Please join us at 7 pm on Thursday, June 4th at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First St, Davis) for a Poetry Night Reading Series event featuring poet Francisco X. Alarcón, composer Pablo Ortiz, with a music performance by Camila Ortiz.
Poet Francisco X. Alarcón will read from his most recent books, Canto hondo / Deep Song (University of Arizona Press 2015) and Borderless Butterflies / Mariposas sin fronteras y otros poemas (Poetic Matrix Press 2014). UC Davis professor and composer Pablo Ortiz will share a video featuring his musical composition “Face and Heart” based on a poem by Alarcón. Live music performance by Camila Ortiz. There will be an open mic at the end. Hosted by Dr. Andy Jones. For more information, please visit poetryindavis.com
Students in Alarcón’s Creative Writing course will read a poem o two in English & Spanish: Noemi Arana, Lizeth Cruz, Eric Frankenstein, Nancy Galeno, José Garibay, Teresa Guerrero, Hannah Hill, Ximena Hurtado, Diana López, Elisa Magallanes, Jonathan Monson, Geraldine Pelayo, Esteban Pérez, Efrén Pérez Plata, Matthis Pluska, Johana Ramírez-Zapien, Ariela Reyna, Nydia Rivera, Mariela Vega, Yasmin Vega, Miguel Velasco, Karen Zuñiga.
Francisco X. Alarcón, award-winning Chicano poet and educator, was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, and now lives in Davis, where he teaches at the University of California. He is the author of thirteen volumes of poetry, including Canto hondo / Deep Song (University of Arizona Press 2015), Borderless Butterflies / Mariposas sin fronteras (Poetic Matrix Press 2014), Ce • Uno • One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press, 2010), From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press, 2002). He is also the author of six acclaimed books of bilingual poems for children on the seasons of the year originally published by Children’s Book Press, now an imprint of Lee & Low Books. He is the founder the Writers of the New Sun community in Sacramento and also the creator of the Facebook page “Poets Responding to SB 1070.”
Pablo Ortiz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He now teaches Composition at the University of California, Davis. Major commissioners include the Koussevitzky Foundation to write Raya en el mar, for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Fideicomiso para la Cultura México-US to write children’s songs with Francisco X. Alarcón, the Gerbode Foundation to compose Oscuro, for Chanticleer and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Terezin Foundation. In 2008 he received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recent premieres include Suomalainen tango, for orchestra, by the Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, Tango Futurista, for Intonarumori conducted by Luciano Chessa, Trois tangos en marge by the Kovacik, Dann, Karttunen trio at the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía in Madrid, Marginal, by the Orchestre Symphonique du Jura conducted by Facundo Agudin, and Gallos y Huesos, an hour-long secular oratorio for five female voices, baritone and harp, commissioned by the Centro Experimental Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Camila Ortiz is a senior at Davis High School. She has been performing locally for four years, at events including the Davis Music Festival, Celebrate Davis, and Davis Live Music Collective performances. In addition to singing and composing, Camila has played the bass with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and the Davis Senior High School Symphony, as well as participating in Acme Theatre Company productions as an actress and musician. You can find her music at her Youtube Channel (youtube.com/rivert222) or her Bandcamp (camilaortiz.bandcamp.com).
