As a little girl, Emily Dickinson displayed a keen gift for music, or, as she called it, “the moosic.” So, it's not surprising that her verse flows, cascades and surges like a melody, as if it were written with tempo and dynamic markings. To that end, her poetry has been the source of inspiration for many composers: Aaron Copland's Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, Graham Ramsey's Dickinson song cycle, Simon Holt's The Ribbon of Time and Judith Weir's concerto Musicians Wrestle Everywhere, whose title and theme come from Dickinson's poem that begins with those words. There are some 1,600 musical settings of the poet's oeuvre, and now, one more: This, and My Heart. In a program described as a journey through “the themes Emily returns to again and again — nature, love, God and death,” soprano Anne Marie Ketchum and pianist Victoria Kirsch perform composer Lori Laitman's homages to Dickinson, along with song settings by Copland, Tom Cipullo and Steve Heitzeg, while actress Linda Kelsey reads from Dickinson's poems and letters.

Mon., Dec. 14, 6:30 p.m., 2009

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