Friday, May 31st, 12:00 p.m.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Walt Birthday Concert and Poetry Reading
&
Walt Birthday Lunch
The Arts Club of Washington celebrates Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday with a free concert of songs set to Whitman’s poetry featuring soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick accompanied by R. Timothy McReynolds on piano, interspersed with a reading of original poems inspired by Whitman by poet Kim Roberts.
Praised for singing with “passion and emotional depth” (Richmond Times-Dispatch), soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick has performed with Opera Piccola of San Antonio and at the Princeton Festival, the Richmond and Alamo City Ballet companies, and the Charlottesville Symphony. Her program of Whitman songs will include music by Kurt Weill, Ruth Schonthal, Elinor Remick Warren, Ned Rorem, Jeremy Gill, and Lee Hoiby.
Enjoying a career that embraces art song, opera, chamber music, and cabaret, pianist R. Timothy McReynolds is also active as a teacher and vocal coach at the University of Maryland School of Music. He is a member of the Voice/Opera faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Music, and the former Principal Coach of Towson University’s Music for the Stage. He has participated as vocal coach/pianist for the Washington National Opera’s Opera Institute and the Aspen Music Festival.
The Walt Birthday concert is sponsored in part through a grant from HumanitiesDC, and is offered in association with the Walt Whitman 200 Festival.
An award-winning poet, literary historian, and editor residing in Washington, DC. Kim Roberts is the author of five books of poems, and Co-Editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly, the Delaware Poetry Review, and the web exhibit DC Writers' Homes.
Walt Birthday Lunch
Immediately following the Walt Whitman Birthday Concert and Poetry Reading, the Arts Club of Washington hosts a 3-course Bicentennial lunch specially prepared by Executive Chef Ken Kievit!
Members: $25
Public: $30
RSVP not required for the concert. Lunch reservations for Members and their guests must be made by 3 pm the day before at (202) 331-7282 ext. 3. Lunch reservations for the Public must be made and pre-paid online by 3 pm the day before the event.
