Wagner College music Professor Amy Dahm Huh will present Music and Poems, a concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.Â
The program, in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, features Wagner students alongside professional musicians and blends classical music, jazz, pop and K-pop with poetry readings, offering audiences an interactive experience.
“I wanted to have more of the music and literature together so that they can actually relate their personal stories into classical music because sometimes it can feel a little bit distanced,” Huh said, describing the vision for the program. She emphasized that the concert is designed for audiences who may not be familiar with classical music, pairing music with other genres to create entry points for broader engagement.
The program is organized around different perspectives on love. “There’s not just one kind of love,” Huh said. “There’s so many different kinds of love. It could be romantic love. It could be historical love or, you know … children or like anything, nature or yourself.” The concert is structured around themes such as creative love, joyful love, heartbroken love and longing love, with poetry and music presented back-to-back to create a dialogue between text and sound.
Student involvement is central to the project. Wagner students Zoe Holden and Ryan Zamora will perform alongside professional musicians.Â
“They’re not even music performance majors, but they’re very enthusiastic,” Huh said. “I gave them a short piece by Piazzolla. They’ll be playing duo with our pianist. So we can say that Wagner College students are also participating, mingled with all these trained musicians on the stage.”Â
The collaboration was important to Huh, who wanted students to gain professional performance experience and build their resumes as they prepare for post-graduate careers.
The concert draws inspiration from historical artistic circles. “I was specifically inspired by (Austrian composer Franz) Schubert,” Huh said, referencing the composer’s Schubertiades, which brought together music, writing and conversation in an intimate setting.
Fully sponsored by the Paramus Public Library, the Lincoln Center venue provides an intimate 200-seat setting. Huh described it as “like a house concert style … It's like a small salon where people are not afraid to ask questions after the concert. And then they’re just more relaxed.” Audience members are invited to stay after the performance to mingle and write about their own experiences of love in poetry. These submissions will be incorporated into future programs, keeping the project community-driven and evolving.
The performance brings together classical musicians, jazz artists and K-pop vocalist Joowon Shin, who is internationally recognized for her rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” in Netflix’s Squid Game. Poetry curated by the Paramus Public Library will be featured, with selected poets reading their work live on stage. Community voices and stories are woven into the performance, shaping the concert into a shared cultural experience.
The event marks the launch of the Music and Creative Arts Audience Engagement Series, an ongoing initiative that collects community stories and pairs them with music in future performances at Lincoln Center.
Admission is free, but registration is required through Eventbrite. Individuals interested in contributing poems or literary quotes may submit them for consideration by emailing matthew@bccls.org.
Featured performers include Peter Argondizza, guitar; Amy Dahm Huh, viola and artistic director; Zoe Holden, flute; Kevin Kyaw, piano; Helena Kim, piano; Young Kim, piano; Michael Klyce, violin; Jung Eun Lee, soprano; Hyunju Heather Lee, piano; Valerie Nuzzolo, clarinet; Curtis Pavey, piano; Joowon Shin, voice; and Ryan Zamora, saxophone.
For those unable to attend the Lincoln Center performance, a free preview concert will be held Feb. 6 at the Paramus Public Library and will feature select performers from the Feb. 7 program.
