Alex Heuer

In 1961, a parent of one of Charles Schweighauser’s students told him that a planetarium was being built in Forest Park and suggested that he apply for the job of director.  He figured that he was too young, but applied anyway.  Much to his surprise, he was hired the day before his 25th birthday.  Almost two years later, on April 16, 1963, the James S. McDonnell Planetarium opened its doors giving St. Louisans a state-of-the art way to view the universe in its star chamber.  The space race between the U.S.

Bobby McFerrin is a multi-faceted vocalist.  A 10-time Grammy winner, he has blurred the lines between pop music and fine art and has inspired a generation of a cappella singers.  He is best known for his hit, Don’t Worry, Be Happy, which explores the limits of the human voice.  But while he is certainly pleased with the song’s success, he does not want to be defined by it.

Stephen Prothero is a professor of religion at Boston University and senior fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.  In addition, he blogs for CNN’s Belief Blog and writes for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, USA Today  and The Washington Post.  He is also the author of several books.  His most recent one is The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide and Define A Nation.

Union Avenue Opera opens its Nineteenth Festival Season with Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. Written in 1952, the one act opera portrays the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple, Sam and Dinah, and follows the roller coaster of emotion as they try to reconcile their love.  Although Bernstein set his opera in the 1950’s, the Union Avenue Opera production moves the action to the present day.