A musical sampling for an April weekend

Composer (and BSR contributor) Kile Smith (yours truly) teams with poet Ryan Eckes for May Day, the culmination of a yearlong collaboration. It’s bringing students of the John Story Jenks School in Chestnut Hill together with members of The Crossing. Eckes and I have worked with the students, sharing the process and developing the talents of our next generation, alongside mentorship from members of The Crossing as well.

The performance of May Day is coming up on Saturday, April 18 at 2pm at the Jenks School, 8301 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia. Complimentary tickets will be available at the door.

On Sunday, April 19, Lyric Fest will join Singing City for “a musically eclectic, thought-provoking look at our world.” The show is inspired by “The Creation,” a poem by James Weldon Johnson.

According to Lyric Fest, the concert will be “an exploration of the gifts of the natural world, the art that reflects those gifts, and the bounty and need that live side by side in the 21st-century experience.” I'm Lyric Fest’s composer in residence, and alongside solo songs and choral pieces, I'm debuting a new piece scored for audience participation.

Singing City and Lyric Fest's I’ll Make Me a World is coming up on Sunday, April 19 at 3pm at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square, 1904 Walnut Street, Philadelphia (parking available in the garage at 1945 Walnut Street).