Join us for a presentation and Q&A with local author Sarah Mahler Kraaz.

Why and how are music and war connected? Music has been used to recruit, train, and direct soldiers in battle, to celebrate heroes and unify nations, and to support or protest wars. It has been used as a weapon. Songs and instrumental music express the heightened emotions of wartime, including love of country and family, grief, loneliness, fear, and the desire for peace. Music creation and performance in wartime allows artists to entertain, distract, and critique. And afterward, it can memorialize and help heal the mental and emotional trauma of war.  

Sarah Mahler Kraaz is Professor Emerita of Music at Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin, where she taught piano, organ, and harpsichord, music history, Music and War, Women in Music, and Music and Art for 30 years. She edited Music and War in the United States (Routledge, 2019) and The Handbook of Music and Art (Bloomsbury, 2023). Kraaz has researched and performed on historic organs in Italy, Germany, and Scotland. She and her husband moved to Northampton in 2020 where she is an organist and choir member at First Churches, a volunteer at Manna Community Kitchen and a tutor at the Center for New Americans.

Are you a local author eager to share your work with our community? Email spaces@forbeslibrary.org to sign up for a future author showcase.