Stein/Smith/Shead Trio + Mai Khoi, Mark Micchelli, & Eli Namay

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

The collaborative trio of Jason Stein, Damon Smith, and Adam Shead feature a fluid music making process of spontaneous composition that is as rhythmically driving as it is melodically complex. 
This is a must-see evening for contemporary jazz fans and anyone curious in the improvisation process. 

Actors Talk August Presented by August Wilson House: Charles Dumas

City of Asylum @ Home

August Wilson House celebrates America’s greatest playwright with substantial insider interviews, with leading August Wilson actors, directors and artists, national and regional. Hosted and moderated  by Chris Rawson, veteran Pittsburgh Post-Gazette theater critic who chronicled Wilson’s career and became a friend. The goal is to capture the memories, anecdotes and insights of those who know Wilson’s epic American Century Cycle from the inside.

POSTPONED: Automating Art

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Please note: this program has been postponed. New date will be announced soon. 

Jazz Poetry Month: Uri Gurvich Quartet “Kinship”

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Kinship celebrates tribal and familial connections between different cultures and individuals, and shares messages of global unity. The music combines folkloric traditions from all four artists’ homes, while simultaneously feeling out the spaces between various traditions. All with a jazzy and improvised twist.
Featuring collaborations with poets Vasyl Makhno (Ukraine), Gazmend Kapllani (Albania), Madhu Raghavendra (India), and Pamela Sánchez (Venezuela)

In-Dialogue series Presented by the #notwhite collective

City of Asylum @ Home

The #notwhite collective in-Dialogue series features conversations with BIPOC, AALANA, indigenous and immigrant artists and arts administrators.
The series reimagines the past and present history of the arts sector by engaging and presenting the wealth of experience, strategies, and tactics of the global majority, notwhite descendants, inheritors of colonialism, indigenous and immigrants who navigate a predominantly white arts sector.
May’s program features artists Raul Moarquech and Toi Derricotte

Story Club PGH Story Slam: Mum’s the Word

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Join City of Asylum and Story Club Pgh for a new monthly nonfiction storytelling series, mixing the spontaneity of an open mic with the experience of live theater. Organized and hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh. 
Every show has both spontaneous tellers and featured performers, all taking the stage to share stories based on a theme.

Jazz Poetry Month: Vadim Neselovskyi “Odesa—A Musical Walk Through a Legendary City”

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

The world at large has been inundated with news from the recent Russian incursion into the country of Ukraine. While the storms of war gather, pianist and composer Vadim Neselovskyi chooses to remind people of the country’s important cultural legacy. Neselovskyi has created a full-length solo piano piece inspired by his hometown on the Black Sea—and a Unesco World Heritage City of Literature—Odesa.  

Jazz Poetry Month: Claudio Cojaniz “Orfani”

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

We are thrilled Claudio returns to Pittsburgh live for JPM 2022 for two stellar performances. 
The first evening features the US premiere of Claudio’s 2021 album “Orphans.” The album is inspired by the tragedies and triumphs of global migration. It is infused with world music sounds, influenced by the Balkan folk music of Claudio’s Serbian grandfather, as well as Claudio’s mastery of the blues. The album is lyrical and concise with delicate melodies, and is sure to be an excellent evening of music. 

Jazz Poetry Month: Oliver Lake & Claudio Cojaniz “The Music of Trio 3”

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

As we celebrate the return of a fully in person Jazz Poetry, we welcome Oliver back to Pittsburgh and honor his friendship and his contributions to City of Asylum’s history. 
Oliver will play alongside pianist Claudio Cojaniz, together performing Oliver’s original compositions from his renowned Trio 3. Claudio, long an admirer of Oliver’s, will share the stage with him for the first time. This is a very special evening of true international and cross-cultural exchange. 

Jazz Poetry Month: Sara Serpa “Encounters & Collisions”

Alphabet City 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Portuguese vocalist-composer Sara Serpa presents her new work "Encounters and Collisions," a commission from Chamber Music America. The project draws inspiration from Somali-Italian writer Igiaba Scego's book "My Home is Where I Am."
"Encounters & Collisions" combines music, text, images and media to reflect on ideas of identity and migration influenced by Scego’s writings on the post-colonial relationships between African and Europe.