In this concert and presentation, University of New England PhD researcher and composer Merri Bell will discuss Canadian author L.M. Montgomery, who is best known for the novel “Anne of Green Gables”. In addition to the seven books of the “Anne” series, Montgomery completed another thirteen books exploring the life and experience of young women in the early 19th century. Montgomery was also an extensive diarist revealing how much of the content of her books was adapted from her own life experiences. Merri’s research examines the construction of meaning in music and, through the creative practice of composition, demonstrates the ways in which music can relate to literary media. Montgomery’s novels and her personal journals are intertextually linked, and are a rich source of thematic material on which to base compositions, creating a new intertextual link. The result of the research is a folio of contemporary art music composed for acoustic instruments that represents the worlds created by Montgomery.

This event will feature the world premiere of Merri’s new composition for piano and strings, which responds to and paints a musical portrait of Prince Edward Island, the setting of the “Anne” series, as described by Montgomery in her many novels.