2023-24 Season

As one of the most compelling new voices in the roots music world, Molly Tuttle is a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter with a lifelong love of bluegrass, a genre the Northern California-bred artist first discovered thanks to her father (a music teacher and multi-instrumentalist) and grandfather (a banjo player whose Illinois farm she visited throughout her childhood).

Six decades of music and 65 years of song and generations have been tied together through the force of will of a matriarchy of powerful women. This is the story of African-American gospel quintet The Legendary Ingramettes, founded by the late Maggie Ingram (who passed away in 2015) as a way to keep her family together through hardship, and taken up by daughter Almeta Ingram-Miller as a way to continue Maggie Ingram’s legacy.

Violinist, vocalist and composer Terry Jenoure embarks on an untraveled road. The 2023 Creative Capital Awardee invites her powerhouse Arizona-born pianist Angelica Sanchez on an exciting musical adventure during the concert. Jenoure’s newest experiment entitled Secret to Life is a vehicle that shines the spotlight on women’s accounts, ones that were once held in secret. Applying her deft skills as researcher, Jenoure conducts interviews, then invites the women’s stories to become her muse through her uniquely constructed compositions.

The Danish String Quartet celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022–23, and the Grammy-nominated quartet continues to assert its preeminence among the world’s finest string quartets. Formed when they were in their teens, the members are renowned for impeccable musicianship, sophisticated artistry, exquisite clarity of ensemble and, above all, an unmatched ability to play as one. Performances are characterized by a rare musical spontaneity, giving audiences the sense of hearing even treasured canon repertoire as if for the first time.

Alissa Moreno was born on a small Navajo reservation, grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., and studied vocal composition and performance at the College of Santa Fe. After moving to Los Angeles where she performed weekly at the Hotel Cafe, she co-wrote the Grammy-nominated hit “Every Day” for Rascal Flatts. She has a new song “Walking Blind” on The Voice winner Javier Colon’s latest album as well as two on previous ones — “When” and “That’s My Little Girl.”

The historic tradition of mariachi music has its roots of origin in Mexican cities like Guadalajara and Mexico City. As the ever-evolving genre’s influence spread, it reached Chicago and birthed the Mariachi Herencia de México. The energetic, virtuosic Latin Grammy-nominated group has issued chart-topping albums and performed across the North American continent. Nuestra Herencia, their 2017 debut album, topped the Latin streaming charts. The 2018 Herencia de la Tierra Mía was produced by celebrated industry veteran Javier Limón and charted all major streaming services. The 2019 Esencia topped industry charts, while a second volume, issued in 2020, performed similarly. In 2022, Herederos appeared as the group was performing a wildly successful North American tour. This performance will include both traditional mariachi music and holiday favorites.

Ballet Hispánico is the largest Latine/Latinx/Hispanic cultural organization in the U.S. and one of America’s cultural treasures. Ballet Hispánico’s three main programs — the Company, School of Dance and Community Arts Partnerships — bring communities together to celebrate the multifaceted Latinx diasporas. Ballet Hispánico’s New York City headquarters provide the physical home and cultural heart for Latine dance in the U.S. It is a space that initiates new cultural conversations and explores the intersectionality of Latine cultures. No matter their background or identity — Latine, Latinx, Hispanic — Ballet Hispánico welcomes and serves all, breaking stereotypes and celebrating the beauty and diversity of Hispanic cultures through dance.

Every generation or so, a young bluesman bursts onto the scene and sends a jolt through the blues community. Jontavious Willis may just have that effect on people. Many fans of Willis regard him as an old soul. His style of playing and his voice touches the very roots of country blues, bringing back the true soul of the music. A newspaper headline once called him a “70-year-old Bluesman in a 20-year-old Body.” Hailing from Greenville, Ga., Willis grew up singing gospel music at the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church with his grandfather. From an early age, he had the talent and passion for music and the ability to sharpen his skills fast. At the age of 14, he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters playing “Hoochie Coochie Man” and was instantly hooked on the blues. He got his much-needed break from the living legend Taj Mahal in 2015, when Mahal asked Willis to play on stage with him. That appearance resulted in a roaring response from the audience and led Willis to bigger stages and broader opportunities, including an opening slot at select shows along the TajMo tour, featuring his musical mentors Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’.

Formed in 2007 by Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth as a fun and exciting collaboration among musical friends, the 10-piece, all-female brass ensemble has firmly established itself on the international scene to great acclaim. tenThing is celebrated for its commitment to outreach and access to music through a diverse repertoire, from Mozart to Weill, Grieg to Bernstein and Lully to Bartók. The group works closely with Norwegian guitarist and arranger Jarle Storløkken in the arrangement of scores for the ensemble, enabling them to play pieces of differing instrumentations. tenThing first came to prominence thanks to performances in their native Norway, eventually delighting a huge national audience by opening the 2011 Norwegian Grammy Awards.

Dervish has been bringing Irish traditional music to the world for more than 25 years. Described by the BBC as “an icon of Irish music,” the band has played at festivals from Rock in Rio, Brazil, to Glastonbury, England, toured with the Irish president and struck up tunes on the Great Wall of China. Dervish has a lineup that includes some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians, fronted by one of the country’s best-known singers Cathy Jordan. Dervish has been long-established as one of the biggest names in Irish music internationally. The musicians are renowned for live performances that match dazzling sets of tunes with stunning interpretations of traditional songs. Their studio and live albums — 12 to date — make up one of the outstanding catalogs in Irish music.

Rising star of the cello Jonathan Swensen is the recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and was featured as both Musical America’s New Artist of the Month and One to Watch in Gramophone magazine. Swensen fell in love with the cello upon hearing the Edward Elgar’s Concerto at the age of 6, and ultimately made his concerto debut performing that very piece with Portugal’s Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música. Swensen captured first prizes at the 2019 Windsor Festival International String Competition, 2018 Khachaturian International Cello Competition and the 2018 Young Concert Artists international auditions in 2018. A graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, he continued his studies with Torleif Thedéen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory, where he received his artist diploma in May 2023.

Caña Dulce Caña Brava offers a performance that shows off the music, poetry, dance and traditional attire of Veracruz, Mexico, interpreted by artists who are beneficiaries of the jarocho culture and noteworthy performers with years of experience on both national and international stages. The group stands out as an artistic project that highlights feminine poetry and voices. Creating an experience that connects the spectator with distinct emotions, one is taken on a voyage through multiple rhythms, accompanied by traditional string instruments, such as the harp and the jarana, percussion and zapateado (percussive dance), poetic improvisation in rhyme and visual effects. Offering an assortment of colors, textures and images to diverse and multi-generational audiences, the ensemble is defined by an original aesthetic concept that unites the traditional with the vanguard in a contemporary stage proposal.

DuPont Brass is a one-of-a-kind, brass-driven super group from the D.C. metropolitan area. Originally composed of five music majors from Howard University trying to raise money for tuition during the Christmas season, they have grown to a nine-piece ensemble consisting of brass, a rhythm section and vocalists. Filled with a diverse arsenal of musical styles, they present a catalog made with every kind of listener in mind.