January 12, 2019 @ St. Vincent De Paul Parish | January 13, 2019 @ St. Ignatius Church

"We got millions of telegrams after we landed, but the one I remember most was, 'Congratulations to the crew of Apollo 8. You saved 1968.'"

— Frank Borman, Apollo 8 astronaut

1968 was the culmination of one of the most tumultuous decades in our country's history. It saw the assassinations of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the Tet Offensive, large-scale protests and riots, and police brutality unlike anything the country had previously seen televised. Meanwhile, the engineers at NASA were working tirelessly to beat the Soviets in the race to the moon, which would represent a spectacular victory within the Cold War and play a major role in defending democracy against the insidious plague of communism.

Join us as we, 50 years later, explore both the hope and grief of 1968 in order to better understand our own divided time. “Saving 1968” features works by Kile Smith, Gabriel Jackson, Alex Berko, and the world premiere of A Strategy for Confrontation, a new work by Nicholas Cline reflecting on the riots that tore apart the city of Chicago during the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 1968.

PROGRAM

Consolation of Apollo - Kile Smith (b. 1956)
Lincoln - Alex Berko (b. 1995)
Our flags are wafting in hope and grief - Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962)
and the world premiere of
A Strategy for Confrontation - Nicholas Cline (b. 1985)