Deering Library undergoing major renovations
June 18, 2024
CHICAGO --- Northwestern University auditory neuroscientist Nina Kraus will join world-renowned soprano Renee Fleming at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago as part of the 2019 Cindy Pritzker Lecture on Urban Life and Issues on Thursday evening (March 21) for a talk about music and the mind.
The presentation explores the power of music as it relates to health, including childhood development, music therapy and discoveries that are changing our understanding of the brain. It is inspired by the Sound Health: Music And The Mind, a program Fleming spearheaded as part of her role as artistic advisor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The initiative, established in partnership with the National Institutes of Health and in association with the National Endowment for the Arts, explores and brings attention to research and practice at the intersection of music, health and neuroscience. Kraus has been a featured speaker at event the last two years.
"Today we are riding a wave of scientific discovery in music and neuroscience, and I'm fascinated by the breadth of the research being conducted. Beyond its ability to enthrall and entertain, music can offer a host of health benefits – from childhood development to therapeutic applications for Alzheimer's disease, autism, PTSD, Parkinson's disease and chronic pain," Fleming said. "And close to my heart, singing can retrain the brain to use different neural circuitry, helping those who have sustained a traumatic brain injury or suffered a stroke regain the ability to speak."
Fleming (Northwestern’s 2018 Commencement speaker) appears in conversation with Kraus and Sunil Iyengar. Kraus is the director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern and the Hugh S. Knowles Chair. Sunil Iyengar is director of the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Cindy Pritzker Lecture on Urban Life and Issues is presented by the Board of Directors of Chicago Public Library in honor of Cindy Pritzker, its former president and founder of the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
Important information regarding check-in and seating: A limited number of seats are available for this e first come, first served. Check-in and access to the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium will begin at 5 p.m. Upon arrival, guests must check in at tables in the Grand Lobby on the first floor. If the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium fills to capacity, guests will then be seated in an overflow space and view the event by live simulcast. This event does not include a book signing.
