When the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in Washington, D.C., nearly 40 years ago, the inaugural performance was dismissed by one reviewer as, “at times, little more than fashionable kitsch.” And yet the work Mass by the late composer Leonard Bernstein continues to endure. In fact, it’s served as sort of a set of bookends for the career of Dominic Missimi, who heads Northwestern University’s Music Theatre Certificate program. As Missimi prepares to retire, he’s directing the massive stage production for the third time in a short run this weekend only. He recently stopped by to tell us about the work he thinks of as “musical tapestry.” By the way, the recording we’ve been hearing is a 2008 performance by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Event Information:
Mass will be staged at 8 p.m., Nov. 13; 2 and 8 p.m., Nov. 14; and 2 p.m., Nov. 15
Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., Evanston.