Alex Ross to Keynote 65th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference

Join us as we welcome Alex Ross, Music Critic for The New Yorker, back to Red Cloud as keynote speaker for the 65th annual Willa Cather Spring Conference at the National Willa Cather Center. His talk, "Willa Cather, Olive Fremstad, and the Singer in Fiction," will focus on the world of Cather's singers, particularly as it relates to the artists that populate the world of her Youth and the Bright Medusa, which celebrates its publication centenary this year. One hundred years on, Cather's artists feel as dynamic and compelling as ever—be sure to join us for this not-to-be-missed event!

June 5, 2020—6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (Central)

A regular visitor to Willa Cather’s hometown, Ross has been intrigued by Cather’s musical inspirations. In his forthcoming book, Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music [Farrar, Straus and Giroux: September 2020], he makes important new connections between the composer and Red Cloud’s mysterious, itinerant music instructor, Albert Schindelmeisser.

Ross’s 2017 article, “A Walk in Willa Cather’s Prairie,” is a wonderful introduction to his writing and the experience of Spring Conference, for the uninitiated. It explores the backdrop of Willa Cather's Red Cloud and surrounding prairie world and is a lovely tribute to the writer and her Nebraska inspirations.

This program is free and open to the public, thanks to the generous support of Humanities Nebraska, as a part of our Spring Conference. 
To participate in this free humanities program, click here!

To join us for our full three-day Spring Conference line-up, please complete registration here!