Michigan State University Professor of Music Harlan Jennings delivers a talk entitled, "Nebraska Memories: Opera and Willa Cather." Jennings describes how Nebraska's Platte River Valley served as the Midwest's first interstate highway, attracting not only pioneers but some of the nineteenth century's greatest singers. He explains the draw of opera in the late nineteen and early twentieth centuries calling the performers the "rock stars" of their era. Jennings talks about the chronicler of plains life novelist Willa Cather, who as an undergraduate English major at the University of Nebraska, wrote critiques of those renowned performers for local newspapers. Jennings profiles various performers and reads excerpts from Cather's critiques. A question and answer session follows. MSU Music Librarian Mary Black Junttonen introduces Jennings. Held at the MSU Main Library. Part of the MSU Libraries' Colloquia Series.
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