There’s plenty of interesting and diverse theatrical, musical, dance, and multimedia entertainment in Music City over the coming weeks in celebration of African American History Month at iconic Nashville venues, and we can send you to an engaging evening, for jazz at our Schermerhorn Symphony Center, for Dance at OzArts, or for a special orchestra at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
The Wednesday, February 11, presentation of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Duke in Africa at Schermerhorn Symphony Center is a fantastic event celebrating one of the African American icons of jazz music, examining and exploring his experiences with African music. Duke Ellington found deep inspiration in Africa, travelling with his orchestra to Dakar, Senegal in 1966 to perform at the first World Festival of Negro Arts.
This trip led him to compose several of his most iconic works, including Afro-Bossa, Liberian Suite, and the Grammy Award-winning Togo Brava Suite. Co-music-directed by JLCO saxophonists Chris Lewis and Alexa Tarantino, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis celebrates these compositions and the spirit of Duke’s historic trip, nearly 60 years later. Presented without the Nashville Symphony, at 8:00 p.m. For tickets and more, visit the website: https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/
At OZ Arts, enjoy a special treat, as Ogemdi Ude presents MAJOR, Thursday, February 12 through Saturday, February 14, at 8:00 p.m. each evening. Ogemdi Ude is a Nigerian-American dance artist, educator, and doula based in Harlem, New York and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. As an artist and educator, she supports others in investigating their cultural, familial, and personal histories — how they are embedded in their bodies and influence their everyday and performative movement.
Celebrating the power and legacy of HBCU majorette dance, a team of Southern Black femmes embodies the movement of their girlhood to answer the questions of their present. MAJOR preserves, transforms, and continues majorette tradition through electrifying movement, documentary theater, and an online interview archive. Exploring themes of physical memory, sexuality, and sensuality, this compelling new work honors and uplifts the creative practices and stories of the folks who taught the team how to be proudly Black and proudly femme.
The fiercely powerful New York dancers of MAJOR are joined by members of TSU’s Sophisticated Ladies and a drumline from the Grammy-winning Aristocrat of Bands for this “euphoric” dance-theater event. Learn more and get tickets at: ozartsnashville.org
Saturday, February 21, Orchestra Noir, the acclaimed Atlanta based African American orchestra returns to Nashville with its brand-new Culture 2000 Tour, an immersive concert experience that evokes and celebrates the spirit of early 2000s culture. Under the direction of Maestro Jason Ikeem Rodgers, the orchestra will deliver a high-impact night of music, movement, and nostalgia as it reimagines the biggest 2000s Hip-Hop and R&B hits through an orchestral lens.
Get ready to sing, dance, and experience the culture in a whole new way with a new sound, new energy, and the creative evolution of the Orchestra Noir experience Culture 2000, recommended for ages 18 and up. 8:00 p.m. in TPAC’s Polk Theater. Learn more at: https://www.tpac.org/events/detail/the-culture-2000-tour-15089 .
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pridepublishinggroup.com ’
