Politics of Composer Berlioz is Topic of Lecture

Peter A. Bloom, Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities at Smith College, who has written several articles and edited major works on composer Hector Berlioz, will give a lecture at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12, titled "Berlioz's Politics and the Politics of Berlioz," in Seelye 201. A reception will follow in Seelye 207, the faculty lounge. The event is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.

Bloom has served on Smith's music department faculty since 1970 and organized last year's conference, "Berlioz: Past, Present, Future," which kicked off a worldwide celebration of the 200th anniversary of the 19th-century composer/conductor's birth. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Pennsylvania, Bloom is a member of the Comité International Hector Berlioz, the Paris-based organization under whose aegis the composer's bicentenary celebrations have been coordinated.

Bloom is one of four Smith faculty members named to a chaired professorship this year who will be presenting lectures to inaugurate their new positions. The other newly chaired faculty members to give lectures are Randy O. Frost, Harold Edward and Elsa Siipola Israel Professor of Psychology, who will speak on Feb. 26 ("Ownership Gone Awry: Compulsive Hoarding and the Fourth Circle of Hell"); Domenico Grasso, Rosemary B. Hewlett '40 Professor of Engineering, who will speak on March 29 ("The Seductive Equation and Engineering Thought" ); and Karl P. Donfried, Elizabeth A. Woodson 1922 Professor of Religion, who will speak on April 9 ("Shifting Paradigms: Jesus, Paul and Judaism").

The four lecturers were named to the endowed chairs by action of the Board of Trustees last July. Also named to endowed chairs this year were Jane Bryden, Iva Dee Hiatt Professor; H. Allen Curran, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor; Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Professor in American Studies; Richard J. Sherr, Caroline L. Wall '27 Professor; and Elizabeth V. Spelman, Barbara Richmond 1940 Professor in the Humanities. The remaining chaired professors will deliver inaugural lectures in 2001­02.

Contact: Marti Hobbes, mhobbes@smith.edu

February 7, 2001