The Language of Music, The Music of Words: A Musical Evening with Joy Kogawa and Friends

For those that haven't noticed yet, we're right in the middle of the largest poetry celebration in the world, known as National Poetry Month. Those in the Vancouver area (fresh from discovering the newfound tradition of singing O Canada after CBC Radio Orchestra concerts) might want to check out The Language of Music, The Music of Words, A Musical Evening with Joy Kogawa and Friends this Friday, April 25 at 8pm.

From the event's press release:

Vancouver composer Leslie Uyeda presents two song cycles written to accompany five of Joy Kogawa’s most exquisite poems. "Stations of Angels" will be performed by soprano Heather Pawsey and flutist Kathryn Cernauskas and "Offerings," by Heather Pawsey and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa. These performances are the world premiere of both song cycles, which were composed especially for these three artists. To complement the musical performance, poets Joy Kogawa, Heidi Greco, Marion Quednau, and Vancouver’s poet laureate George McWhirter will read. The evening will close with a stellar presentation: the Vancouver Public Library will award Joy the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding literary career related to British Columbia.

The event takes place April 25 at 8pm at the historic Kogawa House, the childhood home of legendary Canadian novelist and poet Joy Kogawa, who grew up in Japanese internment camps in the BC interior and later wrote about the experience in Obasan, her most widely read novel

Kogawa House is located at 1450 W. 64th Avenue in Vancouver (just east of Granville). Admission is by donation and tickets are limited, so be sure to RSVP ahead of time to kogawahouse [at] yahoo dot ca. Proceeds from the concert will go towards the house's first writer-in-residence.