Call for Poems: The Art of Verse and Sound

August 31, 2026

MSU’s College of Music and the RCAH Center for Poetry is excited to announce an evening of Debussy’s piano preludes, accompanied by original poetry—written and performed by you! We’re looking for students, professors, and all other writers to perform alongside pianists from the College of Music, as they work through Debussy’s music. 

 

The concert will take place on September 30th, 2026 in Cook Recital Hall at the College of Music at 7:30 pm. Parking is available nearby at Grand River Ramp 6 and Lot 103. This event follows our joyous engagement with Book 1 of Debussy’s Preludes in the spring. For this installment, we’re turning to the second book of Preludes. You can listen to them here, and see their titles here. Poets and pianists will alternate performing, braiding together words and music. 

 

For consideration, please send an original poem you’d like to read to Toby Altman (altmanto@msu.edu) and Stanislav Khristenko (khristen@msu.edu) by September 15th. We will give preference to poems that engage directly with Debussy’s music—name a specific prelude you’re thinking about and writing in response to! (That said, we also welcome poems that engage more generally with Debussy or with music—take his music as a starting point, rather than a constraint).