The Milligan Orchestra, directed by Dr. Kellie Brown, will conclude its season with a
spring concert that celebrates National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in
the world. The orchestra will perform pieces inspired by works of poetry by James Agee.
Samuel Coleridge, Octavio Paz, John Donne, William McGonagall, and Oscar Wilde. In
collaboration with students and faculty from the college’s English department, each poem
represented will be read, followed by the musical interpretation. Jane Hicks, renowned
Appalachian poet, will be the special guest reading her poem “Poor Valley Pilgrims,”
which celebrates the historic journey of the Carter family to the Bristol Sessions, forever
changing the course of music in our country. A composition based on this poem by
award-winning composer Evelyn Pursley-Kopitzke, commissioned especially for this
concert, will conclude the program.
