Award winning composer Susan Botti and poet Linda Gregerson will be on campus this week, presenting several events on April 27 and 28 that highlight their collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches in the arts. These will include a Meet the Composer talk and q&a with with Susan Botti; Resonating Poetry, Words with Music with Botti and Gregerson discussing the collaborative process of creating a work together; and Twice Told Tales: Adapting Ancient Stories in Contemporary Arts, a talk by Linda Gregerson, currently UMBC writer-in-residence in the English department.
The culmination of their visit to UMBC will be Moon and Myth, a concert of contemporary vocal chamber music by Susan Botti. Renowned musicians Airi Yoshioka (violin), James Wilson (cello), and Carsten Schmidt (piano) will join Botti in her work Dido Refuses to Speak, featuring the poetry of Linda Gregerson. The world premiere of a new work for voice and violin, Mangetsu, commissioned by Yoshioka/UMBC will also be a highlight of the program.
Composer and soprano Susan Botti has an eclectic background which is reflected in her music. Her musical explorations have encompassed traditional, improvisational and non-classical composition and singing styles. Among Botti’s awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, and grants from Meet The Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Aaron Copland Fund, The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the NY Foundation for the Arts. Her commissions include works for the New York Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
Linda Gregerson is the author of several collections of poetry and literary criticism. She is a Renaissance scholar, a classically trained actor, and a devotee of the sciences. Her awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the Consuelo Ford Award from the Poetry Society of America, three Pushcart Prizes, and the Levinson Prize from Poetry magazine. She has also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Humanities Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
These events are sponsored by the Vice President for Undergraduate Education; the Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; the Dresher Center for the Humanities; CIRCA; and the Departments of Music, English, and Ancient Studies:
Wednesday, April 27th, 4:30 p.m.
Meet the Composer: Susan Botti
Music Department Conference Room (246 PAHB)
Thursday, April 28th, 10:00 a.m.
Resonating Poetry, Words with Music: Susan Botti and Linda Gregerson
The Music Box (151 PAHB)
Thursday, April 28th, 4:00 p.m.
Twice Told Tales: Adapting Ancient Stories in Contemporary Arts: Linda Gregerson
Dresher Center Conference Room (216 PAHB)
Thursday, April 28, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Moon and Myth: Works by Susan Botti
Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall
Images: Left, Susan Botti; Right, Linda Gregerson
Tags: CAHSS, English, History, Theatre, VisualArts
