City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
Founded by Violinist/Composer Gwen Laster in 2015, New MUSE 4tet is an improvising string quartet offering 20th and 21st century new works and original compositions as a vehicle for social activism. Their "Black Lives Matter Suite" continues to draw great audiences and critical acclaim.
The concert celebrates the release of their newest album "Blue Lotus".
Michael Weiss is one of the great journeymen in Jazz and has played and recorded with many of the music's masters. He joins the Off Minor Jazz series to present a program of original music along with original arrangements from his latest album, Persistence.
Pittsburgh Opera and City of Asylum are partnering together to explore the rich traditions of global operatic music and present an evening of Spanish-language poetry + song.
Kinetic celebrates multiculturalism, wisdom, and unity, blending global folk traditions and contemporary jazz.
Listen, sing, and dance with the group as they perform music blending Ghanaian folk songs with original music from their new release 'Dances of Lake Volta'. This special concert will highlight the genius of folk songs from Ghana, and also premiere some brand new songs.
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.
This session of Global Choral Traditions is postponed. New date to be announced soon.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lucian Ban is a pre-eminent improvising jazz pianist originally from Transylvania, Romania. He joins Jazz Poetry 2022 to perform his newly released album of solo piano music, Ways of Disappearing, his first unaccompanied solo album.
Ban has become known for his amalgamations of Transylvanian folk with improvisation, for his combining of 20th Century European classical music with jazz, and for his pursuit of a modern chamber jazz ideal.
Featuring collaborations with poets Yuriy Tarnawsky (Ukraine), Dmitry Bykov (Russia), Jorge Olivera Castillo (Cuba), Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (Mexico)
