RED HEN PRESS Comes to The Broad Stage In December

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Red Hen Press: An Afternoon of Poetry and Performance at The East Wing at The Broad Stage on Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm. The spiritual depth of Morten Lauridsen's music, paired with the stunning voices of Rod Gilfry and Carin Gilfry, in conversation with the lyric poetry of Amber Flora Thomas and the works of California State Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, will make for a thrilling venture into the radiant beauty of soul language.

Amber Flora Thomas' lyric poems often engage the body as a record of loss and accrual. She is the author of The Rabbits Could Sing (2012) and the Eye of Water (2005), which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and her work has been widely anthologized. Thomas's honors include the Richard Peterson Poetry Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize from Rosebud magazine, the Ann Stanford Poetry Prize, and an individual artist grant from the Marin Arts Council. She has taught at Washington University in St. Louis, Dominican University of California, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and Eastern Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

Dana Gioia (Gioia is pronounced JOY-uh) 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.

About the Performers:
The music of Morten Lauridsen occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of the Twenty-First Century. His eight vocal cycles, instrumental works, art songs and series of motets are performed throughout the world and have been recorded on over two hundred CDs, including several that received Grammy nominations. Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) served as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1995-2001 and is currently Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. An award-winning documentary by Michael Stillwater, Shining Night - A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, was released in 2012 (songwithoutborders.net). In 2006, Morten Lauridsen was named an "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2007 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the highest artistic award in the United States, by the President in a White House ceremony "for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth."

Rod Gilfry was born and raised in Southern California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University Fullerton, and a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California. From 1987 to 1989 he was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble, and from 1989 to 1994 he was a member of the Zürich Opera ensemble. The two-time Grammy nominee, singer and actor has performed in all the world's music capitals. He is acclaimed world-wide in opera, musicals, recitals and cabaret. He has created 11 leading roles in opera world premieres, most recently at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music.

Carin Gilfry, American mezzo-soprano and voice actor, is an exciting and versatile performer. She has performed all over the world with companies and orchestras including New York City Opera, Le Theatre Du Chatelet, The Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Phoenix Symphony, among others. Ms. Gilfry holds a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School, a Bachelor of Music Degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, and was a member of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera. She is also the proud daughter of baritone, Rod Gilfry.

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.


Prices: Start at $35. (Prices subject to change)
Online: www.thebroadstage.org
Phone: Patron Services at 310.434.3200
In Person: Box office at 1310 11th St. Santa Monica CA 90401 beginning three hours prior to performance.