Leonard Bernstein at Eisenhower Auditorium

Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture with the modern classic MASS, Leonard Bernstein’s provocative exploration of faith.

A collaboration of Penn State’s schools of Music and Theatre and the Center for the Performing Arts, MASS seeks the meaning and relevance of faith in an increasingly secular and noisy world. Sometimes humorous, occasionally bawdy, and at times profoundly moving, Bernstein’s masterpiece, based on the Roman Catholic liturgy, includes passages sung in Latin with additional texts in English by Bernstein, Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz, and Paul Simon. The work, scored for orchestra, marching and rock bands, actors, and dancers, also features rock, blues, Broadway, and classical music. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, MASS debuted at the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971.