The seminar will examine the troubled relationship between artistic creation and totalitarianism through the perspective of the lives and careers of two emblematic artists working in Stalinist Russia: the poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) and the composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). Akhmatova’s status as an icon of Russia culture will be discussed through an analysis of her lyrical and elegiac cycle Requiem. Shostakovich’s career as a composer who worked under the auspices of the regime will be examined in parallel with the different paths taken by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, addressing the relationship between art and politics and the power of art to convey political ideology.  Speakers: Prof. Julia Trubikhina, Professor of Russian Literature at the Division of Russian and Slavic Studies at Hunter College, CUNY; James Melo, musicologist for the Ensemble for the Romantic Century and Senior Editor at Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale Presented by the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation, CUNY, and the Ensemble for the Romantic Century in connection with the theatrical concert The Heart is not Made of Stone at BAM, April 27-May 1. To find out more about ERC’s theatrical concerts, visit our website: www.romanticcentury.org 

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