Meet the Artist: Cynthia Katsarelis

Music has the ability to move us, challenge us, and open our hearts in ways words alone cannot. In Magnificat: Lifting Up the Lowly, conductor Cynthia Katsarelis leads a program that asks us to listen deeply to history, to one another, and to the human stories that shape our world. 

We spoke with Katsarelis about the artistic vision behind this powerful concert and the role music can play in awakening compassion, courage, and hope. Read on to learn more.

How does pairing sacred music like Bach’s Magnificat with Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony invite deeper reflection on oppression, power, and faith?

The program features three works that are gorgeous, and they collectively serve as artistic responses to man’s inhumanity to man. Shostakovich sets the scene with truth, Rodrigo responds with beauty, while Bach gives us both artistic inspiration and faith. Shostakovich composed deeply coded music that conveys the agony of life under Soviet rule; he himself had been denounced twice and lived in fear of arrest by the KGB and exile to the gulags and dedicated the work to “victims of war and fascism everywhere,” but, in the words of Mary, set by Bach, we hear of a God who has shown the strength of his arm, has done great things for us, who has lifted up the lowly, and cast down the mighty. His music marvelously paints the story; you can hear the joy, the strength, and the casting down, for example.

I hope that the music and its context welcome deep reflection. In preparing the music, I’ve marveled at the courage and cleverness of Shostakovich, telling his story in musical code that would have been understood by his audience while baffling the censors. I’ve been inspired by the words of Our Lady, hopeful and comforting with the promise of salvation. I’m awed by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose astonishing music amplifies the prayer.

My final reflection is on the power of music to remind us of our humanity and that of our neighbors. Here at Notre Dame, we are engaged with an Arts Initiative that explores art as a force for the public good, but what can and can’t the arts do? Leonard Bernstein said it best:

“…art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed…because people are changed by art—enriched, ennobled, encouraged—they then act in a way that may affect the course of events…”

Rodrigo’s Fantasía para un gentilhombre offers a more contemplative, luminous contrast. How does this piece connect to the broader arc of the program?

Joaquin Rodrigo was a Spanish, twentieth-century composer who was forced to move numerous times due to raging fascism in Spain and in the rest of Europe shortly thereafter. Neither his blindness nor the turbulent times prevented him from writing music of exquisite beauty that speaks to and uplifts the soul; his neoclassical Fantasia para un gentilhombre is inspired by four Spanish baroque dances. On this program, the work serves as a bridge from the twentieth century to the high baroque era of Johann Sebastian Bach. Our soloist, Nicolò Spera, has a special affinity for both baroque and contemporary music and will bring a special spirit to the performance. 

What does the title Lifting Up the Lowly mean to you personally or artistically, and how is that message expressed through the music?

Music has transformative power. Not only has it changed my life, but I’ve also seen transformation in Haiti, at a music school where I’ve taught since 2004, particularly in the months after the earthquake in 2010. In the lessons, rehearsals, and concerts, it was clear that music brought healing, comfort, and strength to all, rich and poor, Haitians and foreign guests.

In my spiritual tradition, we vow to love all our neighbors as ourselves, taking our lead from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” I believe in the power of music to feed the soul and to evoke compassion; I think that lifts us all.

What do you hope the audience carries with them after experiencing Magnificat: Lifting Up the Lowly?

I hope that our audience experiences a journey that is richly enjoyable as it moves from darkness to hope. Like most journeys, people can linger, marvel, and reflect over different aspects that move them. I hope that our audience shares with me awe at Shostakovich’s courageous truth-telling, the sublime beauty of the Rodrigo, and Bach’s genius in telling stories of faith through music.

Magnificat: Lifting Up the Lowly offers audiences a chance to pause, listen, and be fully present with music that carries both history and heart. Programs like this remind us that great art does more than fill a room with sound—it helps us see one another more clearly. As the final notes fade, the experience continues in the reflections, conversations, and quiet moments that follow, where music’s meaning takes root and grows.