More than two years in the works, Carolina Performing Arts’ centennial celebration of Igor Stravinsky’s famed ballet “The Rite of Spring” is now in full swing.
CPA’s “The Rite of Spring at 100” has already brought world-renowned artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Compagnie Marie Chouinard and members of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory to Chapel Hill.
Beginning Thursday, CPA began to break from performances to explore the academic side of “The Rite of Spring” with Reassessing “The Rite”: A Centennial Conference.
The conference merges the arts and academia, featuring scholars from around the world.
Will Robin, a UNC musicology graduate student who has helped coordinate the conference, said it adeptly merges performing arts, campus culture and scholarly attitudes.
“This project has absolutely taken it home on this,” he said.
Severine Neff, a UNC music professor, has been involved with planning “The Rite of Spring at 100” from the beginning.
“In terms of the birthday celebration itself and in terms of scholarly work, it seems natural to have a conference with all of the scholars — as many as we could from different parts of the world,” Neff said.
The weekend conference features 26 scholars’ addresses. It will explore the impact “The Rite of Spring” has had on culture throughout the 20th century.
