By Leslie Tuomi | Development Director
The theme of our 2023 Summer Festival is Poetry in Music. Long before each art form was written down and codified music and poetry were performed together and inspired one another. This summer we celebrate both the historical and ongoing interaction between the two art forms. We will present music of great composers such as Schubert, Brahms, Fauré, and Bolcom set to the words of legendary poets Heine, Rückert, Verlaine, Angelou, and Dickinson.
The central work of Poetry in Music is The Anchoress, a one-person “mono drama” composed by David Ludwig, who was inspired by the poetry of Katie Ford. The mini-opera tells the story of an anchoress, medieval nun who sequesters herself in a small cell and communicates with the outside world only through a small window. Poet Katie Ford, and composer David Serkin Ludwig will give a special “Literary Conversation” on July 15 to discuss their long creative partnership, and how they created new works combining Katy’s poetry and David’s music.
Each of the programs featuring Poetry in Music will open with a Poetry Prelude reading of a poem. Participating poets include Kim Stafford, Irene Cooper, Katie Ford, Michele Glazer, Dr. S. Renee Mitchell, Daniela Molnar, Alicia Jo Rabins, and Connie Soper.
CMNW is collaborating with two other Oregon arts organizations, Literary Arts and Fear No Music, to create a youth component of Poetry in Music. Four student composers, selected from Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project, will compose works based on the poetry of four Young Poets from Literary Arts. Their collaborative compositions will be workshopped and premiered by the students of CMNW’s Young Artist Institute on July 7, 7pm at Pilot House, University of Portland.
The Poetry In Music programs include:
June 24: Brahms and Protégé Composer Kian Ravaei.
June 29: Selections from Schubert’s Swan Song Opening Night
July 2-3: Let Evening Come, by William Bolcom
July 16-17: The Anchoress by David Serkin Ludwig
July 18: Our Long War – David Serkin Ludwig and Katie Ford and selected songs of Gabriel Fauré
July 23: Blame the Obituary, a new commission by Wang Jie
July 27 & 29: Sign for my Father, Who Stressed the Bunt by Chris Rogerson
Other highlights of the 2023 Summer Festival include the farewell concerts of the Emerson String Quartet, five new commissioned works, and dozens of free educational or community activities, including master classes, the Young Artist Institute, Prelude Performances by youth ensembles, pop-up concerts, community concerts, and an “instrument petting zoo” for young children.
We thank our GlobalGiving donors for helping us share music and education programs with our audiences both here in Oregon and through the internet.
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