FARMINGTON – Four poems by poet Wesley McNair of Mercer, put to music for soprano and orchestra by Cape Elizabeth composer Nancy Gunn, will have its premiere performance Sunday in Farmington.

"Driving in Maine: Four Poems of Wesley McNair for Soprano and Orchestra," will be performed during the UMF Community Orchestra Concert at 3 p.m. in Nordica Auditorium at the University of Maine at Farmington campus on Main Street.

Gunn and McNair will have a preconcert discussion about their collaboration at 2 p.m. in Nordica, moderated by UMF music professor Philip Carlsen. McNair is a retired professor and former head of UMF’s creative writing program.

McNair has published many books of his own poetry, compiled anthologies of Maine authors and poets, and has received a number of national honors. Gunn is on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College and her compositions have received numerous awards.

Soprano Sarah Johnson, choral director for the Oxford Hills school district, will sing the solo part of the collaborative work. Johnson performs often as a soloist with the Choral Art Society and the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra.

Also on the program are violinist Sarah E Geller, originally of Farmington, performing the Max Bruch Concerto in G minor for violin and orchestra, and Beethoven's Eighth Symphony.

The UMF Community Orchestra, in its 31st year, includes student and community musicians. The conductor is Trond Saeverud, who is also concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Bangor Symphony.

The program is supported in part by a grant from the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission.