In late September 2023, the U.S. State Department launched the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, a bipartisan project that aims to establish an international music mentorship program and other activities. Days later, the war in the Middle East broke out, leaving many to wonder what, if anything, music can do to promote world peace. 

 The State Department is no stranger to these questions. During World War II and the Cold War, the government sponsored a healthy number of musical exchanges between composers and performers from throughout the Americas. The idea was to learn about one another’s music but also to encourage amity, initially against Nazism and then communism. Nearly all the composers on this evening’s program were in some way touched by these programs. Carol A. Hess, a musicologist, is an expert on the highs and lows of U.S.-Latin American musical exchange. She will not only illuminate these fascinating scores, but explain their little-known role in cultural diplomacy.

All Blattner Series Lectures are free with purchase of concert ticket.