The union of music and text is central in the role of a singer, and historically, a large portion of vocal and choral music has been settings of poems. Especially since the Renaissance, composers often chose a pre-existing text that inspired them to create a musical setting that would interpret and, hopefully, deepen the expressive qualities of the poetry.
In this literary and musical adventure we’ll discover the beauty of words married to rhythm, melody, and harmony. As we study the poems and learn the music, we honor the poets and composers who created the written beauty that we transform into sound. Among the poet/composer combinations on the program, are:
Eagle Rounding Out the Morning (Joy Harjo/Joan Szymko)
In time of silver rain (Langston Hughes/Sarah Quartel)
A Minuet of Mozart’s (Sara Teasdale/Kelsey Hohnstein)
Object Lesson (Octavio Paz/Matthew Harris)
Why a Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou/Rollo Dilworth)