Ambushed by Poetry: No Second Takes II (press release)

Poetry and Jazz: “No Second Takes II” at UNH Museum of Art
Thursday, April 19, 7-8 pm

8th Portsmouth Poet Laureate John-Michael Albert and UNH Professor of Music Michael Annicchiarico team up again for an hour of original poetry with improvised jazz accompaniment. Their second public collaboration will be on Thursday, April 19, 7-8 pm at the UNH Museum of Art (30 Academic Way, Durham NH 03824).

Mr. Albert’s poetry is praised for its consummate craft and its wide range of subjects and emotions. Mr. Annicchiarico is a well-known composer of works for small and large music ensembles, and an improvisatory pianist in the jazz idiom.

The poet and jazz pianist team first collaborated at the UNH Museum of Art in September 2011, presenting randomly selected poems from a manuscript of the poet’s collected work. The combination of their arts was enthusiastically received by a large audience of faculty, students and community members that crowded both floors of the museum.

“The idea of accompanying poetry with music isn’t exactly new. It’s probably one of the oldest arts known to man. But the enormous pleasure I get from working with Mike, a musician that listens so hard to these unfamiliar poems and compliments my words so perfectly, regardless of the mood, is a strong indicator of why it has lasted so long,” says Mr. Albert. “And you just can’t beat performing in a room full of art and sculpture. It’s a stunning exhibition of work by BA, BFA and MFA candidates this time and isn’t to be missed.”

The program will be a book release event for Mr. Albert’s The Bird Catcher, New and Selected Poems (Moon Pie Press, 2012). Signed copies of the anthology will be available for $15 at the event.

“No Second Takes II” is part of Mr. Albert’s two-year, multi-part Poet Laureate project under the umbrella of “Ambushed by Poetry.” It is sponsored by the UNH Art Museum of Art, Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program, which will be providing light refreshments, and Moon Pie Press, publisher of Mr. Albert’s anthology.

WHAT: “Ambushed by Poetry: No Second Takes II” (The Mike and Mike Show)
(poetry reading with improvised jazz accompaniment)

WHEN: Thursday, April 19, 7-8 pm

WHERE: UNH Museum of Art, 30 Academic Road, Durham NH

WHO: John-Michael Albert, 8th Portsmouth Poet Laureate
Prof. Michael Annicchiarico, Professor of Theory and Composition, jazz pianist

SPONSORS: UNH Museum of Art, Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program, Moon Pie Press

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