Solo/Duet: Music & Poetry Unite

An evening of poetry and music. Each evening will feature solo readings by area poets that will bookend a musical duet performance in the Merriam Gilbert library in West Brookfield, Ma.
Each program will begin at 6:00 pm. The evenings are free and open to the public and sponsored in part by a grant from the Mass Council of the Arts as administered locally by the West

Brookfield Cultural Council.

Poets Jennifer Freed and David Thoreen.

Music by Jerry Wilfong and Rich Falco.

Writer and teacher Jennifer Freed lives in Massachusetts.  Her first full-length collection, When
Light Shifts (Kelsay, 2022), a memoir-in-poems exploring the aftermath of her mother's stroke,
was a finalist for the 2022 Sheila Margaret Motton Book Prize (New England Poetry Club).  Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and the Orison Anthology.

David Thoreen’s poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in American Literary Review, Natural Bridge, New Letters, Presence, Slate, South Dakota Review, and other magazines. He teaches writing and literature at Assumption University, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Jerry Wilfong is an active freelance bassist in the Boston area. He has performed with such distinguished jazz artists as Leni Stern, John Stowell, and Richie Cole, appears on several recordings and can be heard live anchoring two working trios – “Bring Back Pluto” and “The Conversation.” More can be learned about Jerry at jazzfong.com.

Guitarist Rich Falco is professor emeritus and former director of jazz studies at WPI. Professor Falco remains a popular festival adjudicator, clinician and music lecturer.
He has presented at the annual MMEA (Massachusetts Music Educators Association) All State Conference on jazz guitar, big band directing techniques and jazz improvisation.