Scranton’s Story April 19 Event To Feature Composer and Scholar Tony Alonso

Latin Grammy-nominated composer Tony Alonso to lecture and perform at University of Scranton for next “Scranton’s Story” event on April 19.
Tony Alonso, the Latin Grammy-nominated composer, will present the combination lecture and musical performance “Caminemos con Jesús: Incarnating Hispanic/Latinx Theology in Song” at The University of Scranton’s Madonna Della Strada Chapel April 19 at 7 p.m. The event, which is part of the NEH funded “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project, is free and open to the public.
Tony Alonso, the Latin Grammy-nominated composer, will present the combination lecture and musical performance “Caminemos con Jesús: Incarnating Hispanic/Latinx Theology in Song” at The University of Scranton’s Madonna Della Strada Chapel April 19 at 7 p.m. The event, which is part of the NEH funded “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project, is free and open to the public.

On Wednesday, April 19, The University of Scranton’s “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” project will welcome scholar and Latin Grammy-nominated composer Tony Alonso for the program, “Caminemos con Jesús: Incarnating Hispanic/Latinx Theology in Song.”  

The combination lecture and musical performance begins at 7 p.m. in the University’s Madonna Della Strada Chapel, and is free and open to the public. 

A Cuban American Catholic and well-regarded scholar and composer of sacred music whose work explores the diverse realities of contemporary culture, Alonso’s music has appeared in compilations and hymnals across Christian denominations around the globe, and his "Mass of Joy and Peace" is among the most widely sung Mass settings in the English-speaking world. In 2015, he was invited to compose the responsorial psalm for the first Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the United States. 

At the April 19 program. Alonso will present a theological and musical reflection on how Hispanic/Latinx theology shapes his own compositional craft through the prism of “Caminemos con Jesús,” his Latin Grammy-nominated album of sacred music celebrating the beauty, passion, and vitality of Cuban music. Alonso previewed this integration of music and cultural reflection in a short video available at: https://fb.watch/jJcyBNrmUf/

Reflecting on the theological, musical, stylistic, formal and textual commitments that shaped the project, Alonso will examine the relationship between theology, culture, and the arts in a range of pastoral contexts, with a particular focus on ministry in Hispanic/Latinx communities. 

The program is the latest in a series of events sponsored by “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story,” a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded project led by the University with additional community partners that seeks to capture the story of Scranton’s Indigenous, industrial, ethnic and religious heritage and relate it to the national narrative of the United States. Its programs include lectures with question-and-answer interactive sessions, panel discussions, public-facilitated dialogues, story exchanges, youth writing workshops, bus tours, and an oral history story collection, including a focus on underrepresented stories from recent immigrant communities and Scranton’s historic African American community 

According to Julie Schumacher Cohen, assistant vice president of community engagement and government affairs at the University, the April 19 program aligns perfectly with the project’s current theme, “Religious Tapestry of Scranton: Past and Present.” 

“That tapestry has undergone fundamental change over recent decades – Catholic parishes that would have once conducted services in Polish or other European languages reflecting coal-mining-era migration are now growing with Spanish-speaking communities from across Latin America,” she said. “Tony Alonso is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer and theologian who with his focus on Hispanic/Latinx theology in song will help us reflect on the role of culture in religious communities and pastoral contexts here in Scranton and across the nation and the world.” 

Alonso received a bachelor’s degree in choral conducting from Northwestern University, a master’s degree in theology from Loyola Marymount University, and a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University. Currently, he is the Aquinas Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he also serves as the inaugural director of Catholic Studies.  

Registration is requested (not required) at:  www.surveymonkey.com/r/Alonso2023. For additional information on the event, email community@scranton.edu, call 570-941-4419 or visit www.scranton.edu/scrantonstory. For more information on Alonso, visit tonyalonso.com.

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