Network for New Music

Network for New Music: The Poetry Project, Wed., Jan. 16, 8 p.m., $15-$25, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.

by Peter Burwasser

classical

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There are few more primal and universally accessible musical activities than singing. Banging a stick on a rock, perhaps. Songwriting is very much alive and well and covers a gamut of musical styles. For the second season in a row, Network for New Music presents a concert of brand-new and recent songs that underscore the vitality of the art form. The emphasis of the previous program was on the relationship between poetry and music, as expressed in song, and that theme continues this time — with a number of local contributors, including that music-making machine, Jennifer Higdon; and songs from one of the most intriguing voices of our day, David Rakowski, whose fame seems to grow whenever his work is exposed to new audiences. Susan Narucki, soprano, and Randall Scarlata, baritone, will be the guest performers of the ensemble.

Network for New Music: The Poetry Project, Wed., Jan. 16, 8 p.m., $15-$25, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.