Program Type:
LectureAge Group:
Adults- Registration is required for this event.
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Program Description
Event Details
Join Professor Gil Harel for a music program that is perfect for October!
Gil will examine classical music's engagement with the supernatural and macabre, drawing from the Baroque and Romantic eras to illuminate thematic and structural innovations. He will consider J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, a work often cited for evoking gothic dread through its improvisatory intensity and fugal complexity. Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique will be dissected for its programmatic narrative, culminating in the witches’ sabbath that fuses hallucinatory orchestration with revolutionary form. Franz Liszt’s Totentanz will conclude the evening; a work known for its virtuosic paraphrase of the "Dies Irae" chant and its embodiment of Romantic transcendentalism here presented as a danse macabre for piano and orchestra.
About the Presenter
Gil Harel (PhD, Brandeis University) is a musicologist and composer whose interests include styles ranging from western art music to contemporary musical theater. Previously, he served on the faculty at CUNY Baruch College (where he was awarded the prestigious "Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching"). Currently, he is Full Professor of Music at CT State Naugatuck Valley, where he has been presented with the AFT "Merit Award for Exemplary Service to the College" on seven occasions.
Among many accolades, he has been honored with the coveted Connecticut Board of Regents (BOR) Teaching Award. At Naugatuck Valley, Dr. Harel conducts the college chorale, a cappella ensemble, teaches music history and theory, and serves as musical director of theater productions.
Need to Know
Reminder: Evening Parking
Parking is available in Darien Library's parking lot. If the lot is full, there may be parking available behind Nielsen's on Thorndal Circle (view parking map).
