Song and Verse 3: "Where I Lived: Writers and Composers of the Asian Diaspora"

Inaugurated in the fall of 2020, the Song and Verse recital series provides a platform for undergraduate singers at NEC to experience the unique and invigorating process of song preparation and performance—creating interpretations, building performance skills, and forging intellectual and musical connections with a wide literature.

Working closely with Vocal Arts faculty members, students engage with rich traditions of song composition from around the globe.  Committed to diversity, our programs feature both established and emerging composers and poets from across many cultures and traditions. This series creates new opportunities for students to participate with the singular type of storytelling unique to song. 
 

This concert features a sampling of works by musicians and writers with ties to the Asian diaspora, artists whose creative visions were shaped by narratives of dislocation, reinvention, and transformation. Uniquely, the texts chosen for these dynamic and original songs range from canonical writers in the English canon to the searing poems of Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong and Chinese-American poet Li-Young Lee – a current of writing exploring themes of parentage, identity, power structures, and generational divides. Presenting these works is a testament to the creative process as an act of restoration and renewal. – J.J. Penna

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “Performer Self-Stream” when prompted.