KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee’s Marco Institute for medieval and renaissance studies will host “Daniel and the Lions,” a 12th century liturgical play, as part of its fifth annual symposium.
The performance will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 2, at the Church of the Ascension on Northshore Drive. The show was arranged in conjunction with UT and the Knoxville Friends of Arts and Music.
The internationally known work, performed by Early Music New York and based on a 12th century manuscript found in France, tells the story of the prophet Daniel who is thrown into a lion-s den after predicting the fall of one king and the rise of another. Daniel is saved from the lion by an angel sent from God.
“This play capitalizes on older traditions of liturgical drama and transforms them into a genuinely dramatic display organized around a fully formed plot and peopled by characters with distinct traits and styles,” said Heather Hirschfeld, a UT associate professor in English.
“Daniel” uses a variety of lavish costumes, staging, lighting and vocal and instrumental music which translate the story to the audience despite the show-s Latin dialogue.
“The drama contains a number of distinct melodies in chant style especially composed for the play,” said Rachel Carlson, an associate professor in the school of music. She added that, as in most medieval music, certain aspects of the score are left to interpretation by the performer.
Marco’s symposium — “The Book of Travels: Genre, Ethnology and Pilgrimage, 1250-1650” — will take place March 2-3 and will include academic presentations from American and European scholars. All lectures will be held in the Hodges Library auditorium on UT’s campus.
Marco was founded in 2001 with a grant from the President’s Initiative in Teaching, Research and Service. Professors from several departments including English, history and religious studies comprise the faculty. Marco was formally recognized as a UT institute in 2004 and is funded by UT and a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant received in 2003.
To purchase tickets for “Daniel and the Lions” call 588-0589. For more information on Marco’s symposium, contact Elizabeth Burman at 974-1859 or eburman@utk.edu or visit the Marco Web site at http://www.marcoinstitute.org/marco/
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Contacts:
Heather Hirschfeld (865-974-6948, hhirschf@utk.edu)
Rachel Carlson (865-974-3241, rcarlson@utk.edu)
Beth Gladden (974-9008, beth.gladden@tennessee.edu)
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MARCO SYMPOSIUM ACADEMIC CONFERENCES
Thursday, March 2, 2006
9-10:30 a.m. -Time Travellers: Encountering history in medieval journeys east-
Adnan A. Husain, Queen’s University
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. “Matthew Paris’s Maps: Itineraries fit for a king”
Daniel K. Connolly, Augustana College
2-3:30 p.m. -Late-medieval ambassadors and the practice of cross-cultural encounters-
Joan-Pau Rubies, London School of Economics
4-5:30 p.m. -My cloistered ladies: The place of European narrators in early modern harems-
Pompa Banerjee, University of Colorado at Denver
8:00 p.m. -Daniel and the Lions-
Friday, March 3, 2006
9-10:30 a.m. -Dangers and Friends: Forms of narrative witness in renaissance pilgrimage-
Wes Williams, New College, Oxford
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. -Travel writing and ‘the public’ in seventeenth-century France-
Nicholas Dew, McGill University
2-3:30 p.m. Comment and open discussion
Mary Baine Campbell, Brandeis University
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