Paul Winter and Jane Hirshfield Share the Stage for D&R Greenway Land Trust Benefit on Oct. 10

Paul Winter Crestone
Paul Winter and his Consort will perform with poet Jane Hirshfield at the Princeton University Chapel.

Poet Jane Hirshfield and the Paul Winter Consort will perform together Oct. 10 to raise funds for the D&R Greenway Land Trust.

The event, “Music and Poetry of the Earth”, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Princeton University Chapel. A reception with the artists will follow from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.

“I am very excited about performing in the magnificent chapel, with its magical acoustics,” said Winter in a release about the event. “I have admired the work of D&R Greenway since I had the privilege of playing at the opening of the Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail there in 2010…My collaborations with the McVays goes back to the ’70s with our mutual interest in whales and poetry, which we then celebrated during 25 years of collaborations at the Dodge Poetry Festival.”

Winter credits the songs of the humpback whales for opening the door for him, in the late 1960s, to what he refers to as “the greater symphony of the Earth.” Since then, the voices of  whales, wolves, eagles, elk, loon, and a score of other creatures have become part of the Consort’s celebrations, in an effort to awaken people to the plight of endangered species. The six-time Grammy-winning Consort’s new work, `Flyways’, released this spring, celebrates the miracle of the great bird migration from Africa through the mid-East to Eurasia, incorporating indigenous musical traditions from each of the cultures over which the birds fly.

Hirshfield, a Princeton University alumna, graduated in the first class at Princeton to include women. The winner of numerous awards, she has written nine collections of poetry, an anthology of women poets throughout history in praise of the sacred, and essays on entering the mind of poetry, and was featured in two PBS television specials with Bill Moyers. This year she was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Winter and Hirshfield first performed together at the 2008 Dodge Poetry Festival. This year, Hirshfield will be a featured poet at the Festival at NJPAC in Newark October 11 and 12.

General admission to “Music and Poetry of the Earth” is $15, and reserved seating is $35. Tickets can be purchased through the Princeton University ticketing office by phone 609-258-9220, online, or in person at the Frist Campus Center ticket office, Monday-Friday, noon- 6 pm.

Tickets for the meet the artists reception are $75 (includes reserved seating) and are available through D&R Greenway Land Trust by calling (609) 924-4646.

Founded in 1989, the mission of D&R Greenway Land Trust is to preserve and protect land and open spaces, creating conditions for a healthy and diverse environment to flourish. The  D&R Greenway Land Trust also works to promote policies, educational programs and partnerships that result in a public commitment to land preservation and stewardship.  Over the past 23 years, the Land Trust has preserved 243 properties, or 17,126 acres, valued at more than $360 million.

Avatar of Krystal Knapp

Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.