Conlon adds another honor to his heap

James Conlon, May Festival music director, is being honored by the Anti-Defamation League for his work championing composers silenced by the Third Reich. Conlon will receive the League's Crystal Globe Award at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park near Chicago on Aug. 12.

For several seasons at the May Festival, Conlon has promoted neglected and unknown works by composers such as Viktor Ullmann and Alexander Zemlinsky who suffered or were killed during the Holocaust. He has expanded that mission to include a series at the Ravinia Festival called "Breaking the Silence," as well as a "Recovered Voices" project at Los Angeles Opera. Conlon is music director at both institutions.

"With its systematic suppression of Jewish musicians, artists and writers, the Third Reich silenced two generations of composers and, with them, an entire musical landscape," Conlon says.

Previous recipients of the Crystal Globe Award include Danny Glover and Roberto Benigni.