LIVE! AN EVENING OF Poetry AND SOng
Join us at the Alliance Française for an evening of "Poetry, and Song" featuring Sharon Chmielarz, Ben Cooper, Diane Jarvi, Peggy Linrud & Jim Reilly.
Enjoy Sharon Chmielarz reading “To Joseph the Dreamer, the Pretty Boy” and her poems about Galileo’s daughter, accompanied by Diane Jarvi. Experience Ben Cooper, tenor, and Jim Reilly, piano, performing the song cycle “What’s Inside Makes No Sense to a Bird.” Peggy Linrud will also present several of her recent poems.
Join us for an enchanting night of words and music that will inspire and delight!
About the performers
Sharon Chmielarz is the author of 14 books of poetry and three picture books. Her work has been a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Publishers Award, Midwest Book Awards, National Poetry Series, and the Ben Franklin Award. Kirkus Reviews has described her poetry as “… thoughtful, bold, humorous, earthy, and humane.” Her subjects include women, history, family, and the prairie. She’s the South Dakota Poet of Merit for 2021 and has read at many venues in the Twin Cities, in Duluth and Grand Marais, New York City, Toronto, Tucson, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, California, and North Carolina. She lives in Brooklyn Park.
Sharon will be reading “To Joseph the Dreamer, the Pretty Boy”, a crown of sonnets. The eight sonnets are linked by subject matter and structure; each sonnet begins with the last line of the preceding sonnet. The 8th sonnet ends with the first line in the first sonnet.
Ben Cooper took up solo singing relatively late in life, and has studied with Jim Reilly, Anders Andersson in Stockholm and Margareta Jonth in Uppsala. He has performed recitals for the Nordtvendt series, the Leiv Eriksson International Festival, at the American Swedish Institute, here at the Alliance Française, in Madison, Wisconsin, and at numerous house concerts. His repertory includes Swedish songs, in addition to better known works in other European languages, and he has premiered songs of Jim Reilly. He recently sang the role of the Narrator in P.D.Q. Bach’s Oedipus Tex. He also sings with the Minnesota Chorale.
Along with Jim Reilly, Ben will perform “What’s Inside Makes No Sense to a Bird”, a cycle of ten songs, text and music both by Jim Reilly. This cycle, unlike some, does not tell a story; the texts are instead loosely related meditations and impressions, primarily from a period of several years after the death of Jim’s father in 1984, with music composed in 2016.
Diane Jarvi is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, kantele player, and poet. In addition to her own compositions, Jarvi is known for her intimate and authentic interpretations of tangos, waltzes, gypsy music, ballads, jazz standards and cabaret songs from around the world. Her recordings are heard on radio throughout Europe, Australia, Canada as well as around the U.S., and she has been the subject of two film documentaries, Muistot and Kaipuu, by the award-winning filmmaker Erkki Määtänen. She has been the recipient of artistic grants and awards including a McKnight MacPhail performing fellowship as well as a recipient of a grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
Diane will accompany Sharon's poems with music.
Peggy Linrud has a background in French and journalism studies, and has served as a board member, assistant director, and volunteer at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Alliance Française, and as programs coordinator at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She has worked as a writer/editor for several publications/broadcast media in Minnesota and North Dakota. She is inspired to write poetry by unusual situations or events of the day. Her interests include foreign films, music, travel, walking, reading, and baking.
Peggy will read several of her recent poems.
Jim Reilly is a pianist, tenor, and composer who has performed in twenty states, the Netherlands, and Norway. He has received commissions from The Schubert Club, The First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, The Leif Eriksson International Festival and many individuals; one of his hymns (text and music) is in hymnals in the U.S., England, and the Czech Republic. Most of his poems are written with the knowledge that he may eventually set them to music. Jim performed an 80 th birthday recital last year here at the Alliance Française and at Mindekirken, where Jim is Music Director Emeritus.
Books and music by Sharon, Diane, and Jim will be available for purchase after the program.
This event will be free for all! Please consider registering and donating $10. Merci pour votre soutien !