An original collaboration within the Cal Poly Humboldt College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences culminates in a special “Music and Poetry” event on Sunday, April 24th in Humboldt’s Fulkerson Recital Hall. Join the School of Dance, Music, and Theatre, the Department of English, and Cal Poly Humboldt’s multilingual literary journal, Toyon, as they present a project of original music and poetry called “Sana, Sana: Hope and Healing for Latinx Communities in Times of Precarity.” This afternoon concert begins at 3:00 p.m. with a pre-concert talk at 2:00. The event is free for everyone and will also be livestreamed at https://youtu.be/wJTqnv-m9Ns. The concert is a unique and exciting performance of world premiere compositions that specifically explore the Latinx experience. The multi-phase project began with a poetry contest for students on the theme of hope and healing in Latinx communities, with the knowledge and inspiration that the winning poems would be set to music and performed in a public concert setting. Once the final poems were selected, they were paired with composers, including Cal Poly Humboldt faculty, alumni, and student composers. To honor the first prize winning poem, the School of Dance, Music, and Theatre used a grant from the Oakland based non-profit California Humanities to commission the award-winning Venezuelan-American composer Carlos Cordero to write a choral setting for the poem. “Fresh Fruit,” by Cal Poly Humboldt student Alannah Guevara, is that first prize winning poem, exploring the complex themes of immigration in a work that is powerful, expressive, and ultimately hopeful. Composer Carlos Cordero, a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela who now lives in Austin, Texas, traveled to Humboldt in March to meet Guevara and to begin his collaboration with the Cal Poly Humboldt University Singers and their conductor Rachel Samet as they began the process of preparing a brand new choral work for its premiere performance. “(Cordero) gave an inspiring lecture about creativity and vulnerability, and how those traits coexist with his Latin American roots,” says Samet. “It has been a fantastic experience for the students to work on this piece, meeting and collaborating with both the poet and the composer, and to be an important part of a new composition.” Other winning poems include “Orgullo” (pride), by Azarel Garcia, which receives three different musical settings. The first, by faculty composer Brian Post, is performed by singer Rachel Samet, violinist Cindy Moyer, and pianist John Chernoff. The next is a collaborative composition, between poet and singer Garcia, guitarist Jennifer Trowbridge, and recent alumnus Richard Rios and graduating senior Makani Bright, both playing the marimba. A third setting of the piece for voice, guitar, and piano is by composition student Theo Singer, and will be sung by Pablo Murcia. Two poems by Jo Gibson are also set to music. “From the dirt of our skin” is given a joyful and lighthearted setting by pianist John Chernoff, who will also accompany most of the works on the concert, joined here by singer Samet. A second poem, titled “So about that hole in you” is set by Brian Post, and also performed by singer Samet and pianist Chernoff. There will be a pre-concert talk at 2 pm, at which Cordero and Guevara will talk about their piece “Fresh Fruit,” and the collaborative creative process between composer, poet, and singers.