When internationally acclaimed cellist Jan Vogler saw Amanda Gormanin 2021, he instantly became a fan.
"What I admire about Amanda is her optimism that is really visionary, and we need that, I think, in our time," Vogler told NPR's Michel Martin.
Gorman was making history as America's youngest inaugural poet. Around the same time, a was in the works about Vogler's collaboration with actor Bill Murray, whose amusing readings and occasional dancing punctuated a piano trio. So Vogler had an idea: what about pairing the Bach Cello Suites with Gorman's poetry? The two join forces on stage at New York's on Saturday, Feb. 17.
"We're bringing something from the past into a modern, contemporary feel. And we're doing it with poetry that I have never performed with music before," said Gorman, a self-avowed "huge fan of cello." It's unclear whether the collaboration is a one-off event or whether it might organically lead to additional public happenings.
Johann Sebastian Bach's six Cello Suites 鈥� believed to have been composed between 1717 and 1723 鈥� are a staple of the instrument's repertoire. Cellists usually begin playing some of the movements early on, returning to them repeatedly over the course of their lives.
