A new documentary, Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, looks at the life and work of Thornton faculty composer Morten Lauridsen.

America’s most frequently performed choral composer and 2007 National Medal of Arts recipient, Lauridsen is a distinguished professor of composition at the USC Thornton School of Music.

In a documentary screening and panel discussion, Lauridsen will be joined by the film’s director, Michael Stillwater, and Dana Gioia, the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at USC and adjunct professor at Thornton.

Program Schedule:
7:00 p.m.: Opening Remarks and Performance by Angeles Chorale, Amber Kim, and Morten Lauridsen
7:30 p.m.: Screening of Shining Night
9:00 p.m.: Panel and Q&A

Location Change:
The locaiton of the screening and panel discussion, originaly planned for School of Cinematic Arts, Room 108, has moved to Bovard Auditorium. 

The film premiered in Palm Springs in February 2012 as part of the American Documentary Film Festival and was named Best Documentary at the DC Independent Film Festival. Filmed in California, Washington, and Scotland, it commemorates the 15th anniversary of the premiere of Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna and the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Madrigali. The film celebrates the life and music of the artist named an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts, whom musicologist and Thornton faculty Nick Strimple describes as “the only American composer in history who can be called a mystic.”

Presented by Visions and Voices: The USC Arts and Humanities Initiative.

More Information:

• muspub@usc.edu
• (213) 740-2584