CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Institution today proudly announces the program lineup for Week Three of its 2021 season. The week, which begins July 10 and concludes July 17, features events, lectures, and classes both in-person on the grounds and livestreamed through CHQ Assembly. Week Three includes renowned guests such as multi-award-winning country music star Wynonna Judd, author of The Sum of Us Heather McGhee; Edelman chief executive officer Richard Edelman; and author of Why Trust Science? Naomi Oreskes.

Chautauqua Institution’s nine-week season features weekday lectures focusing on weekly cultural themes. Week Three examines “Trust, Society, and Democracy,” in which speakers in the 10:30 a.m. Chautauqua Lecture Series program consider the growing distrust of social institutions and how we can restore trust while maintaining a healthy level of skepticism. The 1 p.m. Interfaith Lecture Series examines the theme “The Ethical Foundations of a Fully Functioning Society,” which explores the discourse on the foundations for an ethical society put forward by Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates including qualities such as reverence, justice and the objectivity of goodness. 

Rabbi Jonah Pesner will serve as the guest chaplain for the week. Pesner is the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and senior vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism. He was named one of the most influential rabbis in America by Newsweek magazine and has led campaigns for social justice throughout his career. In addition to serving on many social justice associations, he encourages Jewish communities to reach across lines of race, class and faith to confront hate and bigotry. 

AMPHITHEATER LECTURES 

MONDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Richard Edelman is the CEO of the global communications firm Edelman, founded in 1952 and honored as “PR Agency of the Decade.” Edelman is also the creator of the Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual survey of credibility for government, business, media, and NGOs. 

Interfaith Lecture Series: Robert M. Franklin Jr. is president emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta and a senior advisor to the president of Emory University. Franklin will be presenting on his recent bookMoral Leadership: Integrity, Courage, Imagination.

TUESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Meredith D. Clark is assistant professor in Media Studies at the University of Virginia and was on The Root 100 list of most influential African Americans because of her academic analysis of Black Twitter. Clark’s research focuses on the intersection of race, media and power and her presentation will discuss reparative journalism as a way to rebuild trust in the Fourth Estate.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Heather McGhee will be presenting on her most recent book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. With a career dedicated to finding solutions to inequality in America, McGhee helped build the “think and do” tank Demos and expanded its reach and influence. 

WEDNESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Christine Rosen is a senior writer at Commentary magazine and chair of the Colloquy on Knowledge, Technology & Culture at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. Rosen will be presenting on the cultural phenomenon of “cancel culture” and how we can renew trust in one another, especially in younger generations. 

Interfaith Lecture Series: Cherie Harder serves as president of the Trinity Forum and formerly worked as the special assistant to the president and director of policy and projects for First Lady Laura Bush. Harder has also served as the policy adviser to former U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist and senior counselor to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

THURSDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Deb Roy is the executive director of the MIT Media Lab, director of the MIT Laboratory for Social Machines and the newly appointed director of the interdisciplinary Center for Constructive Communication. Roy will conclude the week with a discussion of how polarized media and isolated social enclaves have led to a collapse of shared truths, and how machine learning and design might be leveraged for greater trust and understanding.

ARTS PROGRAMMING

Aside from the daily lectures, Week Three features a variety of afternoon and evening arts and entertainment programs live at the Amphitheater or the Performance Pavilion on Pratt, with some offerings available via livestream and on-demand through the CHQ Assembly platform.

8:15 p.m. Saturday, July 10, Amphitheater: Conductor Rossen Milanov leads the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on its Opening Night of 2021 in a performance of works by Strauss, Lena Frank and Beethoven.

2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 11, Amphitheater: Led by Heintzelman Family Artistic Adviser Alexander Gavrylyuk and Co-chairs Nicola Melville and John Milbauer, the Chautauqua Piano Program’s annual competition brings young pianists from around the world together to compete. This final showcase presentation celebrates and showcases the virtuosity and brilliance of the prizewinners. 

8:15 p.m. Monday, July 12, Amphitheater: Conducted by Music Director Timothy Muffitt and conducting fellow Joshua Hong, the Music School Festival Orchestra comprises top-tier students from around the world and will be performing its penultimate concert of 2021 in the Amphitheater.

8:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 13, Amphitheater: Chautauqua Piano Program presents an evening recital with Jon Nakamatsu. 

4 p.m. Wednesday, July 14, Performance Pavilion on Pratt: Written by Dominique Morisseau and directed by Stori Ayers, Chautauqua Theater Company’s Blood at the Root tells the story of six black students charged with attempted murder following a high school yard fight steeped in racial tension. This play examines racial bias and the nature of justice through the students of Cedar High. The production’s final performance is July 18.

8:15 p.m. Wednesday, July 14, Amphitheater: The Charleston-based, Grammy Award-winning quintet Ranky Tanky returns to Chautauqua to share soulful songs of the Gullah culture with audiences. The band mixes low country traditions with large doses of jazz, gospel, funk, and R&B.

6 p.m. Thursday, July 15, Performance Pavilion on Pratt: Chaired by Marlena Malas, the Chautauqua Voice Program present sthe iconic Brothers Grimm fairy-tale opera Hansel and Gretel.

8:15 p.m. Thursday, July 15, Amphitheater: Milanov and the CSO present Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture,” St. George’s “Symphony No. 2” and Haydn’s “Symphony No. 31.” 

4 p.m. Friday, July 16, Performance Pavilion on Pratt: An opera by Derrick Wang, directed by Cara Consilvio and conducted by Steven Osgood, Chautauqua Opera Company’s Scalia/Ginsburg is a one-act comedy about the unlikely friendship between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia.

8:15 p.m. Friday, July 16, Amphitheater: Celebrated as one of the greatest female country singers, Wynonna Judd brings countless charting and No. 1 hits to Chautauqua with her band The Big Noise, including songs such as “Mama He’s Crazy” and “Why Not Me.” 

ADDITIONAL LECTURES/CONVERSATIONS ON CHQ ASSEMBLY 

Chautauqua is proud to continue some cherished programming online in lieu of additional in-person programming during the 2021 Summer Assembly. 

3:30 p.m. Sunday, July 11: The Chautauqua Writers’ Center presents a free Sunday reading with Jeffrey DeShell and Luisa A. Igloria. 

1 p.m. Thursday, July 8: Gretchen Morgenson, senior financial reporter with the NBC News Investigation Unit, presents on the growing wealth gap in America as part of the Chautauqua Women’s Club Contemporary Issues Forum. 

3:30 p.m. Thursday, July 15: The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle presents Naomi Oreskes’ book Why Trust Science?, in which the author offers a compelling defense of science, explaining that the trustworthiness of scientific claims derives from the social process by which they are rigorously vetted. 

1 p.m. Friday, July 16: Raphael Warnock, a Democratic U.S. senator from Georgia, presents as part of the2021 African American Heritage House Lecture Series.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT

Chautauqua’s Mystic Heart Meditation Program offers community members daily meditation sessions at 7:30 a.m. throughout the week.

Chautauqua Cinema Under the Stars presents “Iron Giant” at Sharpe Field at dusk on Saturday, July 10.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are available for purchase at tickets.chq.org and at the Main Gate Welcome Center Ticket Office on the day of your visit. Morning Program Tickets are $30; Afternoon Program Tickets are $15. The fee for Evening Program tickets varies based on the evening entertainment. For tickets and information, visit tickets.chq.org or call 716-357-6250. Program Tickets permit access to the Chautauqua Institution grounds four hours prior to the scheduled start time of an event. Patrons are invited to arrive early and explore the grounds and other amenities, including free access to world-class art galleries, plus shops and restaurants. Admission to Chautauqua is always free on Sundays. 

ABOUT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION

Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage, and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution’s mission.

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