A Musical Feast Remembers Robert Creeley

A Musical Feast, the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s resident music ensemble will dedicate its Friday, May 8, concert to the memory of famed American poet Robert Creeley (1926–2005). The concert begins at 8:00 p.m.

Creeley was an internationally hailed poet, beloved educator, and former New York State Poet Laureate. As a longtime Buffalo, NY, resident, he was a renowned, yet approachable presence on the local literary scene. As a SUNY Distinguished Professor, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Poetics at the University at Buffalo, and member of the university's English department for 37 years, Creeley mentored generations of aspiring poets and students of many disciplines.

Kaplan Harris, who coedited The Selected Letters of Robert Creeley (University of California Press) will introduce the concert.

Mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley will be joined by pianist Kuang-Hao Huang in a highly innovative program in the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium. The concert will also feature a solo selection by modern dancer Melanie Aceto, who recently received a rave New York Times review.

The program includes an electronically-enhanced work by composer David Felder, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Composition in UB’s Department of Music, that incorporates Creeley’s voice reading several poems.

The concert is part of the Burchfield Penney’s M&T Second Friday series.

A Musical Feast concert tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for Burchfield Penney members and students. Call (716) 878-6011 for tickets.