‘Scalia/Ginsburg’ inaugurates Ginsburg program at Cornell: Sept. 23, 2023 at 7pm ET
On September 23, 2023 at 7pm ET, Derrick Wang’s Supreme Court opera Scalia/Ginsburg inaugurates Cornell University’s Biennial Cornell Brooks School Program in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Martin Ginsburg, in a new production by Opera Ithaca.
This one-night-only performance of Scalia/Ginsburg takes place Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 7pm ET, in Willard Straight Hall at Cornell University, with introductory remarks by Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack, Cornell Brooks School Dean Colleen L. Barry, and Justice Ginsburg’s granddaughter Clara Spera, a lecturer at Harvard Law School.
Tickets to Opera Ithaca’s production of Scalia/Ginsburg at Cornell are available via the Opera Ithaca website.
The Cornell Chronicle reports:
The Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy will present “Scalia/Ginsburg,” a one-act comedic opera about the unlikely friendship between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 and Antonin Scalia, on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall.…
“Scalia/Ginsburg,” presented in partnership with Opera Ithaca, is one of numerous universitywide events in the coming year that will explore freedom of expression and academic freedom under the theme “The Indispensable Condition: Freedom of Expression at Cornell.”
The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54, along with Justice Antonin Scalia, will be the subject of a one-act comedic opera, “Scalia/Ginsburg,” presented as part of the Biennial Cornell Brooks School Program, which honors the legacies of Ginsburg and her late husband, Martin Ginsburg ’53.
“The deep and remarkable friendship of Justices Ginsburg and Scalia endured across decades of what Justice Ginsburg herself called ‘frequently dueling opinions,’” President Martha E. Pollack said. “That friendship is at the core of ‘Scalia/Ginsburg’: an important, timely and delightful demonstration of the kind of civil discourse, commitment to shared values and respect for difference that we hope to strengthen this year at Cornell.”
Pollack; Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, a lecturer at Harvard Law School; and Colleen L. Barry, dean of the Brooks School, will deliver remarks before the performance.
The opera is the first event of a new biennial program from the Brooks School honoring the legacy of Ginsburg and her husband, Martin Ginsburg ’53, who met at Cornell as undergraduates on a blind date in 1950. The program will highlight the policy issues that were important to Justice Ginsburg and will feature opera, music and other forms of bridge-building artistic expression that were her passion.…
[Cornell Brooks School Dean] Barry said[,] “We chose the ‘Scalia/Ginsburg opera’ for the program’s first year to illuminate the justices’ mutual respect for each other even though they often differed in their views.
“This opera is a way for us to demonstrate the Brooks School’s commitment to civil discourse and civic engagement – which are critical to developing creative solutions for the pressing public policy challenges we face today,” Barry said.
Tickets and show information are here.
Pictured: Willard Straight Hall. Image credit: By Kenneth C. Zirkel - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64073892
