The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Red Hen Press: Poetry Through Voice, a musical showcase of renowned artists featuring Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann, Grammy Award-winning composer Eric Whitacre, California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, Salastina, and Red Hen poets Elise Paschen and Douglas Manuel on Sunday, December 10 at 4:00pm in The Edye.
Red Hen Press Managing Editor, Kate Gale, explains, "The connection between the written word and the human voice is a delicate one, unveiling a deeper meaning to words on a page. This evening will explore this pairing of Red Hen poets,
Elise Paschen, Douglas Manuel and California Poet Laureate
Dana Gioia with the transcendent voice of
Hila Plitmann and the groundbreaking musicianship of composer
Eric Whitacre."
Hila Plitmann is a Grammy award-winning soprano and a glittering jewel on the international music scene, known worldwide for her astonishing musicianship, light and beautiful voice, and the ability to perform challenging new works. She regularly premieres works by today's leading composers while maintaining a vibrant and extraordinarily diverse professional life in film music, musical theatre, and song writing. In constant demand as a singer of new and contemporary music, Hila has been involved in a great many world premieres, including: Paul Revere's Ride with the Atlanta Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of the composer; Mr. Tambourine Man with the Minnesota Orchestra; Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby, a song cycle written for her by Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis, and many, many more. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Hila received both her Bachelor's and Master's of Music degrees, with high honors, from the Juilliard School of Music, and has been awarded the coveted Sony ES Prize for her outstanding contribution to the vocal arts. She currently lives in London with her husband, composer
Eric Whitacre, and their son.
Eric Whitacre is a Grammy-winning composer and conductor and one of the most popular musicians of our time. His concert music has been performed throughout the world by millions of amateur and professional musicians alike, while his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united singers from over 110 different countries. A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, Eric was recently appointed Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale having completed a five-year term as Composer in Residence at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, UK. A sought after guest conductor, Eric has conducted choral and instrumental concerts around the globe, including sold-out concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. In addition to several collaborations with legendary Hollywood composer
Hans Zimmer, he has worked with British pop icons
Laura Mvula,
Imogen Heap and
Annie Lennox.
Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Gioia is a native Californian of Italian and Mexican descent. He received a B.A. and a M.B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Gioia currently serves as the Poet Laureate of California. Gioia has published five full-length collections of poetry, most recently 99 Poems: New & Selected. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. An influential critic as well, Gioia's 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture. In 2014 he won the Aiken-Taylor Award for lifetime achievement in American poetry.
Salastina serves the intellectual and artistic curiosity of audiences of all types. New listeners, the classical cognoscenti, and everyone between enjoy a vital enrichment of spirit. Since its founding in 2010, Salastina has earned a national reputation for connecting audiences to classical music. Audiences respond to Salastina's warmth, immediacy, keen musical insight, and sense of social responsibility. Salastina was founded by violinists Kevin Kumar and Maia Jasper White, who continue to direct the series. Their roster consists of resident and guest artists, most of whom are drawn from Los Angeles' saturated pool of talent.
Elise Paschen is the author of The Nightlife, Bestiary, Infidelities (winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize), and Houses: Coasts. As an undergraduate at Harvard, she received the Garrison Medal for poetry. She holds M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees from Oxford University. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker and Poetry, among other magazines, and in numerous anthologies. She is the editor of The New York Times best-selling anthology, Poetry Speaks to Children, and co-editor of Poetry Speaks and Poetry in Motion, among other anthologies. She is a member of the Osage Nation. Former Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America, she is a co-founder of Poetry in Motion, a nationwide program which places poetry posters in subway cars and buses. Paschen teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute and lives in Chicago with her husband and their two children.
Douglas Manuel was born in Anderson, Indiana. He received a BA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University and a MFA from Butler University where he was the Managing Editor of Booth a Journal. He is currently a Middleton and Dornslife Fellow at the University of Southern California where he is pursuing a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing. He was a recipient of the Chris McCarthy Scholarship for the Napa Valley Writers' Conference and has been the Poetry Editor for Gold Line Press as well as was one of the Managing Editors of Ricochet Editions. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Rhino, North American Review, The Chattahoochee Review, New Orleans Review, Crab Creek Review, Many Mountains Moving and elsewhere. His debut poetry collection, Testify (Red Hen Press, 2017) is now available for purchase.
About Red Hen Press
Red Hen Press, one of the few literary presses in the Los Angeles area, was founded in 1994 by Kate Gale and Mark E. Cull with the intention of keeping creative literature alive. Our focus as a literary press is to publish poetry, literary fiction, and nonfiction. Red Hen Press is committed to publishing work of literary excellence, supporting diversity, and promoting literacy in our local schools. We seek a community of readers and writers who are actively engaged in the essential human practice known as literature.
Red Hen Press offers several literary awards each year, including the Benjamin Saltman Award. The winner of the Benjamin Saltman Award receives a cash prize in addition to publication of the winning poetry collection. Past judges include:
Claudia Rankine, Robin Becker, Wanda Coleman, B.H. Fairchild, Nick Flynn, Eloise Klein Healy, David St. John, Dorianne Laux, Thomas Lux, Philip Levine, Alicia Ostriker, James Ragan, Peggy Shumaker, and Quincy Troupe. Other awards offered include the Red Hen Press Short Story Award and the Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award, both for publication in the Los Angeles Review.
Red Hen Press is also committed to promoting literacy in the community. Beyond developing an appreciation of literature, we believe it is essential to our society to promote a readership that remains open and critically engaged in reading a variety of well-written, thought-provoking work. Our Writing in the Schools program brings writers into schools to run writing workshops and to read and discuss their work-promoting both literacy and creative expression among young people. We organize readings in schools, universities, libraries, and literary organizations. We donate books to a variety of organizations, including schools and facilities that educate at-risk youth.
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