokov’s career in European and American exile during the 1920s-1940s, showing how it was shaped by an engagement with a new cinematic culture. His next project is on the worldwide transition from silent to sound cinema, and its effect on acting, stardom and national identity. At Colby College, Luke teaches courses on theater and performance, nineteenth-century literary and artistic culture, as well as Soviet and émigré modernity.
The pre-performance lecture takes place in the Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall.
For more information about Offstage activities, please call 207.773.3150 or email offstage@portlandovations.org.
