Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago

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The mightiest songs? Poetry put to music and sung! Throughout this series, George Elliott Clarke, former Poet Laureate of Canada, has commissioned eight composers to transform 90+ Canadian poems into art-songs of all genres. 12 songs by 7 composers were performed live in Notre Dame Chapel at St. Jerome's University, with introductory readings by some of the poets. Three songs were debuted at this event!

George Elliott Clarke "To the Poet" (James Rolfe)
Choucri Paul Zemokhol "Moon" (James Rolfe)
Leonard Cohen "For E.J.P" (James Rolfe)
Mansour Noorbakhsh "Oh, Rain!" (Juliet Palmer)
Yeshim Ternar "Istanbul Meditations" (Juliet Palmer)
Leilah Nadir and George Elliott Clarke "The Latest News from Baghdad Is All Bad" (David Jaeger)
Leilah Nadir "Belly Dancing Upon Saddam Hussein's Tomb" (Eddie Bullen)
Lamees Al Ethari "By the Iron Gate" (Holly Arsenault)
Ehab Lotayef "Death of a Delivery Boy" (Emily Hiemstra)
Giovanna Riccio "Daedalus' Lament" (D.D. Jackson)
Choucri Paul Zemokhol "For our old age" (Holly Arsenault)
George Elliott Clarke "Austin C. Clarke's 'When He Was Free & Young and He Used to Wear Silks'" (Juliet Palmer)

Produced by: Ella Perkins
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