North Central group to perform music written by Naper woman

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Updated: November 17, 2011 8:53AM

An Oct. 21 performance by members of North Central College’s music faculty will include a piece written by a local resident.

The free performance begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 21 in North Central College’s Koten Chapel at Kiekhofer Hall, 329 E. School St. No tickets are required.

The evening will feature performances by members of North Central College’s vocal music applied faculty: Linda Ogden Hagen, adjunct associate professor of music; James Schopp, lecturer in music; and Victoria VerHoven, visiting lecturer of music.

VerHoven will sing the piece, “Midwestern Trilogy,” which features lyrics written by Naperville resident Jamie Smith, who is a retired attorney and lives near North Central’s campus. The lyrics are based on poetry Smith had written on her move to the Midwest some 30 years ago and recently set to music composed by Douglas Buchanan, a composer based in Maryland.

“I wrote a lot of poetry back then, including a trilogy about moving to the Midwest,” Smith says. “I ended up thinking it was quite the place.”

Smith wrote her poem “Midwestern Trilogy” during different periods between 1978 and 1986. Between the first and third poems of the trilogy, Smith conveys emotions of being increasingly welcoming of her surroundings.

“Continentally median but no reservoir of averageness here; reservoir of strength,” Smith concludes in the third poem of the trilogy.

VerHoven has appeared in operatic roles with the Chicago Chamber Opera, Lincoln Opera, Light Opera Works, Bowen Park Opera Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Piccolo Productions and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.