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Singer-Songwriter Peter Mayer Performance to Kick Off the 2023 Annual Meeting

By Michael Thompson, Iowa State University and President-Elect, SSSA
September 13, 2023
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For the first time ever, the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Annual Meeting will begin with a musical concert this year. As we gather in St. Louis on Sunday, October 29, all are invited to a concert presented by Minnesota singer‐songwriter Peter Mayer. The free concert will begin at 4:45 pm, preceding the opening keynote presentation, both in the Ferrara Theatre located in America’s Center Convention Complex.

Peter Mayer has been singing and songwriting full‐time for more than 25 years, performing in venues across the United States and beyond. He writes songs for a small planet—about science and nature, interconnectedness, and the human journey—songs about life on earth and the mysterious and wondrous fact of our existence. He is the recipient of fellowships from both the McKnight and the Bush foundations, and he has released 11 albums. You can check them out at petermayer.net.

Mr. Mayer’s repertoire includes songs about the sun, our planet, water, mountains, the ocean, gardens, and—in this concert—soil. He will be singing one of his newest songs, which was commissioned by SSSA and focuses on how the living soil connects us all. He will also be performing at a special SSSA symposium, “Music About, For, and From Soils,” on Monday, October 30.

This special musical concert is supported by all three Societies to celebrate our scientific meetings with the musical arts and to ignite a week of passion for the work we do to sustain the planet and its people.

We invite you to join us. Register today at acsmeetings.org/register. Be sure to arrive early enough on October 29 to pick up your registration materials before coming to the theatre for the concert. Check the free conference app (SciSoc Mtg) for more information.

The Reviews Are In

Here is what others have written about Peter Mayer’s music:

“I have a thing for science‐savvy songs and singers. They’re out there, but no one I’ve found—no one—delivers the goods as well as Pete. So much of his music captures the joy, wonder, and awe that drive every great scientist I know. Pete’s passion, beautiful mind, and playful soul are in all his tunes.” –Mat Kaplan, Senior Communications Adviser and former Host of Planetary Radio, The Planetary Society

“His guitar work is breath‐taking, his lyrics mind‐spinning, his singing soul‐soothing, and his feet‐on‐the‐ground optimism nothing short of healing.” –Marilyn Rea‐Beyer, host of the Midnight Special and Folkstage, WFMT, Chicago

“If you love melody, if you love to laugh, if you love the universe and all of the marvels that astonish us every day of our lives, then Peter Mayer’s music is just what the doctor ordered.” –Brian Thomas Swimme, physicist and author of Journey of the Universe

“Peter Mayer is a magician…(his) universe is full of metaphor and meaning, story, and symbol—everything contains more than meets the eye.” –Bill Reed, music editor, Colorado Springs Gazette


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