Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar

Emily Dickinson is largely considered one of the leading poetic voices of the 19th century. Her words have inspired many composers who have set her words to music. Annina Hsieh (soprano) and Judy Park (piano) will perform selections from Aaron Copland’s playful, tragic, personal, perennial, and ethereal song cycle Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, as well as settings of Dickinson’s verse by other American composers. Poets Tom Daley and Cammy Thomas will recite and provide insights into the power, nuance, and beauty of Dickinson’s poetic vision.

Annina Hsieh is a Boston-based soprano and educator. Praised for her sensitivity as a performer, Hsieh strives to connect with audiences in opera and recital settings, and was the 2019 winner of the Handel and Haydn Society’s Barbara E. Maze Award for Musical Excellence. She completed her Master of Music in Voice Performance at Cleveland Institute of Music, and her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Ithaca College.

Leona Cheung is a Boston-based collaborative pianist. Her deep devotion to Art Song repertoire has brought her to perform in the Oxford Lieder Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Franz Schubert Institut and Songfest. She earned her Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Hong Kong Baptist University.

Tom Daley is the author of the play Every Broom and Bridget—Emily Dickinson and Her Irish Servants. Tom leads workshops in poetry and in memoir writing at Lexington Community Education and elsewhere. Recipient of the Dana Award in Poetry his poetry has appeared in Harvard Review, Massachusetts Review, 32 Poems, Fence, Denver Quarterly, Crazyhorse, Barrow Street, Rhino, Prairie Schooner, Witness, and Poetry Ireland Review. Regarding his poetry collection House You Cannot Reach, Lloyd Schwartz writes, "Every line here, even—and maybe especially—in the poignant poems “spoken” by the poet’s mother, radiates his love of poetry."

Cammy Thomas’ first book of poems, Cathedral of Wish, received the 2006 Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete her second book, Inscriptions. Her third book, Tremors, came out in 2021. Her poems have recently appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, The Poetry Porch, New Orleans Review, and Poet Lore. Far Past War, a choral setting of her poems composed by her sister, Augusta Read Thomas, premiered at Washington’s National Cathedral on March 13, 2022. She lives in Bolton, MA.