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Katelyn Bouska, photo by Margo Reed

“Hildegard and Her Sisters” with pianist Katelyn Bouska

Women's History Month

82nd Concert Series

  • Sunday, March 2, 2025
  • 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
  • West Building, West Garden Court
  • Performances
  • In-person
  • Registration Required

Join us for a performance of Hildegard and Her Sisters by pianist Katelyn Bouska, dedicated to the great composer, mystic, poet, philosopher, scientist, and visionary 12th century abbess Hildegard von Bingen.

Hildegard and Her Sisters offers a unique pairing of art from the National Gallery’s collection and a musical re-imagining of Hildegard von Bingen. The path of the program follows the trajectory of falling darkness. Composer Amy Beach’s Hermit Thrush at Eve carries the listener softly into that darkness with bird song. Once the night has fallen, the inner spirit emerges. A new work by Maya Miro Johnson, bruises paraphrase, explores the frailty of the human body and Ruth Schönthal’s Canticles of Hieronymus honors the rambunctious imagination of our medieval counterparts.  Sláva Vorlová’s Síla světla (The Power of Light) brings back the early rays of sunshine when the listener suddenly hears singing to greet the new day with Beach's Hermit Thrush at Morn. Woven throughout are Bouska’s own improvisations of Hildegard’s chants, exploring themes of eternity and divine love.

Program

Amy Beach (1867 – 1944)
Hermit Thrush at Eve

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) and Katelyn Bouska
O vis aeternitatis

Maya Miro Johnson (b. 2001)
bruises paraphrase

Bingen and Bouska
O quam mirabilis est

Ruth Schönthal (1924 – 2006)
Canticles of Hieronymus

Bingen and Bouska
Karitas habundat

Sláva Vorlová (1894 – 1973)
Síla světla (The Power of Light)

Beach
Hermit Thrush at Morn

About Katelyn Bouska

Pianist Katelyn Bouska is an academic and advocate, passionate about uncovering music lost to the passage of time. She explores the boundaries between audience and performer, past and present. She brings composers to life, drawing from her deep research, cultural explorations, and innovative programming. In telling their stories, Bouska has created a musical world where we see our own world reflected.

Equally at home on the piano and harpsichord, in front of the lecture hall and on stage, her focus is transcending the barriers between the music, the artist, and the audience. She is currently based in Prague finishing her book Czech Women in Music.