Norm Lewis, Bruce Sabath, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and More Join BROTHERHOOD/SISTERHOOD

Norm Lewis and Bruce Sabath are among the major names participating in a production called Brotherhood/Sisterhood that will debut on YouTube this Sunday at 6:00 PM. It is the opening night of the Bach Virtuosi Festival.

The prerecorded videos will remain on the BVF YouTube Channel indefinitely.

Brotherhood/Sisterhood is a dramatic work about the challenges we face today and the struggle for humanity, social justice, equity and love. Select readings and speeches from renowned authors, poets and politicians read by distinguished actors, essayists, poets and public figures. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach will accompany these works during and in between readings.

Norm Lewis will read a portion of If There is no Struggle by Frederick Douglass.

Bruce Sabath will read a modern day variation from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.

In between the music of Bach, below is a selection of people who will participate:

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be reading a short passage of her work on discrimination

Senator Angus King will read the Gettysburg Address

Amanda Gorman, the Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the US, will be reading a work by Toni Morrison and an original poem

Richard Blanco (5th Poet Laureate of the U.S.) will be reading his poem, One Today, which he read at the 2013 inauguration

Brotherhood/Sisterhood includes well-known passages from MLK, Lincoln, Shakespeare, Gandhi, John Lennon, Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Elisabeth Barrett Browning and more. J.S. Bach will be interspersed throughout the readings.

Lewis Kaplan, Director of the Bach Virtuosi Festival and a renowned violinist had been conceiving this idea for close to 30 years. It combines historical readings with classical music. He had seen a variation of this 30 years ago at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Kaplan's vision was the music of J.S. Bach performed during and between historical readings by the likes of Lincoln, Shakespeare, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Toni Morrison, MLK, Aristotle and several others. The greatest visionaries the world has known.

Brotherhood/Sisterhood is based on a performance 30 years ago in Austria that was hauntingly brilliant. It was based on the writings of a Jewish author, who was killed during WWII, after joining the French Underground. This performance encompassed 20 of Austria's most-recognized actors and actresses reading his work. Our version is based on our need for greater humanity, equity, and social justice. Celebrated authors, poets, politicians, and people who feel and think deeply, just as Bach did, are participating.

The musicians at this festival are world-renowned. They teach at Juilliard, Eastman, Rochester and perform around the world with many outstanding orchestras.

For additional details, visit https://bachvirtuosifestival.org/brotherhood-sisterhood and https://youtube.com/c/bachvirtuosifestival.