Videos — Beatrice Institute

Lectures, webinars, and more!

The Byzantine Choir of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh, under the direction of Dr. Nick Giannoukakis, guided us in an evening of Byzantine Chant and tour through its Homeric reverberations.

While generally underappreciated, the repository of Byzantine hymnography—a living liturgical tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church—betrays echoes, not only of the Iliad and Odyssey, but of Euripides, Pindar, and Sophocles. Between the Fifth and Ninth Centuries, Byzantine hymnographers, steeped in the Hellenic patrimony, crafted erudite and masterful syntheses of the literature, science, and art of ancient Hellas.

Accompanying document here.

Dr. Giannoukakis is the internationally renowned head chanter of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh and Associate Professor of Pathology and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Maestro Manfred Honeck, Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, explores the richness of the creative process in the work of composers, musicians, and conductors. The Maestro is joined by John Henry Crosby, Founder and President of the Hildebrand Project, who moderates the discussion.

Some of the ideas addressed are: Is the work of the composer and musician a distinctively human act? What role does imagination play in a composer’s creation of new works? How does each performing musician, and the conductor in particular, interpret music scores? Does their knowledge of the composer’s life and intentions shape their interpretation of the music they bring to life?

A conversation between theologian Jordan Wales (Hillsdale College) and scientist John Dolan (Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon) on the theological and ethical implications of interacting with artificial intelligence, particularly androids. Dr. Wales and Dr. Dolan will address the science of artificial intelligence, what robots can currently and will soon be able to do, as well as the ways in which humans relate to artificial intelligence in order to help us conceive of a proper place for artificial intelligence in a flourishing society.

Prof. Tyler VanderWeele, Dr. Kristin Collier, Dr. Benjamin Miller, and Prof. Grant Martsolf consider what it means to flourish; the notion of human flourishing that has been implicit in decisions within health care delivery, public health, and broader social policy; and how a more capacious understanding of human flourishing might aid our response to the COVID-19 pandemic moving forward.

Genealogy is best visualized dynamically. Unlike modern family trees, medieval "trees of consanguinity" were designed to be imagined in motion.

Beatrice Institute welcomed Dr. Jonathan Anderson (Biola University), co-author of Modern Art and the Life of a Culture, for a lecture on Warhol's Catholicism and a gallery talk on the Revelation exhibit.