About the Lecture
National Book Award-winning author M. T. Anderson will tell the story of how Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich, trapped inside the city of Leningrad during the brutal siege by the Germans in World War II, wrote his Seventh Symphony ("Leningrad") as an act of defiance while he was serving as a roof-top fireman watching for incendiary bombs. Incredibly, it was performed by a starving orchestra within the city -- and then was smuggled out via the Middle East to be performed in the United States to promote the war effort. Shostakovich's story is not only an inspiring tale of the power of music -- it's also an important example of how hope can transform spirits and almost miraculously save lives in tempestuous times.
M. T. Anderson writes books for young people and adults. His Gothic novel of the American Revolution, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, won the National Book Award in 2006. He has been a Finalist for the same award for The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge (written with artist Eugene Yelchin) and for the satirical science- fiction novel Feed. His nonfiction book Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad, revealed new facts about the fate of Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony (“Leningrad”) in the USA. He has published short nonfiction pieces in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Slate, and Salon. He lives in Vermont.
