Listen close: Libraries are louder than you’ve heard. Sitting silent in the stacks and vaults are the booming soundscapes of the past: scores of sheet music, recordings, concert posters, songbooks, and more.

Get noisy in the library this spring as HSP plugs into Philadelphia’s roaring history with a chorus of public programs:

 

Philadelphia: City of Music | February 17 | 6:00 p.m.

From the marches and minuets of the city’s colonial days, to WFIL’s American Bandstand, Hall & Oates, and the Roots, Philadelphia has been – and remains – a humming hub of music. Join music historian Jack McCarthy for a look and listen at 300 years of music in the City of Brotherly Love.

 

Sights & Sounds of our Multiethnic Past | March 2 | 6:00 p.m.

 

Music has been used both as a vehicle for reform and repression during the pursuits of American ethnic and racial justice. Collection materials from the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies – many not seen for decades will be on view

 

The Symphony of a Thousand | March 8 | 6:30 p.m.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will speak at this program exploring the intimate connection between Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony (also known as the “Symphony of a Thousand”) and the international emergence of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

 

“The (Musical) Spark in My Life” | March 31 | 6:30 p.m.

Discover the musical side of LGBT activist John Fryer, i.e. “Dr. Anonymous,” with a presentation by HSP's Embedded Artist Ain Gordon and the unveiling of recordings from the Fryer papers.

 

Tune-in for the entire series: attend four programs for the price of three.