poetry and music

New Commissioned Poem Premiered in Innovative Musical Collaboration

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Jennifer Hambrick performs with the Worthington Chamber Orchestra

I had the distinct honor recently to give return performances as poet and narrator on “Frontiers of Sound,” the Worthington Chamber Orchestra’s first masterworks concert of the 2025-26 concert season.

Jennifer Hambrick, Zoe Johnstone, and Jack Johnstone

To open the concert, I performed my poem “Nightwalk,” commissioned by the Worthington Chamber Orchestra and supported by the Johnstone Fund for New Music. I am most grateful to Antoine Clark, artistic director and music director of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra, for inviting me to collaborate again with him and the orchestra, and to Jack and Zoe Johnstone for their generous support.

Reading my commissioned poem “Nightwalk” to open the 2025-26 season of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra

The theme of the season’s first concert, “Frontiers of Sound,” took a close look at America’s pioneering spirit and rich history. The program’s poetic and musical offerings reflected this theme in my commissioned poem, and in musical works honoring America’s spirit of innovation. I served as narrator on an orchestration of the Old Worthington Suite by the late Marshall Barnes, former professor of music theory and composition at the Ohio State University School of Music. Composed originally for narrator, flute, clarinet, and piano, and the orchestra, Barnes’ Old Worthington Suite glowed from within in Worthington composer Jacob Reed’s lush orchestration.

Also on the concert were Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid, along with adventurous musical works by contemporary American composers Aaron Quinn and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate.

Narrating the original chamber ensemble version of Old Worthington Suite by Marshall Barnes, on the Worthington Chamber Orchestra’s “Frontiers of Sound: Community Connect” event

An accompanying event, Frontiers of Sound: Community Connect, brought the Worthington community together for a performance of the original chamber ensemble version of Barnes’ Old Worthington Suite, in which I performed as narrator. In my WOSU Classical 101 role, I also a panel discussion about historic Worthington’s past and present.

“Frontiers of Sound” marked the first concert of the orchestra’s season-long America250 celebration. The season’s concerts are united under the theme American Crossroads and explore in music the last 250 years of U.S. history and Worthington’s past, present and potential future.

Moderating a panel discussion on the Worthington Chamber Orchestra’s “Frontiers of Sound: Community Connect” event

Poet Laureateship and Major Poetry Commission

~ Jennifer Hambrick ~ 1 Comment
Jennifer Hambrick performing as poet laureate of the 75th-anniversary season of the Chamber Music Columbus concert series, Southern Theatre, Columbus (photo by Antoine Clark)

The 2022-23 concert season recently came to a close and saw the culmination of a major poetry and music commissioning project in which I had the tremendous honor to be involved.

Jennifer Hambrick onstage in the Southern Theatre, Columbus, Nov. 2022 (photo by Antoine Clark)

Last season marked the 75th-anniversary season of the Chamber Music Columbus concert series, for I was honored to serve as poet laureate. The anniversary season unfolded in a year-long celebration involving the commissioning and public performances of seven new poems, the world premieres of more than a dozen commissioned musical works by internationally recognized composers, and seven concerts at Columbus’ historic Southern Theatre featuring some of the finest classical chamber music ensembles in the world.

My involvement in the project came about in early 2021, when Katherine Borst Jones, president of the Chamber Music Columbus Board of Trustees and professor of flute at the Ohio State University, invited me to serve as poet laureate for Chamber Music Columbus’ 75th-anniversary season. The laureateship came with a commission to write an original poem for each of the seven concerts on the season and to perform a different one of my poems at the beginning of each concert.

Detail from the Southern Theatre, Columbus (photo by Jennifer Hambrick)

With this commission, Kathy gave me rein to let my imagination soar. As I wrote in my artist’s statement for the project, I crafted all seven of my commissioned poems conceptually around the idea of the elements, or raw materials, of chamber music – wood, metal, air, hands, beginnings and endings, time, and space. These musical elements serve as guiding metaphors in my poems, and each element acts as a bridge connecting our experiences with music to our experiences in other aspects of life and the world around us.

For three quarters of a century, Chamber Music Columbus has brought the finest chamber ensembles in the world to Columbus to perform. The roster of artists who have performed on this series through the decades reads like a Who’s Who of classical music.

Backstage at the Southern Theatre, before a concert of the Merz Trio, May 2023 (photo by Jennifer Hambrick)

The 75th-anniverary season continued that tradition with performances by some of the foremost classical music chamber ensembles on the international scene today – the American Brass Quintet, the duo of harpist Bridget Kibbey and violinist Alexi Kenney, the Callisto Quartet, the Cavani String Quartet and soprano Louise Toppin, the Calidore Quartet, the Merz Trio, and the musicians of the VIVO Music Festival.

Jennifer Hambrick and composer Ching-chu Hu, May 2023, Southern Theatre, Columbus (photo by Juan Armando Rojas Joo)

These performers gave the world premieres of commissioned works by Libby Larsen, Huw Watkins, Karim Al-Zand, Mark Lomax, Korine Fujiwara, and Ching-Chu Hu.

My deep thanks to Kathy Jones and the Chamber Music Columbus Board of Trustees for extending me the honor to serve as poet laureate of this remarkable anniversary season, and congratulations on reaching this milestone.