World premiere of PEI-Tasmania poetry and music collaboration takes place in Charlottetown on May 13
Four poems from Dr. Laurie Brinklow’s PEI Book Award-winning poetry book, My island’s the house I sleep in at night (Island Studies Press/Walleah Press), have been set to music by Don Kay, one of Tasmania’s best-loved composers.
The Atlantic String Machine (ASM), Prince Edward Island’s award-winning string quintet, with guest soloist Hannah O’Donnell, will perform the song cycle’s world premiere on Saturday, May 13, at 2:30 and 7:30 pm, at St. Paul’s Church in Charlottetown during the final concert of their 2022–23 season titled “Coming Together.”
Brinklow, now an assistant professor of Island Studies and coordinator of the Master of Arts in Island Studies program at UPEI, connected with Kay when her Island Studies PhD research took her to Tasmania. As part of her program, she interviewed him and wrote a poem for him based on their conversation. Kay then took that poem, titled “So it begins at Hastings Bay,” and three more of Brinklow’s Tasmanian poems, and created a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and string quintet.
Kay has composed works for opera, theatre, symphony orchestra, and choirs that have been performed around the world. In 1991, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the arts. He is now retired from a post at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that this island-to-island collaboration is coming to the world stage,” said Brinklow. “It demonstrates the cyclical nature of art, and how inspiration works, with Don describing to me how he writes music from nature, then me putting it into words, then Don writing music based on what I wrote, then my Atlantic String Machine friends and Hannah interpreting his score. It’s pure magic. And having the Atlantic String Machine perform the world premiere here is a dream come true.”
Tickets are $32.15 for adults and $16.23 for students and children and can be purchased through Eventbrite, or at the door.
