The Skirball Cultural Center presents acclaimed composer-soprano Patrice Michaels in a performance of songs from her new album “Notorious RBG in Song” on Sunday, Jan. 13, at 7:30 p.m.

The Skirball Cultural Center is holding a concert coinciding with its exhibit about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (photo courtesy of EJS Media)
Michaels will bring to the stage music and stories exploring the life and work of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in celebration of the justice’s 25th anniversary on the high court. The concert is the next of several Skirball programs produced in association with the current exhibition “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” on view through March 10. Pianist Andrew Harley will perform with Michaels, who is Ginsburg’s daughter-in-law.
The nine-song cycle “The Long View,” composed by Michaels, will be the centerpiece of the program. It illuminates key aspects of Ginsburg’s personal and professional life through letters, remembrances and conversations, and even her dissenting opinions. Narration by Michaels and projections designed by visual artist Yee Eun Nam will help paint a vivid picture of the life and times of the iconic justice and her inner circle.
The concert will open with “Wider Than the Sky” by composer Lori Laitman. Set to an Emily Dickinson poem, the song was performed at the justice’s 80th birthday celebration, along with “My Dearest Ruth” by composer Stacy Garrop, based on the farewell love letter penned to Ginsburg by her husband Martin “Marty” Ginsburg, shortly before his death in 2010.
Juno Award-winning composer Vivian Fung’s “Pot Roast à la RBG” details a typical evening in the Ginsburg household circa 1972 in which daughter Jane Ginsburg humorously describes her mother’s notoriously poor culinary skills. Songs inspired by American poet-activists Emma Lazarus (Lee Hoiby’s “Lady of the Harbor”) and Langston Hughes (John Musto’s “Litany”) offer additional perspective on Ginsburg’s influences.
Prior to the concert, the exhibition will be open from 6 to 7:15 p.m. A question and answer session and CD signing will follow the program.
The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. For information, call (310)440-4500, or visit skirball.org.
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