8 p.m. Concert Hall
NSO Pops: An Evening with Maxwell
The multi-Grammy® winner has artfully managed to transfix music lovers for more than two decades with songs ranging from “Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)” and “Pretty Wings” to “Lake by the Ocean.” Maxwell redefined soul music with his acclaimed debut album Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite, and this year releases the final installment of his blacksummers’NIGHT
Tickets: $39-149
Due to overwhelming demand, Maxwell and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Pops have added a fourth show to their September run on Saturday, September 21, at 5 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. These concerts mark the soul star’s first ever performance with a live orchestra, and will feature veterans of his longtime band in reimagined arrangements of songs from Maxwell’s hit-filled career—including thirteen #1 R&B chart toppers.
Cultural Capital: The Big Quiet
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7:15–9:15 p.m.
The Big Quiet is a mass meditation movement that brings together thousands of people at cultural landmarks and institutions across the U.S. Designed for people with any level of meditation experience, each event incorporates live sound practitioners, string instrumentalists and musicians to create a guided meditation and music experience unlike anything else. Visitors will have the opportunity to arrive early to browse NMWA’s galleries and exhibitions, then breathe deeply and slow down for this special event in the museum’s iconic Great Hall. Reservations required. $33 general; $28 members, seniors, students. Reserve online after Sept. 11.
CapitalBop continues its FALL 19 season with a special Traveling Loft presentation of the Noah Haidu Quartet and Kris Monson’s Suite for Charlottesville on Saturday, Nov. 23, picking up on the momentum from a sold-out concert last month featuring the legendary Fred Frith.
This month’s Traveling Loft, in the black-box theater at 1358 Florida Ave. NE, presents a mix of elder master artists and young up-and-comers. Haidu, a rising star on New York City’s straight-ahead jazz scene, brings a band featuring the veteran saxophonist Gary Thomas (who has worked with Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny), drummer John Davis (a sideman for Cassandra Wilson and Leslie Odom, Jr.) and the legendary bassist Buster Williams, whose career has included stints with some of the most immortal names in jazz.
Kris Monson, a young bassist hailing from Virginia, will bring a band full of New York’s rising stars: Alex Hamburger (flute), Jasper Dutz (bass clarinet), Guy Moskovich (piano) and Jongkuk Kim (drums) — plus a couple of hard-hitting veterans from Monson’s native Charlottesville, guitarist Jamal Millner and trumpeter John D’earth.
This concert is the most recent in CapitalBop’s marquee Traveling Loft series, which places nationally touring artists in unconventional venues around the District. This installment will take place at a theater and artist space that many fans of the D.C. theater scene — and attendees of CapitalBop shows past — might find familiar.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the first set begins at 8. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door; students get $5 off the price of their admission. The show is all-ages.
2 p.m. Concert Hall
NSO Pops: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™ in Concert
Year Five begins! Between crushing on Cho Chang, studying for his O.W.L.s, and the ever-growing number of detentions from Professor Umbridge™, Harry Potter™ must find the time to discover the secret of his terrible nightmares. See Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™ in Concert presented in HD on a giant screen with composer Nicholas Hooper’s score played live by the NSO.
Tickets: $29-99
Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan of Hootie & The Blowfish along with some additional GRAMMY winning surprise guests will sing a few songs in celebration of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Tour Mrs. Parks D.C. Home-Away-from-Home; The Mansion on O & O Street Museum.
This new exhibit will focus on things people don’t know about her – like her 10 year residence O Museum in The Mansion, in Washington, D.C. Although Mrs. Parks is famous for being the mother of the civil rights movement, her activism and personal history is also a part of the underpinnings for today’s women’s movement.
ABOUT Darius Rucker Darius Rucker is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the GRAMMY award-winning band Hootie & the Blowfish and GRAMMY winning country music star. His third career GRAMMY award was for Best Solo Country Performance for his 4x platinum selling cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,” off his album, True Believers.
ABOUT Mark Bryan Mark Bryan is the multi-platinum, lead guitarist of the GRAMMY Award winning band Hootie & the Blowfish. He is known for their hits “Only Wanna Be with You”, “Hold My Hand”, “Let Her Cry”, Hootie and the Blowfish’s debut album Cracked Rearview Mirror went platinum 16 times, making it the 16th best-selling album of all time in the United States.
Proceeds go to support programming for the year long celebration of Mrs. Rosa Parks at O Museum
7:30 p.m. Eisenhower Theater
Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz presents: 2019 International Guitar Competition & All-Star Gala Concert
The jazz world’s most prestigious competition returns with three brilliant guitarists competing for top honors, plus a moving tribute to jazz legend Terence Blanchard.
Tickets: $35-125
SETH KIBEL & THE KLEZTET
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
8PM
Tickets: $19–$26
Klezmer fans—rejoice! Seth Kibel, one of the best local instrumentalists and winner of not one, not 10, but 28 Wammies (Washington Area Music Awards), brings his joyful quartet to AMP. Kibel & The Kleztet light up the night with joyful klezmer music, jazz, swing, and traditional Hanukkah tunes. A masterful woodwind player, Kibel blends Eastern European Jewish folk music with jazz and diverse modern influences. The band includes Sean Lane on piano, bassist Joshua Bayer, and percussionist Tim Jarvis.
SOUL CRACKERS
ANNUAL HOLIDAY SHOW
Saturday, December 21, 2019
8PM
Tickets: $20–$35
The best party music ever made + a band belting out soulful sounds = a rockin’ good time! The Soul Crackers honor the music of Memphis and Motown with their rollicking renditions of timeless songs like, “I Feel Good,” “Dancing in the Streets,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” plus some holiday favorites. Known for their signature medleys, lead vocalist Tommy Lepson, along with the nine-piece band’s horn section create combustible energy to get you on the dance floor.
Strathmore Presents
Artist in Residence
AYO (pop vocalist)
Wednesdays, January 15 & 29, 2020
7:30 pm
Sponsored by Mrs. Patricia Haywood Moore and Dr. Roscoe M. Moore, Jr.
Tickets $19
Mansion at Strathmore
10701 Rockville Pike
North Bethesda, MD 20852
Atlanta-born, Nigerian-raised Howard University graduate and pop powerhouse AYO hopes her music can provide a message of empowerment and liberation. Her versatile style ranges from pop to hip-hop to soul, but the core of her work is always emotional vulnerability, love, and self-actualization. Her performances in the Mansion at Strathmore are on Wednesdays, January 15 and 29, 2020 at 7:30PM, kicking off the Artist in Residence class of 2020 concerts. AYO’s performances are generously sponsored by Mrs. Patricia Haywood Moore and Dr. Roscoe M. Moore, Jr. Tickets and more information are available at www.strathmore.org or by calling (301) 581-5100.
AYO’s forthcoming EP release explores the intricacies of being a black woman in America, heralding a message of love, freedom, and self-discovery. She employs a soulful blend of smooth vocals and poignant lyrics to illustrate her struggles with identity and acceptance. Over the course of her accomplished career, AYO has been featured in NPR’s Christmas special, made the top eight contestants on BET’s Sunday Best, and performed at the Kennedy Center for the 2015 DC Jazz Festival. She was also a soloist for the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016. Most recently, AYO portrays a young Ella Fitzgerald in the newly released HBO documentary, The Apollo.
AYO earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Jazz Studies and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Jazz Performance. She credits her time in Howard University’s Jazz Studies program for giving her a solid foundation of music theory and technique from which she could expand and explore. Since graduating, the accomplished singer-songwriter has worked with artists such as Common, Chance the Rapper, and Andra Day.
