City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
The Joe Fonda Quartet is a powerful group of musicians who have collectively been active within the New York Jazz community for over 40 years. The Quartet features a combination of Bassoon and Saxophone—a unique and compelling sound, rarely heard in the world of Jazz.
Join P.R.I.D.E (Positive Racial Identity Development In Early Education) for a documentary screening of Reflecting on Anti-bias Education in Action: The Early Years and discussion with the filmmakers.
We just finished our fifth “house publication”—the writer houses with artworks on their façades. This House Publication is based on texts and drawings by City of Asylum’s writer-in-residence Tuhin Das. He worked closely with co-founder Diane Samuels, who has led the development of the house publications. We will inaugurate this new House Publication on Sunday,... more →
Pittsburgh-based chamber ensemble Kamratōn presents a genre-blurring program curated by flutist, composer, and band leader Nicole Mitchell, including the premiere of a newly commissioned work. Kamratōn will be joined by guest bassist Jeffrey Grubbs of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and vocalist Anqwenique Wingfield for works by Nicole Mitchell, Yvette Jackson, Brittany J. Green, and others.
Merrell is a composer of illustrious works in gospel jazz and regularly performs with local and nationally known Gospel/Christian artists such as Kim Burrell, Donnie McClurkin, David and Nicole Binion. He also has been featured several times on the nationally televised Bobby Jones Gospel Show. For his Kente engagement, he will perform with his own Jazz/Gospel group, IMPACT.
Thoth Trio has previously appeared at City of Asylum in September 2020 to premiere a new collection of works by Ben Opie, Meditations on Quarantine. The suite was an intuitive and creative response to the initial pandemic lockdown. This performance will see the premiere of the followup, Reflections on Pandemic, a collection of seven new pieces inspired by both global and local circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark Ruffin, known as the afternoon drivetime DJ for SiriusXM's Real Jazz channel, joins us virtually live to read from his collection of “jazz short stories,” "Bebop Fairy Tales." A scintillating blend of historical fiction with jazz and, yes, baseball—the collection weaves connections between the two great and uniquely American pastimes, and explores how both are an expression and arbiter of race in America.
*This concert has been postponed to winter 2022. New date coming soon. An evening of original music composed by Dr. Aaron J. Johnson. Dr. AJ's music reflects a wide spectrum of the black experience. Ranging from the Carnival to field hollers and from fellowship to desperate longing, this music is drenched with blues and funk, but also expresses the hopes and strength of the struggle for social justice and human rights.
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.
Hanne Ørstavik is best known to the English-speaking audience for her novel "Love", a 2019 finalist for the National Book Award in Translated Literature and winner of the PEN Translation Prize. Hanne joins us live from her home in Norway (at 11pm at night) to discuss her most recent English translated novel "The Pastor," also joining the conversation is translator Martin Aitken, whose translation of this extraordinary novel rings with the brilliance and rigor of a master.
The #notwhite collective in-Dialogue series features conversations with BIPOC, AALANA, indigenous and immigrant artists and arts administrators.
Novelist Porochista Khakpour joins City of Asylum live for a reading and conversation centering her collection of essays "Brown Album." From the much-acclaimed novelist and essayist, this beautifully rendered, poignant collection of personal essays chronicles immigrant and Iranian-American life in our contemporary moment.
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