Ruth Popeski (Daigon) (Soprano)

Born: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Canadian lyric soprano poet and editor, Ruth Popeski (later: Daigon), graduated with full scholarship from The Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and received her B.A. with honors from the University of Manitoba. She spent four years as a concert soprano in Toronto. Next, she moved to Vancouver where she spent two grueling years singing at weddings, funerals, bar mitzahs, musical comedy, had her own weekly radio show, sang with the various Canadian Symphony Orchestras and toured Canada with an opera quartet.

Ruth Popeski came to New York City in 1950 to continue her studies and pursue a career in music. In the early 1950's she came in contact with Noah Greenberg's New York Pro Musica and became a soprano soloist with them. She was one of the six initial members of Primavera Singers, a vocal group of Pro Musica. Other members were counter-tenor Russell Oberlin, bass Brayton Lewis, sopranos Lois Roman and Sheila Jones, and tenor Arthur Squires. She enjoyed a successful career as a concert soprano, touring throughout Canada, Alaska and The Yukon. She was a soloist with major Canadian symphonies and appeared on weekly sponsored programs from The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as guest appearances on radio, TV and the concert and college circuit. She recorded for Columbia Records, sang at Dylan Thomas' funeral and collaborated with the poet W.H. Auden to record Renaissance poetry and music. She made regular appearances on CBS’s Camera Three and toured throughout the USA in concerts and recitals.

In New York Ruth Popeski met her husband, Arthur Daigon. Ruth and Art had two children and eventually moved to Hartford, Connecticut where Art began teaching at the University of Connecticut . She was able to sing with the Hartford Symphony and organized some recitals, but there wasn't much work for a concert soprano in Hartford. At Art's suggestion, she began to write poetry in the late 1960's. Until 1996, they lived in Chaplin, Connecticut, where she also edited and published Poets on, a poetry magazine. The Daigons now reside in Mill Valley, California.

Poet

Ruth Daigon’s poetry has been published in the USA in several anthologies and little magazines, including the De Kalb Literary Art Journal Anthology, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and Poetry Now. Her books include: A Portable Past (Realities Library Contemporary Poets Series, Sand Jose); Between One Future and the Next (Papier-Mache Press, 1995); About a Year (Small Poetry Press, Select Poetry Series 1996); The Moon Inside (Newton's Baby Press, 1997); Ruth Daigon’s Greatest Hits 1971 to 2000 (Pudding House Publications, 2000); Payday at the Triangle (Small Poetry Press, Select Poets Series, 2001); Winner of a Poetry Anthology Stained Glass Cantatas (Kota Press, 2001); Winner of a Poetry Anthology and featured poet on Three Candles 2002; Handfuls of Time (Small Poetry Press, 2002).

Poetry honors include finalist in Marianne Moore National Poetry Competition (Helicon Nine, 1991); The Richard Eberhart Poetry Prize 1991; 1993 winner of the Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award (Negative Capability) and runner up the next year; 1997 Winner of the Ann Stanford Poetry Contest as well as 1998 Winner of the Greenborough Review National Poetry contest.

Ruth’s poetry has appeared in over 900 major poetry journals, as well as many anthologies over the years. She has toured throughout the USA, Canada, England and Israel in readings and workshops. She organized Pub Poetry, a television series of monthly reading featuring Connecticut poets and she had her own monthly series- Poetry A La Mode. She was the Poet-In-Residence at Wavertree Arts Colony, Ossabaw Arts Colony (Georgia), and Fellow at ant the Virginia Center For The Arts.

Ruth was the Editor and Publisher of 40 issues of Poets On: from 1976 to the present day. The magazine received national recognition and grants from CCLM. It has been adopted as an official text book by the Creative Writing Dept. at the University of Kansas. She organized ten days of poetry readings with more than 70 participating poets for the Hartford Festival of the Arts.

At a special celebration at Trinity College, she was honored by the Connecticut Commission On The Arts and the Literary Supplement of The Hartford Current in recognition for her contribution to poetry. She was organizer for the Marin Poets Evening which included 8 Marin poets at Fort Mason's National Poetry Association and organized monthly reading featuring Marin poets, as well. She was one of ten poets whose work was broadcast on the BBC, Radio Europe and in the US in an international poetry competition sponsored by the BBC.

Ruth Daigon was Poet-of-the-Month on The Web Pares Cum Paribus in 1997 and has several chapbooks on the internet (WebDelSol, Alsop Review, Three Candles), and has poetry published in over one hundred E magazines apart from being interviewed in a number of E mags and hard copy magazines as well. Daigon was a member of several discussion groups and has written several articles on the relationship between poetry and music and the friendship between poets and poets - “some warm, helpful and a positive delight, others disappointing and at times very painful - but they evened out in the end and nothing could destroy the marvelous relationships that were established and maintained for years and years and hopefully forever”.

Source: See links below
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (August 2009)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Michael Hauptmann

Soprano

BWV 158

Links to other Sites

Noah Greenberg and the New York Pro Musica: The Career, Reception, And Impact - Thesis by Eriko Aoyama [2004, PDF]
Ruth Daigon Papers (Dodd Research Center)

Lilly: An Interview with Poet Ruth Daigon
Tryst Poet Emeritus: Ruth Daigon