Faculty artist Gran Wilson interweaves music performance with poetry readings in a presentation that introduces the poignant life story of Baltimore poet and flutist Sidney Lanier.

Largely self-taught as both a musician and writer, Lanier became one of America’s most celebrated poets, a world-class flutist in the Peabody Symphony and Lecturer of English Literature at Johns Hopkins University.

Wilson says, “Lanier’s story is one of courage, and it all happened 50 miles from the University of Maryland. He struggled with criticism and his failure to be recognized initially by both academia and publishers, but his eventual artistic triumphs are a source of pride in our state’s history.”