“Through this remarkable and varied series of essays and reflections, the brilliant conductor Patrick Summers invites us to explore, discuss, and question the role of spirit and art in the modern world. With a poet’s soul, probing intellect, and sense of humor, he takes us on a quest for meaning and connection that winds from Houston’s Rothko Chapel to the world’s great concert halls and opera houses, to the American classroom, and into the creative psyche itself. Summers cares passionately about the essential human need for connection and expression through the arts and recognizes that we are in a precarious, potentially perilous time where an addiction to easy-access technology threatens to unravel thousands of years of human creativity and thought.”

Jake Heggie, composer of the opera Dead Man Walking

“As one of America’s most distinguished conductors, Patrick Summers also brings an innate literary skill into his broad repertoire. This collection of essays is touching, funny, informative, and a pleasure to read.”

Leonard Slatkin, music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

“Summers takes us to the liminal space of the Rothko Chapel, and its music-like fusion of art and spirituality, to suggest wonder, awe, dreaming, brilliance, and danger. What is lost when life has no aesthetic component, as he fears is the case today, is precisely this kind of spirituality. . . . Elegantly written . . . . A timely and heartfelt plea.”

Linda Hutcheon, coauthor of Opera: The Art of Dying

“Readers looking for a thought-provoking, feel-good book about the powers of arts education and music’s spiritual force: look no further than The Spirit of This Place.”

OperaWire

"Summers delivers a series of brief vignettes expressing his belief in the necessity of art, especially music, as it relates to the spiritual and to the understanding of humanity. In each chapter he creates a philosophical conversation about the importance of art and the contributions music can make to everyday life. . . . This poetic work illuminates the challenges of these politically tumultuous times dominated by technology, and reminds the reader that music has the power to expand and reinforce one's intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual journeys."

 

Choice

"This intriguing book considers the parallels between music-making and spiritual practice, exploring how music 'gives meaning to life'."

BBC Music Magazine