The Humanities in Spaaaaace!: Moons

April 11 is a full moon, and on this special night the DHC concludes its space-themed series by investigating our precious natural satellite.  Live musical performances include Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata,” Bellini's “Vaga luna, che inargenti,” and the aria “O Luna Lucent” from Joseph Haydn's opera Il mondo della luna.  Traditional Native stories, including vocal and flute musical performances, look at Nokomis—our grandmother, the moon—from the perspective of the American Indian tribal nations of the northeast.  An investigation of  “The Moon and the Western Imagination” turns up the forms of cultural projection that scientists, artists, and others have given to the lunar body.  And a NASA scientist helps us think through the ways in which science fiction has influenced our understanding and exploration of the moon.  The evening concludes with a guided tour of the moon for the audience as we go outside to telescopes that will be set up for a public viewing of the full moon.

Free delicious Moon Pie treats plus Tang—the drink of astronauts!—for the first 100 audience members in attendance.

Featuring:

• The Bach & Beethoven Ensemble’s Catherine Spitzer (soprano) and Charles Metz (historical keyboardist)
• Scott Montgomery, Lecturer in Geology, University of Washington, Seattle
• Joseph Bruchac, Abenaki traditional storyteller, author of 130 books includingThirteen Moons on Turtle's Back and Code Talker
• Geoffrey A. Landis, NASA John Glenn Research Center