Episode Details

In this episode of Naked Age, we meet composer, conductor and pianist Leonard Lehrman and soprano Helene Williams, whose lives together have unfolded at the unlikely intersection of opera, political activism and naturism.

Leonard’s musical life connects him to some of the defining artists and political movements of the twentieth century, from studying with Nadia Boulanger and Elie Siegmeister to working in the orbit of Leonard Bernstein, championing the music of Marc Blitzstein, attending the March on Washington and drawing inspiration from historian Howard Zinn. In 1987, Helene auditioned for the title role in Leonard’s E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman. The collaboration that followed became both an artistic partnership and, eventually, a marriage.

Together, Leonard and Helene brought opera, cabaret and musical theater into naturist spaces around the world. Their performances could move from Bernstein and Rossini to political songs, mermaid operas, naked cabaret and Leonard’s own Naturist Anthem, sometimes with considerably less costuming than an opera audience might expect. Their story asks what happens when a lifetime devoted to serious music, radical politics and individual freedom refuses to keep those things in separate boxes.

Listen to all episodes of Naked Age at www.nakedage.co, or find them wherever you get your podcasts. 🪐

Find the full show notes and credits at https://www.planetnude.co/p/opera-without-costume

What is Naked Age? Naked Age is a history podcast series profiling remarkable people who have gone to extraordinary lengths to live a nude life. Listen to all episodes of Naked Age at www.nakedage.co, or find them wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to all episodes of Naked Age on your favorite podcatcher, or at nakedage.co. Watch the full video uncensored episode at https://www.planetnude.co/p/opera-without-costume or "censored" on YouTube by searching for "Naked Age." 🪐