How might poetry evolve through song? Boston-based composer and pianist Scott Wheeler, Pulitzer winner Megan Marshall, and soprano singer and actress Sarah Chalfy will explore this topic through a captivating and varied program that transforms traditional ideals of American poetry (think Emily Dickinson to present day) through Scott Wheeler’s artistic composition. This program is made possible through the connections of friend and benefactor Helen Powell who pledged to bring this program to the Library Society after its success last December at the Boston Athenaeum, with the similar goal of bringing together two audiences that rarely overlap – attendees of modern classical concerts and those of poetry readings. In its first iteration, the event was the first time the singers heard the poets read, and the first time the poets heard their works in song. We look forward to seeing you for this unique, surprising and perhaps revelatory affair.
About Scott Wheeler:
Scott Wheeler has written several operas, as well as music for orchestra, chamber ensembles and solo voice. Performers of his work include Gil Shaham, Kent Nagano, Gil Rose, Renee Fleming and Susanna Phillips. Scott’s music can be heard on New World, Naxos, Bridge, and BMOP Sound. Born in Washington DC, Scott grew up various cities in the American midwest and east, then studied at Amherst College, New England Conservatory, and Brandeis. His principal teachers were Lewis Spratlan, Arthur Berger and Virgil Thomson, along with studies at Dartington with Peter Maxwell Davies and Tanglewood with Olivier Messiaen. Scott is Professor Emeritus at Emerson College in Boston, where he co-teaches Poetry and Song. Learn more about Scott at www.scottwheeler.org.
About Megan Marshall:
Megan Marshall is the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of the lives of Margaret Fuller, the Peabody sisters, and Elizabeth Bishop, with whom she studied verse-writing in college. Her biographies have received the Francis Parkman Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize, and the Massachusetts Book Award. She edited the posthumous collection of her partner Scott Harney’s poetry, The Blood of San Gennaro (2020), and her essay collection, After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart, will be published in February 2025. Marshall is the Charles Wesley Emerson College Professor at Emerson College and a past president of the Society of American Historians. Learn more about Megan at https://meganmarshallauthor.com/.
About Sarah Chalfy:
Sarah Chalfy has collaborated with and premiered works by many of today’s leading composers, including Scott Wheeler, Michael Gordon, David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, O+A (Bruce Odland/Sam Auinger), Oscar Bettison, Stefan Weissman, and Kim D. Sherman. As an Early Music specialist, Sarah has been featured by Early Music New York, NY Polyphony, Voices of Ascension, and others. She has Sarah has recorded on the Canteloupe, New Amsterdam, and Innova labels. Her album Love.Sex.Death: A Cabaret. is available on all major streaming services. Learn more about Sarah at www.sarahchalfy.com.
Prior to the program, We invite our Fellows Members to enjoy a Happy Hour from 5:00 – 6:00pm, downstairs in the Dr. Susan D. Boyd Fellows Club Lounge.
