The title of today’s program, Where Happy Is, comes from a lyric in Ingrid Michaelson’s 2024 musical The Notebook:

“Where am I? Where am I going?
 Is it somewhere that I want to go?
 And when I get there… is that where happy is?
 Or is it somewhere I already know?”

The pursuit of happiness is universal. Across cultures, identities, privileges, and traumas, we all seek it. But where does happiness truly live? Perhaps it isn’t found in far-off destinations—but in moments, glimpses, right where we are.

Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate exudes happiness from its very veins. In contrast, Ravel’s haunting setting of the Hebrew Kaddisch finds reverence and peace amid grief. A pair of French works by sisters Nadia and Lili Boulanger examine happiness through deeper lenses—through solemnity, sacrifice, and reflection. The program closes with selections from both classic and contemporary musical theatre, where happiness reveals itself in its most familiar forms: love, freedom, and the courage to hope.