Syringa Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", by Walt Whitman, lilacs are a reference to Abraham Lincoln. "Syringa vulgaris" is the state flower of New Hampshire, because it "is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State" (New Hampshire Revised Statute Annotated (RSA) 3:5). Several locations in North America hold annual Lilac Festivals, including: Species and subspecies currently accepted as of July 2016: Syringa Syringa (lilac) is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely
A Flowering Tree rituals and trials to discover the transfiguring power of love." This parallel was intended by the composer as the opera was commissioned to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. It premiered on 14 November 2006 in the MuseumsQuartier Halle E in Vienna with Eric Owens as the narrator, Russell Thomas as the prince, Jessica Rivera as Kumudha, Orquesta Joven Camerata de Venezuela and the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela all under the direction of John Adams in a production of Peter Sellars co-commissioned by New Crowned Hope. In February 2015, James Darrah directed a new production of "A Flowering Tree"