Now in its 8th year, the Poetry & Music Project connects student writers and their words with composers to create original scores and explore the connections between poetry and music.

In Fall 2024, Opera Omaha and the Nebraska Writers Collective invited students from Nebraska and Iowa to submit works of poetry on the theme “My Neighborhood.” Throughout the fall over 200 elementary, middle, and high school students took part in NWC led Poetry & Music writing workshops focused on helping students to add musicality to their poetry.

For the 24/25 Project, Opera Omaha received 66 poem submission from students across Nebraska inspired by the theme “My Neighborhood.” Opera Omaha requested poems that explored how even though we all may be Nebraskans or Iowans, where we come from still has a profound effect on who we are; asking poets to think deeply about what community means to them and how it is formed. Poets ranged from second graders to high school juniors, including first time poets and seasoned writers.
While there were many outstanding poems submitted to the project, in the end, project composer Sidney Marquez Boquiren and hip-hop artist Lite Pole selected 13 poems that inspired them to create original music with the poems as the lyrics.

In Spring 2025, poets and composers along with project pianist, Opera Omaha Head of Music Josh Quinn, and Opera Omaha singers gathered for workshops to collaborate on the original pieces of music. These workshops were a magnificent inspiration for the composers and singers as the students participated in the collaborative process of molding the pieces into their final form through thoughtful questions and energetic responses. These pieces premiered with a concert on May 3, 2025, at the Omaha Conservatory of Music and via livestream.

The book includes every poem submitted, and represents a nearly nine month-long labor of love with countless hours of work put in by students, educators, composers, singers, pianist, and staff from Opera Omaha and the Nebraska Writers Collective.

“Footsteps” by Nora Barth, Duchesne Academy Omaha
“Flying Home”, by Aalyn Friesz, Wheeler Elementary
“Fowler Street” by M Bonar, La Vista Middle School
“Omaha’s Embrace” by Jackson Ward, Papillion Middle School
“Invisible to Us” by Madelynn Torson, Swanson Elementary
“My Neighborhood” by Madison Dornbusch, La Vista Middle School
“Neighbor Behavior” by Addi Bryan, Woodbrook Elementary
“Seasons in North Omaha” by Adeline Olsen, Sunset Hills Elementary
“Our Beautiful Neighborhood” by Rishi Chundury, Brownell Talbot
“Untitled” by Michaela Brown, Papillion Middle School
“In the land of unknown” by Shevaani Rajith Varman Janani, Lewis & Clark Middle School
“The Original Denny's” by Maren Ferguson, Platteview High School
“De Donde Soy” by Gelen Ruiz, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands-South Omaha Club

Selected poets workshoped the original music set with their lyrics alongside the composers before the culmination of the Poetry & Music Project, a public concert and world premiere of each song on May 3, 2025 at the Omaha Conservatory of Music.

The Poetry & Music Project is produced in partnership with Nebraska Writers Collective. The NWC helped identify the theme and created prompts for the Poetry & Music Project, and NWC Teaching Artists designed and facilitated poetry workshops for over 200 middle and high school students across Nebraska.

Additional project partners include American Opera Projects who helped identify project composer Sidney Boquiren, and alum of their Composers & the Voice project.

The Poetry & Music Project is supported in part by Humanities Nebraska, Nebraska Arts Council, and The Nebraska Cultural Endowment.