In honor of National Poetry Month, the Boston Festival Orchestra brings to life the voice of Emily Dickinson through a seamless merging of music and poetry. Featuring BFO musicians and local mezzo soprano Alexis Peart, this program features chamber music composed entirely by living female composers, including art songs with texts derived from Dickinson’s most beloved poems. The former City of Boston Youth Poet Laureate Alondra Bobadilla shares the stage, reciting selections of Dickinson’s poetry and original poetry written specifically for this event, interspersed between each musical selection. While Dickinson’s poetry was appreciated only after she died, this concert celebrates a phenomenal lineup of living female composers and exciting local talent whose contributions to music can be appreciated presently. This program also reflects on the intrinsic connection between music and poetry, with an endearing nod towards Dickinson’s work presented with a unique instrumentation.
Join BFO Artistic Director Alyssa Wang, BFO musicians, and guest artists in an intimate dialogue about what it means to experience art, and how it can help us to relate to the world around us. Enjoy a brief reception following the concert.
This concert is free, but registration is required!
​
PROGRAM
Libby Larson, Fanfare for the Women
​
Lori Laitman, Four Dickinson Songs
-
Will there really be a morning?
-
I’m Nobody
-
She died
-
If I…
​​
​Sofia Gubaidulina, Song without words
​
Alisson Kruusmaa, Three Songs on Emily Dickinson's Poems
-
An Everywhere of Silver
-
Not Knowing When the Dawn Will Come
-
So Set Its Sun in Thee
​​
Barbara Harbach, Emily!
-
Taste a Liquor Never Brewed
-
If You Were Coming in the Fall
-
Wild Nights! Wild Nights!
​
​​
​
Alexis Peart, mezzo-soprano
Alondra Bobadilla, poet
Mary-Lynn Bohn, trumpet
Ruoting Li, piano
Mezzo-soprano Alexis Peart, praised for her "plush yet robust voice" and "incredible clarity,” is a 2024/2025 Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, appearing as Arbate (Mitridate Re di Ponto), The Choreographer (The Seasons), and Mrs. Noah (Noah's Flood). Alexis is a 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition award winner and the 2024 Lyric Opera of Chicago Audience Favorite Award Winner. Alexis is a two-time alumna of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio (2020/2021) and is a 2025/2026 member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. This season, Alexis debuted with BMOP/Odyssey Opera (Lampito, Lysistrata), Boston Baroque (Ariodante cover), Columbus Symphony (Alto Soloist, Messiah), and the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra (Alto Soloist, Mahler Symphony No. 2). She returned for performances with Castle of Our Skins (Alto Soloist, Julia Perry's Stabat Mater), and re-joined Boston Lyric Opera as Hansel for their touring production of Hansel & Gretel.
​
To learn more about Alexis, visit alexispeart.com.
Alondra Bobadilla was named Boston's first-ever Youth Poet Laureate in January of 2020.
Alondra uses her writing to highlight social issues that impact her and her community. Through her work, she aspires to build bridges between different world views and unravel personal revelations of the bond between past and present, God’s providence, and the curious mundane. She is inspired by the beauty of transitory experiences and demonstrates how creative expression can be a powerful tool for youth to examine pressing topics and utilize their voice as a catalyst for social impact. She is the author of a collection of confessional-styled poems and journals entitled “With Clipped Wings”.
Website: alondrabobadilla.com
Mary-Lynne Bohn is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and
Northwestern University. She serves as Principal Trumpet of the Boston Festival
Orchestra and the Vista Philharmonic, and Third Trumpet with the Rhode Island
Philharmonic. She has recently performed with the Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera,
Boston Pops, Portland Symphony, and Boston Landmarks Orchestra, as well as
numerous local ensembles including Emmanuel Music, Cantata Singers, Masterworks
Chorale, Old South Brass, and the Providence Chorale. Mary-Lynne lives in Carlisle,
MA, with BFO Principal Trombonist Hans Bohn, and has 3 adult children. She owns a
successful graphic design firm, Accent Design, and writes regularly for her local
newspaper, The Carlisle Mosquito.
Chinese pianist Ruoting Li is an artist of wide-ranging vision, known for her “eloquent, musical” (Fanfare Magazine) interpretations of contemporary music and for championing the works of women composers, both past and present. With a burgeoning international career as both a solo pianist and chamber musician, as well as several albums to her name, Ruoting serves as the Resident Pianist with the Boston Festival Orchestra. She also tours with the genre-defying trio, TAKE3, participating in their “bold, aggressive” (LA Times) performances as well as their outreach events to local schools around the US.
​
Ruoting has performed with presenters throughout the US, UK, Europe, and China, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Washington, D.C.’s Library of Congress, Boston’s Jordan Hall and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. During the 2023-2024 season, Ruoting performs as a soloist with the Boston Festival Orchestra at Jordan Hall, BFO’s chamber series at the Boston Athaneum, and more.
​
An accomplished recording artist and producer, Ruoting will follow her appearance on David L. Post’s Sonatas & Other Works (Centaur) with the release of an album with acclaimed cellist Juliana Soltis, featuring repertoire by American women composers. She has also worked as a producer on albums for the Steinway & Sons and Naxos labels, and has co-produced the upcoming album by the celebrated ensemble The Harlem Chamber Players.
Born in China, Ruoting began playing piano at the age of 6, and was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School in Beijing when she was 11 years old. In 2014, Ms. Li came to the U.S. and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. Her other mentors include Anthony de Mare and Kenneth Cooper. Residing in the vibrant Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, Ms. Li currently divides her time between New York and Boston.
​
Boston Public Library
(Rabb Hall)
700 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116
​
For Parking and Directions, click here.