{"id":2318095,"date":"2026-03-08T09:26:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T09:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2318095"},"modified":"2026-03-08T09:26:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T09:26:50","slug":"all-these-little-things-umass-professors-new-album-showcases-female-poets-works-set-to-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/all-these-little-things-umass-professors-new-album-showcases-female-poets-works-set-to-music\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;All these little things&#8217;: UMass professor&#8217;s new album showcases female poets&#8217; works set to music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_JKV25sVOvqK?client=wp&amp;client_version=2.3.0&amp;ui_title_icon=headphones\" width=\"100%\" height=\"130px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">A local college professor is amplifying the works of female American poets through art song.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mary Hubbell, a professor of voice at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, released her new album, \u201cALL THESE LITTLE THINGS,\u201d on Friday, March 6. The compilation \u201cexplores life\u2019s big existential questions through a woman\u2019s lens, setting late 19th- and early 20th-century poetry by women as intimate, expressive art song,\u201d according to a press release.<\/p>\n<p>The album, which was recorded at Bezanson Recital Hall at the Bromery Center for the Arts, features the works of poets Sara Teasdale, Josephine Heard, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mary Weston Fordham, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Georgia Douglas Johnson are set to music.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>The project \u2014 Hubbell\u2019s second album \u2014 traces its roots to the eve of the COVID-19 lockdowns. At the time, Hubbell was teaching at Smith College and contacted the late Ronald Perera, a retired Smith professor and composer, to write a vocal piece for her. When Perera asked for a poem to serve as his muse, Hubbell chose Teasdale\u2019s \u201cThere Will Come Soft Rains,\u201d which is about nature\u2019s ability to continue existing even if the human race destroys itself in a world war.<\/p>\n<p>Later that year, Perera gave her a surprise: he\u2019d composed two more pieces for her that were also based on Teasdale\u2019s poems. In 2022, Hubbell\u2019s husband, composer Gregory Brown, also set three poems to music for her to perform. These collaborations sparked a larger vision: Hubbell commissioned composers Alice Jones and Sarah Rimkus to set more women-penned poetry to music, completing the track list\u00a0for the full-length collection.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt just became a project that I wanted to sink my teeth into,\u201d Hubbell said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Vocalist and professor Mary Hubbell at the UMass Department of Music and Dance in Amherst, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. DANIEL JACOBI II \/ Staff Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hubbell said she finds it difficult to name a favorite track, but notes that \u201cI Shall Go Back Again\u201d \u2014 based on a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay \u2014  is among the most satisfying to perform. The piece concludes a triptych of poems tracing the arc of a breakup, beginning with \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/46464\/time-does-not-bring-relief-you-all-have-lied\">Time does not bring relief; you all have lied<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/44720\/ebb\">Ebb<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/148562\/i-shall-go-back-again-to-the-bleak-shore\">I Shall Go Back Again<\/a>,\u201d however, the narrator has worked through her breakup grief and details a plan to build a new life for herself \u2014 literally and figuratively \u2014 in the wake of what happened: \u201cnevermore \/ Shall I return to take you by the hand; I shall be gone to what I understand, \/ And happier than I ever was before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very satisfying, as a story, to tell the whole set,\u201d Hubbell said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Art song, as Hubbell defined it, is \u201ca piece of poetry first\u201d and is a type of vocal performance designed for smaller venues than concert halls or opera houses. Art songs feature a singer and a pianist and are often written in Romance or Germanic languages.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something very intimate about art song,\u201d Hubbell said. \u201cIt feels like you can really directly connect with the music, the words and your audience, which is so satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hubbell also said it was important to platform female poets in this way to give them space in a genre that has long been dominated by male composers and writers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the classical music world, most composers are male, and that\u2019s changing, of course, which is great, and a lot of the poetry is changing as well,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I found when I was training, I felt \u2026 \u2018Wow, I\u2019m really singing a lot of songs about love and death and longing, and it\u2019s all written by men, and often the texts are by men. And so as I got older, I started to think, \u2018How can I express a point of view that\u2019s maybe something I might be a little bit closer to?\u2019<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something about the text being by a woman, for me, that makes me feel like I can communicate the story really well,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Next week, Hubbell travels to Chicago as a guest artist at <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.emmfestival.org\/\">Electronic Music Midwest Festival.<\/a> Rather than electronic dance music (EDM), the event focuses on avant-garde works that integrate vocal performance with technology. It\u2019s a stylistic departure from her typical classical repertoire, but she studied music in that style when she studied music in Europe, so she sees it as a way of \u201cgetting back to my roots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a new music world out there that\u2019s kind of niche and weird. It\u2019s sort of the weirdest music, the strangest ideas, but I\u2019ve always enjoyed it. I feel very free, as a singer, because there\u2019s not a preconceived notion of what I\u2019m supposed to sound like,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s very different music, and I like that world a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"659\" data-attachment-id=\"439934\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/gazettenet.com\/vocalisthubbellport-hg-jacobi-02262026-03\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C2163&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,2163\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON Z 8&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Vocalist and professor Mary Hubbell at the UMass Department of Music and Dance in Amherst, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. DANIEL JACOBI II \/ Staff Photo&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1772127694&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;60&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.01&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Vocalist and professor Mary Hubbell at the UMass Department of Music and Dance in Amherst, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. DANIEL JACOBI II \/ Staff Photo&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Vocalist and professor Mary Hubbell at the UMass Department of Music and Dance in Amherst, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. DANIEL JACOBI II \/ Staff Photo&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C253&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C659&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03.jpg?resize=780%2C659&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-439934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C865&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C253&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C649&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1298&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1730&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C1014&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1690&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C659&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C338&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gazettenet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VocalistHubbellPort-hg-Jacobi-02262026-03-1024x865.jpg?w=370&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Vocalist and professor Mary Hubbell at the UMass Department of Music and Dance in Amherst, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. DANIEL JACOBI II \/ Staff Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After that, she\u2019ll be performing her new album live at Otter Creek Music Festival in Vermont in April. There, she hopes other singers will be inspired to perform the music themselves. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want this music to have legs, as they say; it\u2019s not all mine just because I recorded [it],\u201d she said. \u201cI want there to be more interpretations \u2014 other pianists and singers taking it up and performing it all over the place. That would make me feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more information about Mary Hubbell, visit <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.maryhubbell.com\/\">maryhubbell.com<\/a>. To stream the album, visit <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/lnk.fuga.com\/maryhubbell_alltheselittlethings\">lnk.fuga.com\/maryhubbell_alltheselittlethings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source gazettenet.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A local college professor is amplifying the works of female American poets through art song.\u00a0 Mary Hubbell, a professor of voice at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, released her new album, \u201cALL THESE LITTLE THINGS,\u201d on Friday, March 6. The compilation \u201cexplores life\u2019s big existential questions through a woman\u2019s lens, setting late 19th- and early [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2318096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[22672,21800],"class_list":["post-2318095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-latest-news","tag-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/All-these-little-things-UMass-professors-new-album-showcases-female.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2318097,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318095\/revisions\/2318097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2318096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}