Reverberations

The American Library in Paris, in partnership with the Opéra Comique and with the generous support of Festival Napa Valley and the Florence Gould Foundation, is delighted to announce Reverberations, a music festival celebrating literature out loud. 

For thousands of years—as long as both have existed—poetic and musical traditions have shaped and informed one another. Join us in March for a festival highlighting innovations in the musical arts. In a series of concerts, conversations, and workshops, artists and authors will come together to offer a synesthetic perspective on the history of storytelling and sound.

We will explore literary history through musical performance, with events including a violinist’s tribute to John Ashbery, and will also hear from poets and literary historians, including Patricia Lockwood, Nobel Prize candidate Dimitris Lyacos, and T.S. Eliot prize-winner Anthony Joseph, as they trace the role of musicality in their own work. 

A masterclass led by American Library Cultural Fellows Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek will allow participants to workshop their own music. 

Offsite events with the Opéra Comique open further avenues of artistic exploration. 

A capstone party at La Coupole will revive the musical legacy of 1920s Montparnasse—drinking and dancing included.

Join us to listen, learn, play, and create, as we feature a diversity of voices working to realize sound, speech, and literature as symphony.