Stringing Words Together – Linda Beers violin and Joan Kantor poet.
Stringing Words Together is a joyful weaving back and forth of classical music
and poetry in which poet Joan Kantor and violinist Linda Beers passionately share their
vision of how the arts are meant to enhance one another. In their programs, the violin
music and poetry play off of one another, creating a rich integrated experience of the arts.
View a Sample Program
About the Artists
Linda Beers, Violinist
Violinist Linda Beers, has been a member of the first violin section of the Hartford
Symphony orchestra since 1997. In addition to performing with HSO, Linda has performed
solo recitals and she has appeared as guest artist for concert series throughout New England,
including the Island Concert Series on Fishers Island, NY, the Museum of Our National
Heritage in Lexington, MA, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Royal Majesty Cruise
Lines, the New Hampshire Music Festival, and Sundays on the Hill in Weston, VT. Linda is a
graduate of Wellesley College, The New England Conservatory of Music, and the Longy
School of Music. Her primary violin teachers include Masuko Ushioda, Paul Kantor, and
Roman Totenberg. She has also performed in master classes for Joseph Silverstein and
Gunther Schuller. As an avid teacher, Linda teaches in her private studio in Avon,
Connecticut, The Cobb School in Simsbury, Connecticut, and for the Simsbury Public
Schools.
Joan Kantor, Poet
Joan Kantor is a poet and educator. Her work has been published in numerous literary
journals and she recently took first prize in the Hackney Literary Awards for Poetry. Her
book Shadow Sounds was a finalist for The Foreward Review’s Book of the Year Award and
she has just had her second collection Fading Into Focus, a memoir in verse, published. She
has been a poetry consultant for The Sunken Garden Poetry Festival as well as a mentor and
judge in its Fresh Voices poetry program for youth. Joan has been a featured reader at both
The New Britain Museum of American Art and The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art
among numerous other venues. Her work has bent in several ekphrastic shows including those
at East End Arts in Riverdale, NY and The Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT.
*Ekphrastic poetry is inspired by or is about a work of art.