This past October, Lincoln Center introduced the White Light Festival, a new annual fall festival which focuses on “music’s transcendent capacity to illuminate our larger interior universe”.
The Festival aims to explore the spiritual dimension of music. Performances throughout the series span many differing cultural and musical traditions. Instead of concentrating on these differences however, the Lincoln Center staff has formatted this festival to stress the similarities and to allow its patrons “to experience moments of connection and wholeness in an increasingly frenetic and fragmented world”.
The Festival has sparked a whole thread of commentary, accessible online through the New York Times’ Arts Beat Blog.
Music for me certainly has a very spiritual element. I was privileged in high school to sing with HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir and work with some phenomenal musicians and conductors who focused on both musicality and Judaism’s connection to music. Jewish texts took on new meaning and I learned about the intricacies of music and text to song associations.
Through my time with HaZamir, I grew both spiritually and musically.
I think this Festival is a wonderful thing and I hope that it enhances lives as my experiences with HaZamir have enhanced mine. And though I am upset that I am first learning about it now, I’ve already added the Second Annual White Light Festival to my calendar for next fall.
