Terry Gross

Maria Rosa Menocal is a R. Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. She is also the author of the new book: The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in Medieval Spain (Little, Brown). Menocal details Andalucia, Spain from 786 to 1492 where literature, science, and tolerance flourished.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Jamie Bernstein Thomas. She is the daughter of composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. She hosts The New York Festival of Song on WQXR which features highlights from that concert series. She and her siblings founded the Bernstein Education Through the Arts (BETA) Fund. On Friday, May 24th she will be the speaker for a production of Leonard Bernstein Symphony No. 3, Kaddish based on the Jewish liturgical prayer. The concert will be part of the Cinncinnati May Festival held at Cincinnati historic Music Hall.

This year marks the centennial of the birth of composer Richard Rodgers. He was born on June 28, 1902. Rodgers was one of Americas most prolific and best-loved composers. He collaborated with Lorenz Hart on the songs "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady is a Tramp," "Blue Moon" and "Bewitched." Later he went on to collaborate with Oscar Hammerstein on the musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. Well hear a concert of Rodgers songs performed by singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist Dave Frishberg.