Can art make you a better person? The question emerges from the German concept of bildung. By one definition, the idea is to combine “education, cultivation, personal formation and character, emotional and moral development, and maturation.” Goethe and others considered art an essential component of bildung. So, can art make you a better person? Ian Niederhoffer and his chamber orchestra Parlando posed the question at the ensemble’s season-opening concert on October 7, 2025, with music by Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, and the early-20th-century German-Jewish composer Franz Schreker.
The program’s title, “The Broken Promise,” suggests an answer in the negative. But through the music and Niederhoffer’s introductions, the conductor’s take turned out not to be that simple. The cogently conceived, emotionally packed concert both embraced and challenged the bildung ideal.