EVENTS

STANDING STILL; STILL STANDING

Free Concert March 3, 2022
Photo by Reg Huston

I am very thankful that internationally-acclaimed mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer commissioned twenty-three classical songs by diverse composers highlighting poetry I wrote during the Covid 19 time. It all began as a Christmas gift she asked of her friend, composer Jake Heggie. She, then, asked composer Libby Larsen to set another one. (She wrote two song cycles that Susanne premiered and recorded).
This idea grew to where Susanne commissioned an entire evening of songs with piano or with string quartet by a diverse group of composers, all to my poetry! Usually one composer sets a cycle of songs with one poet. This project is different because many composers set texts by one poet. Susanne sent many poems to each composer and they chose what they wished to set.

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There will a free performance on March 3, 2022 at Barbro Osher Hall at San Francisco Conservatory’s Bowes Center.

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The following composers have written for this exciting evening:

BIPOC composers: Karim Al-Zand, Stephen Bachicha, Michael Ching, Andre Myers, Dave Ragland, Jason Hainsworth

Women composers: Tammy Hall, Hilary Purrington, Libby Larsen,

Other: Kurt Erickson, Richard Pearson Thomas, Jake Heggie, Daron Hagen.