This event was originally scheduled for February 23, but has been moved to Monday, April 13th due to weather.

Presenting the February edition of Humanities in the Village, an event series in partnership with the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins University, which aims to make scholarship publicly accessible.

We’re thrilled to welcome Laura Vasilyeva in celebration of her new book Opera and the Built Environment, the first book to examine the classic Italian opera house in a global context. With attention to the sensuous dimensions of their auditoria, Vasilyeva reveals the calculated reasons these theaters took on the form they did. The result is a book that reveals unknown associations between the Italian opera house and matters of environmental destruction, empire, and belonging, showing us new and unexpected patterns in how opera connects to the world we know.

Shane Butler, Nancy H. and Robert E. Hall Professor in the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University, will join Vasilyeva in conversation.

Whether it’s your first time at the series or you’ve been attending for years, we hope you’ll join us to usher this exciting new book into the world!