How ‘Conan the Bacterium’ withstands extreme radiation
December 9, 2024
Few justices on the U.S. Supreme Court had a fan base like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Despite her petite stature, she stood tall as a powerful, strong and resilient woman, especially in the final months and days before her death in September 2020. Ginsburg would have celebrated her 88th birthday on March 15.
Her historic tenure on the nation’s highest court is well documented. She fought tirelessly for women’s rights and equality. The cases on which she either offered a majority or dissenting opinion will be analyzed and scrutinized for centuries.
Thanks to the gift of song and music, we also have a glimpse into the personal side of the justice who was known simply as RBG. Bienen School of Music lecturer and soprano-composer Patrice Michaels immortalized and humanized her mother-in-law in the song cycle “The Long View: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs.”
The documentary will launch Monday, March 15, at 9 a.m. CDT on the Bienen School’s Davee Media Library website.
“‘The Long View’ was a miraculous, but natural, outgrowth of a wonderful idea that my husband [Jim Ginsburg] and his sister had for my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday,” Michaels said. “They wanted to commission three songs by three women composers: Vivian Fung, Stacy Garrop and me.”
RBG gave her blessing and approval of the entire song cycle, which is comprised of actual events and letters and also draws on the imagination of Michaels.
Her story so clearly illustrates what we aspire to as a nation.”
“I did have the resources of the Library of Congress. I wasn’t sure how much gold I would find there, but I really did find the arc of her life as a first-generation American with a mother who had come [to America] as a small child, a father who was an immigrant, not high levels of education, but great ambition and great appreciation for the values of this republic,” Michaels said.
Last November, after Ginsburg’s death, Michaels performed “My Dearest Ruth” from the song cycle in an online tribute concert, “Live at Carnegie Hall: Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
“The process of singing Marty Ginsburg’s last letter to his wife when he was dying of cancer and reflecting on how proud he was of her was very hard to sing,” Michaels said as she recalled the first few times she performed the song. “I really had to work as a professional to bring the emotion to the audience without bringing it to myself. And I would say it took me at least six months of practice before I could confidently perform that piece without welling up at some point.”
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michaels had been regularly performing “The Long View.”
“My hope is that this show will be seen in classrooms all over the country, all over the world, just to give the joy of the experience of his one human who made such a huge difference. Her story so clearly illustrates what we aspire to as a nation.”
A recording of the nine-song cycle appears on “Notorious RBG in Song,” an album released in 2018 by Cedille, the Chicago-based recording label owned by Michaels’ husband, Jim Ginsburg.
