Soprano and Grammy Award Winner Sylvia McNair to speak at Baccalaureate

From IDS Reports

This year’s Baccalaureate ceremony will feature a two-time Grammy Award-winning Jacobs School of Music alumna.

Sylvia McNair, a soprano who has performed for the likes of Pope John Paul II and Hillary Clinton, will give the address at the annual graduation celebration.

Indiana University’s Baccalaureate celebration will take place at 11 a.m. Friday at Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.

The interfaith ceremony will feature prayers from Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Unitarian Universalism.

Music from the Native American tradition, Tibetan chants and prayers in Arabic, Hebrew, English and Sanskrit will also be included.

McNair is a senior lecturer at IU’s Jacobs School of Music and has been a regular guest soloist with numerous American and European orchestras and opera houses.

McNair’s speech will precede a reception that afternoon.

­— Amanda Jacobson