The Score | Carnegie Hall and the ’60s

On September 24, 1965, Carnegie Hall was the site of a massive Sing In for Peace that included 60 musicians, including Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and the Fugs. Now Carnegie Hall—an arts organization primarily associated with classical music—is delving into those years with a citywide January-to-March festival entitled “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America.” One of the names to emerge from that era is composer Philip Glass, who is co-curating the festival with historian Robert A. Caro, author of biographies of President Lyndon B. Johnson and New York City urban planner Robert Moses. In addition to concerts, lectures, discussions, screenings, and art exhibits, the festival will feature the Friction Quartet performing George Crumb’s Black Angels on a program entitled “The Vietnam War: At Home and Abroad.” The Kronos Quartet pays homage to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and other iconic voices of the era on a program that will include commissioned world premieres by Zachary J. Watkins (Peace Be Till) and Stacy Garrop (Glorious Mahalia). Events take place at Carnegie Hall and everywhere from the National Black Theatre to the New-York Historical Society, and topics range from the Civil Rights movement to free jazz, psychedelia, and the Voting Rights Act.