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In this episode of Naked Age, we meet composer, conductor and pianist Leonard Lehrman and soprano Helene Williams, whose lives together have unfolded at the unlikely intersection of opera, political activism and naturism.
Leonard’s musical life connects him to some of the defining artists and political movements of the twentieth century, from studying with Nadia Boulanger and Elie Siegmeister to working in the orbit of Leonard Bernstein, championing the music of Marc Blitzstein, attending the March on Washington and drawing inspiration from historian Howard Zinn. In 1987, Helene auditioned for the title role in Leonard’s E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman. The collaboration that followed became both an artistic partnership and, eventually, a marriage.
Together, Leonard and Helene brought opera, cabaret and musical theater into naturist spaces around the world. Their performances could move from Bernstein and Rossini to political songs, mermaid operas, naked cabaret and Leonard’s own Naturist Anthem, sometimes with considerably less costuming than an opera audience might expect. Their story asks what happens when a lifetime devoted to serious music, radical politics and individual freedom refuses to keep those things in separate boxes.
Listen to all episodes of Naked Age at www.nakedage.co, or find them wherever you get your podcasts. 🪐
Leonard J. Lehrman — Official Website
Continuator: The Autobiography of a Socially-Conscious, Cosmopolitan Composer
Leonard J. Lehrman
Dorrance Publishing
Leonard Lehrman & Helene Williams — Performance Videos
Leonard Lehrman & Helene Williams on YouTube
The Naturist Living Show — “Naturist Music,” Episode XXV
Featuring naturist music and performances by Helene Williams and Leonard Lehrman.
Opera/Musical Theatre Special Interest Group of The Naturist Society
Leonard Lehrman’s extensive archive of the group’s naturist performances and history.
Hosted and written by Evan Nix
Edited and produced by Nathan More
Featuring Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams.
This episode includes excerpts from Leonard and Helene’s extensive archive of compositions, productions, and performances, including:
E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman
Music by Leonard Lehrman
Book & lyrics by Leonard Lehrman and Karen Ruoff Kramer
The Comic Tragedy of San Po Jo
Music by Leonard Lehrman
Book & lyrics by Leonard Lehrman and Mark Kingdon
Prayer for Peace (“Bar Mitzvah Cantata”)
Composed by Leonard Lehrman
Karla
Music by Leonard Lehrman
Libretto by Leonard Lehrman after “Notes from a Lady at a Dinner Party” by Bernard Malamud
Overture to Damn! That Apple!
Composed by Leonard Lehrman
Based on music by Lutz Meyer
The Booby Trap (Off Our Chests)
Music by Leonard Lehrman
Book & lyrics by Sydney Ross Singer
Hannah
Music by Leonard Lehrman
Libretto by Leonard Lehrman and Orel Odinov Protopopescu
Adam & Lilith & Eve
Music by Leonard Lehrman & Leo Kraft
Libretto by Maya Pruzhanskaya Lackow
New World: An Opera About What Columbus Did to the “Indians”
Music by Leonard Lehrman
Libretto by Joel Shatzky
“The Naturist Anthem”
Words by Leonard Lehrman
Music based on the Shaker song “Simple Gifts”
“Carried Away” from On the Town
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
“Take Off Your Clothes”
By Mark Levy
Adapted and performed by Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams
“A Song to Begin”
Music by Gerhard Bronner
Words by Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams
Performed by Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams
“Naked & Nude”
Words by Peter Berryman; Music by Lou Berryman
Performed by Leonard Lehrman & Helene Williams
“That Real Old-Time Religion”
Words by Leonard Lehrman & Helene Williams
Performed by Bill and LaDonna Pacer, Helene Williams, and Leonard Lehrman
“Cat Duet” by Gioachino Rossini
Performed by Helene Williams and Amy Vail
“Must There Be a Reason?” from The Mermaid in Lock No. 7
Music by Elie Siegmeister
Lyrics by Edward Mabley
Performed by Helene Williams at Freeport Memorial Library, October 18, 2015
Overture and Mermaids’ Chorus from Rusalka
Libretto & Music by Alexander Dargomyzhsky
English translation by Emily R. Lehrman and Leonard Lehrman
Overture recorded at Cornell University by Leonard Lehrman & Bill Cowdery
Violin solo from Hannah by Leonard Lehrman
Performed by Nathaniel S. Lehrman
“I Have a Dream”
Cantata by Elie Siegmeister on words by Edward Mabley after the August 28, 1963, speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
Featuring William Warfield, Ronald Edwards, and the Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus at the Harlem School of the Arts
“Miracle Song” from Reuben Reuben
Music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
Later used as the finale of A Blitzstein Cabaret
Overture to Reineke Fuchs
Composed by Leonard Lehrman
“Tenderly”
Music by Walter Gross
Lyrics by Jack Lawrence
Performed by Billie Holiday
“Tenderly”
Music by Walter Gross
Lyrics by Jack Lawrence
Performed by Frank Sinatra
Theme from The Rosemary Clooney Show
“The Bell Song” from Lakmé
Music by Léo Delibes
Performed by Lily Pons
“The Flower Duet” from Lakmé
Music by Léo Delibes
“We’re in the Money”
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Al Dubin
“Somewhere” from West Side Story
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Opening of Kinderszenen, Op. 15
Robert Schumann
“The Nickel Under the Foot” from The Cradle Will Rock
Music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
Performed by Liz Filios and Leonard Lehrman
“Solidarity”
Music by Hanns Eisler
Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht
Translation by Leonard Lehrman
Additional classical music heard in the episode includes works by Johannes Brahms, Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Paradise Now: The Living Theatre in Amerika
Directed by Marty Topp; produced by Ira Cohen; 1969.
Paradise Now interviews
Archival interviews with members of The Living Theatre.
Martin Luther King Jr. — “I Have a Dream”
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963
Howard Zinn and Burning Draft Cards — The Rewind, Episode 8
GBH
1960s anti-war and anti-nuclear protest footage
Liberty Weekend Opening Ceremony
New York Harbor, 1986
Historical television, documentary, and archival excerpts are used for purposes including commentary, criticism, and historical context.
Photographs and personal archival materials courtesy of Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams, with additional photography credited in the episode to:
Nathaniel S. Lehrman
Including photographs of Leonard Lehrman with Nadia Boulanger, Elie Siegmeister, and Leonard Bernstein.
Uschi Karnilova
Berlin, 1989.
Jonathan Slaff
Theater for the New City rehearsal, December 1, 2025.
Helene Williams
Including Leonard Lehrman with Lee Baxandall at Fréjus, France, 1990.
Stephen Van Eck
Empire Haven video.
Additional photographs and archival materials appear courtesy of their respective photographers, collections, and sources as credited onscreen.
Carl Hild
Leonard Lehrman
Helene Williams
Nathan More
Shannon Lewis
Stéphane Deschênes
Additional music, sound design, and ambiences licensed through Artlist and Envato Elements.
Listen to past episodes of Naked Age at nakedage.co.
Naked Age is a history podcast profiling remarkable people who have gone to extraordinary lengths to live a nude life.
Naked Age is an interview series profiling activists, artists, individualists and misfits who have a singular point of view on the world.
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