Poet and musician to collaborate at UHV Downtown Arts Series event
A talented New York poet and a renowned Houston trombone player will share the stage Saturday at the final University of Houston-Victoria Downtown Arts Series event of the school year.
While Andrew Levy will recite a few of his poems and David Dove will play some of his music, the two also will perform together.
“When it became clear Saturday was a good day for both of them to visit Victoria, Andrew and David started talking to each other and decided they want to collaborate,” said Charles Alexander, UHV poet and designer in residence, and co-curator of the Downtown Arts Series.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the UHV Center for the Arts, 204 N. Main St. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations. The event is free and open to the public.
Levy is an associate professor of English at the City University of New York and served as co-editor of the poetry journal, Crayon. Besides playing the trombone, Dove is a composer, improviser and educator. He has given performances and workshops around the world.
Both Levy and Dove are no stranger to working with others. Levy has collaborated with composer and jazz percussionist Gerry Hemingway and with choreographer Daria Fain. Dove has collaborated with a number of national and international artists. They plan to lead a conversation about collaboration between writers and artists.
“Both artists are interested in the notion of collaboration and not creating art strictly in their own visions,” Alexander said. “They frequently work with other people to see what might happen in writing, editing and performance projects.”
Levy’s poems and essays have appeared in numerous American and international magazines and anthologies as well as 14 of his own books. Chax Press, housed at UHV, published “Don’t Forget to Breathe” in 2012 and Levy’s newest book, “Artifice in the Calm Damages.”
Alexander said Levy’s poetry is lyrical but also political. Levy was the editor of a recent anthology about poets responding to current events. The title is “Resist Much, Obey Little.”
In 2001, Dove founded Nameless Sound, a nonprofit organization in Houston that works with young people in Houston’s public schools, community centers, homeless shelters and refugee communities.
“He directs an organization that presents a lot of innovative music to the Houston community,” Alexander said.
Dove also has pioneered an approach to creative music education based on creativity, diversity and improvisation. He has done teaching and performing residencies in Mexico, Germany, Vietnam and Scotland.
“David’s music can be brash and in your face, but at other times, it’s quite beautiful,” Alexander said. “As someone interested in these art forms, I look forward to seeing what will happen.”
For more information about the Downtown Arts Series, contact Alexander at 361-703-5147 or alexanderch@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
