POTSDAM -- SUNY Potsdam alumna Stephanie Blythe and the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar will welcome the eminent composer Ricky Ian Gordon for a special performance and discussion featuring his works next week.

The composer of operas such as "27," "Rappahannock County" and "The Grapes of Wrath," Ricky Ian Gordon has been praised by Opera News as being at a "career peak." He is a leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera and musical theatre, and his songs have been performed and recorded by internationally renowned singers.

Blythe will engage Gordon in an intimate conversation about his life and works, in an evening that will feature music selected by the composer, which will be performed by the 2015 Seminar Fellowship participants, Blythe and music director Alan Smith.

The special event will be offered on Thursday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theatre at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music.

Tickets for "An Evening with Ricky Ian Gordon" are $25 for the general public and $20 for SUNY Potsdam faculty, staff and students. Proceeds benefit the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar. To purchase tickets, call 267-2277 or visit www.cpspotsdam.org.

Blythe will return to her alma mater to serve as the Bachelor's Commencement Ceremony speaker this weekend, and will stay for the fourth season of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, from May 18 to May 24. In addition to the benefit concert, the seminar provides several open masterclasses and performances that are free for the public to attend.

"The work that I have personally done with Ricky Ian Gordon has been some of the most rewarding of my life. His music is not only thoughtful, beautiful and innovative, it is a generous gift from his heart. Just being in a room with Ricky is a blessing -- an outpouring of information tempered with excitement and joy. I am thrilled to have Ricky as our guest artist. His work in song and opera is among the most important of this age, and it is an honor to present his work at Fall Island in such a personal way," Blythe said.

The Metropolitan Opera star is the co-founder of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, along with Executive Director Dr. Carleen Graham, a professor of opera at The Crane School of Music. The program, which is in residence at the College, provides an unique opportunity for emerging singers and pianists to cultivate their artistry through contemporary American art song.

The 2015 Fall Island participants include: Aram Arakelyan, a pianist from Yerevan, Armenia; Stephen Carroll, a tenor from Scotch Plains, N.J.; Daniel Fung, a pianist from Vancouver, Canada; Kristina Saar Gaschel, a soprano from Castleton; Jonathan Johnson, a tenor from Macon, GA; Gloria Kim, a pianist from Houston, TX; Lauren-Rose King, a soprano from New York City; Lydia McClain, a soprano from Latrobe, PA; Bradley Smoak, a baritone from Cary, NC;

The nine emerging artists will take part in an immersive series of coaching sessions, masterclasses, lectures and recitals. The Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar is aimed at reinvigorating individual artistry through American art song, by hand-picking emerging artists of unique and promising ability.

This year will feature three public masterclasses, where Blythe and Smith will work with the participants. Classes will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., on May 21 to 23 in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater.

A culminating recital featuring the seminar participants will be held Sunday, May 24 at 2 p.m. in Snell Theater. Admission is free.