The Scholarship of Miriam Bratu Hansen: Critical Theory and Vernacular Aesthetics - A Redemptive Critique

On the occasion of film scholar, theorist, and Academy alumna Miriam Bratu Hansen’s posthumously published book Cinema and Experience: Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno (University of California Press, 2012), edited by Academy alumnus Edward Dimendberg, the American Academy devotes an evening her scholarly impact on the field of Cinema Studies. Participants in the expert round-table discussion will be: Raymond Bellour, Director of Research Emeritus, French National Center for Scientific Research; David Bathrick, Professor Emeritus of Theater, Film, and Dance and Professor Emeritus of German Studies, Cornell University; and Albrecht Wellmer, Professor Emeritus of Critical Theory and Aesthetics, Freie Universität Berlin.

Moderated by Gertrud Koch, Professor of Theater Studies, Freie Universität Berlin; with an introduction by Michael E. Geyer, Samuel N. Harper Professor of German and European History, and Faculty Director, Human Rights Program, University of Chicago

Russia and Its Way Ahead

Guardian journalist Luke Harding seeks to expose violence and corruption in Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain in his new book Mafia State. Due to his research on alleged Kremlin complicity in criminal activity, Harding was surveilled, his apartment was burgled, and he was even summoned to the notorious Lefortovo prison. Ultimately, he lost his accreditation and was refused entry to Russia in February 2011. Focusing on the changes that have occurred since the beginning of Putin’s first presidency, Harding argues that foreign correspondents have been persecuted much more actively than during the communist period. In light of Putin’s return to the Kremlin, Harding, in discussion with the Russia expert Alexander Rahr, draws a dim outlook for democracy in 21st-century Russia.

Location: DGAP, Rauchstraße 17-18, Berlin

The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights

Today, international courts have collectively issued more than 27,000 binding legal rulings. In her lecture, Karen J. Alter considers how politics play out in the four judicial roles that states have delegated to international courts: dispute settlement, enforcement, as well as administrative and constitutional review. Alter maps the delegation of these different types of legal authority across twenty-five operating international courts, revealing that political factors often determine the involvement of international courts and the behavior of international judges towards states. Moderated by Michael Zürn, Head of the Rule of Law Center, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)

The Curtis Institute Master Classes

As part of the Curtis Institute of Music's residency at the American Academy, Curtis faculty will offer a day of Master Classes music students and interested public. All classes or free.

2:00 to 3:30 p.m.: Viola Master Class with Roberto Díaz, Curtis President and Violist

4:30 to 6:00 p.m.: Violin Master Class with Pamela Frank, Curtis Faculty and Violinist.

Location: Hermann-Wolff-Saal, Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 1

2:00 to 6:30 p.m.: Voice Master Class with Mikael Eliasen, Artistic Director of Vocal Studies and the Curtis Opera Theater

Location: Universität der Künste Berlin, Institut für Kirchenmusik, Hardenbergstr. 41

Gerechtigkeit in der DDR: Auf der Suche nach der sozialistischen Gesetzlichkeit

Inga Markovits's Lisa and Heinrich Arnhold Lecture at the Technische Universität Dresden will address the history of the law faculty of Berlin’s Humboldt University during the years of East German Socialism. Socialist governments always had an ambivalent relationship with the law; the Party used it as a handy tool to achieve its goals but rejected its authority over the state’s own behavior. Legal professionals under Socialism, accordingly, had to walk a precarious line between the law’s insistence on regularity and order and the Party’s arbitrary usurpations of the law. They could (and did) respond to the political pressures on their work in various ways: surrender to the Party, define themselves as guns for hire who served whatever client chose to hire them, stick to the letter of the law wherever possible, or push for law reform.

Introduction by Hans Vorländer, Professor of Political Science, Technische Universität Dresden

Location: Technische Universität Dresden, Zeuner Bau, ZEU/0160/H, Georg Bähr Straße 3c
 

The Curtis Institute of Music Lunchtime Concert

Students and faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and members of the Berliner Philharmoniker perform a chamber music program, including works by Franz Schubert, Vaughn Williams, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Gioachino Rossini.

The ensemble features Roberto Díaz (Curtis President and Violist), Pamela Frank (Curtis Faculty and Violinist), Mikael Eliasen (Artistic Director of Vocal Studies and the Curtis Opera Theater), Curtis students, and Philharmoniker members Philipp Bohnen (Violinist), and Nikolaus Römisch (Cellist).

Location: Foyer of the Berliner Philharmonie

The Curtis Institute of Music Evening Concert

Students and faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music perform a chamber music program at the American Academy, including works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vaughn Williams, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gioachino Rossini, and the German première of “Plainsong” by Daniel Kellogg.