William Meredith

On February 19, 2022, I had the opportunity to perform with Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra (ECSO) in the world premiere of Scattering, a ground-breaking electroacoustic piece that explores two of today's most prominent world events: the Covid-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd, all the while including a brand new instrument especially designed for the orchestra conductor to wear on his wrist, performing alongside the musicians. In the months prior to the performance, the ECSO recorded small excerpts which the composer, Joseph Butch Rovan, then analyzed and reimagined, changing the sound entirely and making it coordinate with a special wrist-worn device during the live performance. The device, called TOSHI (The Orchestra Synthesis Human Interface) was expertly worn by its namesake, Toshi Shimada, the ECSO conductor. The piece continues to break barriers with not only the invention of a new instrument, but by making it one that the conductor wears to make him a performer alongside the symphony musicians. Furthermore, the device communicates with the composer’s laptop at the back of the audience, sending out a variety of sounds (including the sound of a person exhaling) through the surround system at the theater. After learning about this novel work, I wanted to learn more, so I sat down with the conductor and composer just before the premiere.

The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County today announced that the popular series CULTURE & COCKTAILS opens 2018 on Monday, January 8, with the second of five fascinating Conversations to be held this season at The Colony Hotel Pavilion, located at 155 Hammon Avenue in Palm Beach.

Rena Blades, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, today announced the 2017-2018 season of the popular series CULTURE & COCKTAILS.

On Tuesday, Florida Poet Laureate and long-time author Peter Meinke will recite stories of his life and poems over original arrangements of prized composer William Dawson Jr.

American Composers Orchestra (ACO) continues its 40th anniversary season and its commitment to serving as a catalyst for the creation and development of new orchestral music with the 26th Annual Underwood New Music Readings on Thursday, June 22 and Friday, June 23, 2017 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 W. 37th St., NYC).

Poets Choice Publishing working with the MeredithFoundation.org, has recently been established to promote high quality poetry by established and emerging poets, including this year's 2017 Meredith Award for Poetry presented to Peter Meinke. The William Meredith Foundation celebrates National Poetry Month with publication of Laura Brylawski-Miller's exquisite fourth collection of poems, FIRST, DO NO HARM. She is a writer of extraordinary talent and erudition, sensitivity and emotion, and praise for her work has been euphoric: 'These are powerful and life-affirming poems. They offer us, as a tree 'offers shady / comfort to the tiny / rabbit at breakfast / in the hospice park,' not hope, exactly, but affection, mercy, and ordinary kindness.' - Peter Meinke, Poet Laureate of Florida 'Her vision - both inner and outer - is exact, and she renders what she sees with a fine precision and a fine avoidance of fixity. Her world moves, in 'words like water in the sun.' - Henry S. Taylor, Pulitzer Prize -Winning Poet for THE FLYING CHANGE Like a soothsayer, or shaman she intuits nature as it interacts with human consciousness: the sun 'bleeds on the horizon,' 'The new-­?born sea' breathes quietly,' the seaweed 'holds winter's spent fury in long green fingers.' Like the imagist poet Paul Valéry, she knows that poems are not made of ideas, but of images, and this philosophy reveals the synchronicity of physical fact and spiritual reality. Mind and body become one, interacting with and creating the world at once, the method of magic. The mission of (WilliamMeredithFoundation.org) is to continue the legacy of the great American spirit, William Meredith: former US Poet Laureate, Navy Aviator in WWII and Korea, master arborist and beloved teacher at Connecticut College for nearly four decades. His name and work continue through support of the arts in residencies at the Meredith home in Uncasville, Ct., and sponsorship of exhibitions and publications through its auxiliary publishing house, Poets Choice (Poets-Choice.com). The annual William Meredith Award for Poetry was awarded this year to Peter Meinke for poetry and essays: TO START WITH, FEEL FORTUNATE. Laura Brylawski-Miller was born and raised in Milan, Italy where she was educated in Classic Humanities. She holds a degree in Health Sciences from George Washington University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from The American University. Previous poetry collections include: Luna Parks ,The Snow on Lake Como, and Exile at Sarzana. She is the author of three novels: The Square at Vigevano, The Medusa's Smile, and The Shadow of the Evening (L'Ombra della Sera.) She lives in Arlington, VA, and travels frequently between the U.S. and Italy.

Martin Galvin's reputation as a teacher in the DC area is legendary and despite the many years devoted to his students, Dr. Galvin has continued to publish his extraordinary poetry over the decades. A WAY to HOME brings together selections from previous volumes as well as a large group of major new poems. Having spent his working life teaching at the college and high school level as well as at the well known Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD, he managed to produce 5 books of poetry and hundreds of collected and uncollected poems over the years. A former student, now living in Germany has added paintings to enhance the beauty of this volume and celebrate his mentor. This project is an ideal example of the work done by the William Meredith Foundation to continue the legacy of the former US Poet Laureate through publications and educational programs in the arts. Ryan Bongers beautiful paintings offer a remarkable foil to the poems. As he says in the artist statement, 'The act of using a brush loaded with wet material to bring an imagined thing to life remains elusive, if not downright shifty. And the performance can be both meditative and manic, demanding guts - like all creative endeavors - and a great deal of honest reflection and introspection, plus a cool capacity to eliminate non essentials.' Poet Mary Morris, writing in Montserrat Review has said of Galvin's work, 'It is a comfort and a blessing (as the Irish might say) to hear a voice from the rich landscape of a country with such strong and ancient tradition of poetry, this Celtic land of Atlantic Europe.' And Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet, Henry Taylor describes Galvin's work as that 'of a poet who values what can be learned from other lives than his, and what can be made of imagining characters and settings. Mr Galvin gives them believable things to do; he speaks with admirable directness, rewardingly juxtaposes the exotic and the mundane. His poetry reminds us... of how we stay human, even in the presence, or the grip, of various uniquenesses.' This is a collection of poems and art not to be missed and is brought to serious lovers of poetry with great pride by Poets-Choice.com and WilliamMeredithFoundation.org.

Rose Theatre Kingston today announced the full company for its new production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Award-winning Michael Rudman directs David Horovitch as Joe Keller and Penny Downie as Kate Keller with Alex Waldmann (Chris Keller), Grace Carter (Lydia Lubey), Edward Harrison (George Deever), William Meredith (Frank Lubey), Alison Pargeter (Sue Bayliss), David Partridge (Jim Bayliss) and Francesca Zoutewelle (Ann Deever). The production opens on 2 November, with previews from 28 October, and runs until 19 November.

Poets' Choice Publishing is pleased to present Elisavietta Ritchie's twentieth collection, 'Babushka's Beads: A Geography of Genes,' new & selected poems. Paperback 120 Pages $18.95 ISBN 978-0-9909257-74 'Elisavietta Ritchie's rich autobiographical collection of poems leaves you wanting more. Here is a woman who has really lived. This verbal rumination on her heritage, people she loved, family recipes for borscht and cherry vodka, the suffering of her aunt and thousands of others during Russia's Civil War and the Siege of Leningrad, are filled with such exquisite, well-realized detail, a reader is drawn along with the force of a rip tide on a summer afternoon at the beach. It's all simply so interesting. And her conversations with the past and recently dead intrigue us...Here are poems that extol life, sing of its joy, despite the cruelty and entropy that threaten at every turn. Ritchie, whose work is widely published, translated, anthologized and has won a number of awards, is a person you would want to know, some of whose poetry you have here, life seen through her bright, intelligent, compassionate eyes, what poetry does at its best, give heart.' -From the Foreword by Richard Harteis, director, The William Meredith Foundation, Poets' Choice Publishing 'Elisavietta Ritchie's work is original, varied and exciting. The core of her poems is vitality. Grim, joyous, exuberant or erotic, they have a strong and vivid life.' -Josephine Jacobsen, US Poet Laureate, 1971-73 'Elisavietta Ritchie's poetry combines a Byzantine elegance with straight-forward plain style honesty. The extraordinary range of her interests: work, love, sensuality, and man's plight in a forlorn civilization - is reinforced by her exquisite regard for language and lively fascination with the possibilities of form.' -William Packard, late editor New York Quarterly 'Elisavietta Ritchie's Cormorant Beyond the Compost burns with eroticism and life. Reading some of her poems is akin to watching a wick sizzle down on a firecracker, waiting for the pop, the smoke, and final hiss...Whether looking through the scrim into death, or looking back at her own family, I imagine Ritchie to be some mad cheerleader for passion, stealing blackberries, loving a dying friend, or recuperating from a bad mushroom trip, all the while refusing to give up, to be satiated...Life and death. Passion and its opposite, her touchstones...give her voice power; after all 'like fire,/when we no longer burn, we die.' - Scott Whitaker, The Broadkill Review, National Book Critics Circle Poets' Choice Publishing 337 Kitemaug Road Uncasville, CT 06382 MarathonFilm@gmail.com 860-961-5138 Poets-Choice.com www.WilliamMeredithFoundation.org

Poets' Choice (www.Poets-Choice.com) is honored to publish Guy Wires, the latest collection of poetry by Elisavietta Ritchie. The newly established publishing house works closely with the William Meredith Foundation to support the arts and continue the legacy of a great American spirit. Recent annual Meredith Awards for Poetry include Poets David Fisher, Lyubomir Levchev and former US Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey. Poet, writer, editor, translator, journalist, photographer, Elisavietta Ritchie's award-winning work is widely published in the United States and abroad. Guy Wires is her seventeenth publication in a long and distinguished career. For three years, she served as President of the Washington Writers' Publishing House, and has involved herself with writers and poets in exile and immigration/emigration, translating poems from Russian, French, and Malay-Indonesian. Her own work has been translated into a dozen languages. Her recent chapbook, 'Feathers, Or, Love on the Wing' is a collaboration with visual artists Megan Richard and Suzanne Shelden (SheldenStudios.com) who designed the present collection. Ritchie's poetry is greatly admired by readers and critics alike: 'Elisavietta Ritchie's poetry combines a Byzantine elegance with straight-forward plain style honesty. The extraordinary range of her interests: work, love, sensuality, and man's plight in a forlorn civilization-is reinforced by her exquisite regard for language and lively fascination with the possibilities of form.' William Packard In the past, Ms. Ritchie has worked as a free-lance writer and photographer for the New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. Presently, she continues to lead creative writing workshops for adults and school children and works as a photographer and journalist for The Bay Weekly. She lives in Washington and Southern Maryland with her husband Clyde Farnsworth. They have traveled widely together and recounted their life as citizens of the world in various genres. Contact: Press Director, Richard Harteis (860-961-5138) MarathonFilm@gmail.com www.WilliamMeredithFoundation.org

On January 9th, the anniversary of America's former US Poet Laureate, the 2015 poetry award named for William Meredith was be conferred on Andrew Oerke by the William Meredith Foundation. Oerke who died in 2014, was a true Renaissance man: CEO of an environmental foundation, president of a microfinance organization, Peace Corps Director, Golden Gloves boxing champion, and academic, he was a poet of great integrity and spiritual authority. 'The poet has to write from the real stuff of life, the major concerns of the heart, and of life today,' he has said. Like Meredith, a friend and colleague, Oerke believed that poetry was more than just words on a page, that it is a way of living and perceiving and relating to other people. For them, poetry can be useful in bringing about social justice and serve as a solution for changing the mind and spirit of mankind. 'Hunger's grip is cold stone,' Oerke has written of famine in Africa. 'It does not forgive good intentions and tonic by the pool.' In his extraordinarily rich and varied career, Oreke has given us an example of a life lived purposely and fully and well. Harold Bloom has said of Oerke, '...his eye is shrewd, his mind capacious, and his generosity toward mankind is endless. He is very much a person who lives out in the world, aiding other men and women to live better lives.' Literary critic Jewel Spears Brooker believes, 'Andrew Oerke writes with enormous depth of feeling and mastery of form. His poems are an American treasure.' William Meredith himself, writing with his partner several years ago, has said, 'Andrew Oerke's work is a window on the world, a world seen through the compassionate eye of a fellow pilgrim. In the exquisite particulars of Africa, he sings the human condition, 'in the heart's duress, on the heart's behalf.' Please see the attached biography for a full description of Oerke's many awards, publications, and achievements. Oerke's New and Selected Poems, THE WALL will be published by Poets's Choice Press and launched at a major retrospective of Bulgarian Art at the Slater Museum in Norwich Connecticut, June 21st 2015. The award also carries a cash prize and promotional events scheduled throughout the year. For more information, please visit the foundation website: WilliamMeredithFoundation.org Contact Information William Meredith Foundation 337 Kitemaug Road Uncasville, Ct. 06382 MarathonFilm@gmail.com 860-961-5138

Matt Haimovitz and Christopher O'Riley, two fearless musicians who have bonded over common musical passions of wide range and scope, reunite for BEETHOVEN, Period., an illuminating voyage back to the birth of the cello/piano genre with Beethoven's Sonatas for Pianoforte and Cello. Grammy-nominated Matt Haimovitz, praised as a musical visionary in pushing the boundaries of classical music performance, and O'Riley, acclaimed for his engaging and deeply committed performances and known to millions as the host of NPR's From the Top, turn back the clock to record for the first time on period instruments – Haimovitz's Venetian Matteo Gofriller cello of 1710 set up with gut strings and an early 19th century tailpiece, and O'Riley with an 1823 original Broadwood fortepiano. The new recording on two SACDs is available internationally on February 1, 2015 on the PENTATONE Oxingale Series.

UNDERGROUND, an ambitious evening-length multimedia dance piece by acclaimed choreographer David Dorfman, explores the similarities and connections between physical and political movement as well as the promise and the danger of ideological passion.

It's apocalypse now as the three cultural guerrillas of The Reduced Shakespeare Company set their reductive sites on The Bible. Can bolts of lightning be far behind?

It's apocalypse now as the three cultural guerrillas of The Reduced Shakespeare Company set their reductive sites on The Bible. Can bolts of lightning be far behind?