Lecture: “Sibelius and Finland’s Awakening”

The Finlandia University Finnish American Heritage Center will host two lectures by Glenda Dawn Goss, professor of musicology at the Sibelius Academy of Helsinki, Finland, on Thursday, February 28, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Goss, who is the Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year, will present her talk, “Sibelius and Finland’s Awakening,” which is based on more then two decades of research. The lectures are free and open to the public. Finland experienced an unprecedented "Golden Age" of music and art late in the 19th century. Among the crowning achievements of this age were the compositions of Jean Sibelius. But as the Finns enjoyed this flourishing of the arts, a “political awakening” also surfaced during this time when Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. Goss began her research on this dual topic in 1989 in Finland, where she has lived since 1998. Her most recent publication is a major biography of Jean Sibelius: “Sibelius: A Composer's Life and the Awakening of Finland” (2009). The Finnish American Heritage Center is on the campus of Finlandia University at 435 Quincy Street in Hancock. For more information, call 906-487-7505.