The Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is dedicated to presenting world-class celebrations of the musical arts by creating timeless and adventurous productions that stimulate arts education, foster economic growth and unite artists and audiences in Savannah.

Schedule:

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

8:00pm: Pink Martini Feat. China Forbes

In 1994, Thomas Lauderdale wanted to create a new sound with a broader appeal that could energize crowds and serve as a beautifully inclusive soundtrack for events. He drew inspiration from all over the world, crossing classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop until he landed on the genre-bending music you hear today. A year later, Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate living in New York City, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began writing music together. Their first song, “Sympathique (Je ne veux pas travailler),” became an overnight sensation and was even nominated for Song of the Year at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards. Today, Pink Martini features a dozen musicians, has songs in 25 languages and performs its multilingual repertoire on leading concert stages around the world. For this special SMF pre-season Spring Fling concert event, Pink Martini will be joined by China Forbes in her first Savannah appearance in seven years.

Approx. 1 hr 50 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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Thursday, March 23, 2023

12:30pm: Noon30: Christian Sands, Piano

The 2023 season kicks off with a solo piano performance by renowned jazz pianist Christian Sands, whose abundant piano technique accomplishes a much deeper musical goal: a fresh look at the entire language of jazz. The power and prowess of his playing has taken him to the Kennedy Center, Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival (where he served as Artist-in-Residence and as Music Director for MJF on Tour), Detroit Jazz Festival, and to New York’s celebrated jazz clubs. McBride was last at SMF in 2014 when he performed as part of Christian McBride’s Trio.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$31.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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5:00pm: Christian Sands High Wire Trio

Christian Sands’ High Wire Trio celebrates and elaborates upon the musical legacy of Erroll Garner, the Pittsburgh-born jazz pianist, composer, concert hall artist and recording star. In addition to several other creative and educational roles, five-time Grammy-nominee Christian Sands also serves as the Creative Ambassador for the Erroll Garner Jazz Project. He is a natural fit for the role (which he inherited from his mentor Geri Allen), given his recognition of an audience’s innate desire to be entertained as well as enlightened. Sands’ playing draws upon an extensive vocabulary of jazz and world music idioms, especially South American and Afro-Cuban styles.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
$46.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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7:00pm: Aaron Lee Tasjan / S.G. Goodman

Nashville-based songwriter and guitarist Aaron Lee Tasjan makes music with conviction that has its roots in rock’s murky past, armed with an arsenal of songs that spill over with humor, intelligence and irony. With a musical background ranging from jazz to punk to alt-country, he won the award for Outstanding Guitarist at the Essentially Ellington Competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center as a teenager, and has since been the guitarist for glam-rock innovators the New York Dolls, Southern rock band Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ and British roots rockers Alberta Cross. Tasjan’s versatility is evident as he covers territory that includes dreamy ‘70s-era country rock, rollicking honky-tonk and introspective acoustic folk.

“There’s no other artist out there quite like Aaron Lee Tasjan. The Nashville singer-songwriter blends glam-rock showmanship with poetic vulnerability and a comedian’s quick wit.” –GARDEN & GUN

A songwriter and guitarist from Hickman, Kentucky, S.G. Goodman’s hard-hitting songs are anchored in the complexity and beauty of the rural South. Having recently recorded her second album in Athens, Georgia (following a critically acclaimed debut produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket), Goodman’s music ranges stylistically from southern indie rock and Appalachian balladry, to post-punk and country music. Her newest collection of music is described as “what you might get if Flannery O’Connor and Lou Reed went on a road trip.”

Approx. 2 hrs 25 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

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7:30pm: Zurich Chamber Orchestra Feat. Daniel Hope & Philip Dukes

Elgar:
Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Opus 47

Bruch:
Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E minor, Opus 88

Tchaikovsky:
Serenade for String Orchestra

The 2023 classical series begins with the return of the renowned Zurich Chamber Orchestra with Music Director Daniel Hope. Joined by SMF’s Thomas V. & Susan G. Reilly Associate Artistic Director, violist, educator, and Hope’s longtime collaborator and friend Philip Dukes, Hope presents a program culminating with Tchaikovsky’s magnificent Serenade for Strings.

In the 1940s, music student Edmond de Stoutz used his free time to regularly meet with a number of friends and make music together. The joy of pursuing their creative ideals and the group’s shared passion for chamber music gave rise to the formation of a chamber orchestra. This led to the first public concert in Zurich in 1945. Seventy-six years later the Zurich Chamber Orchestra is one of the leading ensembles of its kind.

No stranger to Savannah audiences as SMF’s Associate Artistic Director from 2004-2019, British violinist Daniel Hope has enjoyed a thriving international solo career for more than 30 years. He currently serves as Artistic Director of Dresden’s Frauenkirche Cathedral, President of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn and Music Director of both the Zurich and New Century Chamber Orchestras. Now living with his family in Berlin, he plays the 1742 “ex-Lipínski” Guarneri del Gesù.

SMF Associate Artistic Director Philip Dukes is recognized as one of the world’s leading viola players, with a career spanning over 30 years as an accomplished concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. In demand worldwide as a director/conductor/soloist, Dukes holds guest teaching positions at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Wells Cathedral School and is also Artistic Director at Marlborough College. He is also a member of the Wigmore Hall Soloists ensemble.

Approx. 1 hr 40 mins
Tickets start at $55

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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8:00pm: Christian Sands High Wire Trio

Christian Sands’ High Wire Trio celebrates and elaborates upon the musical legacy of Erroll Garner, the Pittsburgh-born jazz pianist, composer, concert hall artist and recording star. In addition to several other creative and educational roles, five-time Grammy-nominee Christian Sands also serves as the Creative Ambassador for the Erroll Garner Jazz Project. He is a natural fit for the role (which he inherited from his mentor Geri Allen), given his recognition of an audience’s innate desire to be entertained as well as enlightened. Sands’ playing draws upon an extensive vocabulary of jazz and world music idioms, especially South American and Afro-Cuban styles.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
$46.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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Friday, March 24, 2023

5:00pm: Sona Jobarteh / Natu Camara

Sona Jobarteh’s music stands on the mighty shoulders of the West African griot tradition; she is a living archive of the Gambian people. With one ear on the family’s historic reputation, one on the all-important future legacy and her heart in both places, she is preparing a place today for the next generation. Her singing and kora playing, while fronting her band, spring directly from this tradition. Jobarteh’s dedication to spreading powerful humanitarian messages through her songs and her stage performances makes her much more than a musician. She is active in social change and leads by example, having singlehandedly set up The Gambia Academy, a pioneering institution dedicated to achieving educational reform across the continent of Africa. The extent of her recognition today is evidenced by millions of views online, along with her worldwide touring—all this while singing in her native languages and keeping to her own creative path.

Hailing from the West African nation of Guinea, Natu Camara is one of its leading female artists. Her debut album Dimedi is a sublime blend of afro-rock, pop and soul, recorded in Mali with many of the musicians from the band of the renowned musician Salif Keita. Singing in five languages, Camara’s music speaks to the range of heroes influencing her sound: Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, Mory Kanté, Fela Kuti and Baaba Maal. As a builder of bridges socially and culturally, Camara’s compositions are powerfully constructed to close the global gap between our hemispheres and bring people together. She is also a champion of humanitarian causes, having founded Natu’s Foundation to mentor and empower young girls and support the education of Guinean children.

Approx. 2 hrs 15 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

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6:00pm: Alexander Malofeev

Beethoven
Sonata No. 14, Opus 27, No. 2, “Moonlight”

Beethoven
Sonata No. 17, Opus 31, No. 2, “Tempest”

Weinberg
Sonata No. 4, Opus 56

Rachmaninov
Sonata No. 2, Opus 36

(Revised by the composer in 1931)

Alexander Malofeev came to global prominence when he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2014 at age 13. Since this triumph, Malofeev has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation. In 2022, Malofeev made debuts at major summer festivals to great acclaim, including the Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival with Vasily Petrenko and the Tanglewood Music Festival with Michael Tilson Thomas.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr 45 mins
$52.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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8:00pm: The Infamous Stringdusters / Sierra Hull

In the 12 years since their last SMF performance, Grammy Award-winning ensemble The Infamous Stringdusters have shown remarkable growth as instrumentalists and songwriters. The band’s synergy has developed over 16 years of playing clubs and festival stages across the country and has helped them solidify an enduring fan base among traditional and progressive bluegrass and acoustic music audiences. The five band members—Travis Book (bass), Andy Falco (guitar), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), Andy Hall (dobro) and Chris Pandolfi (banjo)—are each dedicated to their craft and to continue working to hone their instrumental game.

Sierra Hull is an exceptional mandolinist, singer and bandleader, with a musical conception that blends progressive elements with traditional structure. Her Grand Ole Opry debut was at 10 years old, followed a year later by a performance with her hero and mentor Alison Krauss. She was the first bluegrass musician to receive a Presidential Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, and the first woman to win the IBMA’s Mandolin Player of the Year Award in 2016 (she has now won five). This is Sierra Hull’s first time back to SMF with her band since the 2014 season, although she did appear in 2022 as a member of Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart.

Approx. 2 hrs 35 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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8:30pm: Sona Jobarteh / Natu Camara

Sona Jobarteh’s music stands on the mighty shoulders of the West African griot tradition; she is a living archive of the Gambian people. With one ear on the family’s historic reputation, one on the all-important future legacy and her heart in both places, she is preparing a place today for the next generation. Her singing and kora playing, while fronting her band, spring directly from this tradition. Jobarteh’s dedication to spreading powerful humanitarian messages through her songs and her stage performances makes her much more than a musician. She is active in social change and leads by example, having singlehandedly set up The Gambia Academy, a pioneering institution dedicated to achieving educational reform across the continent of Africa. The extent of her recognition today is evidenced by millions of views online, along with her worldwide touring—all this while singing in her native languages and keeping to her own creative path.

Hailing from the West African nation of Guinea, Natu Camara is one of its leading female artists. Her debut album Dimedi is a sublime blend of afro-rock, pop and soul, recorded in Mali with many of the musicians from the band of the renowned musician Salif Keita. Singing in five languages, Camara’s music speaks to the range of heroes influencing her sound: Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, Mory Kanté, Fela Kuti and Baaba Maal. As a builder of bridges socially and culturally, Camara’s compositions are powerfully constructed to close the global gap between our hemispheres and bring people together. She is also a champion of humanitarian causes, having founded Natu’s Foundation to mentor and empower young girls and support the education of Guinean children.

Approx. 2 hrs 15 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

Buy Tickets

Saturday, March 25, 2023

5:00pm: Buddy Guy “Damn Right Farewell” with special guests Eric Gales and King Solomon Hicks

Experience Buddy Guy on his final tour at two special outdoor concerts on opening weekend of the 2023 Savannah Music Festival! Bring a lawn chair or blanket, grab some food from the food trucks and enjoy two days of spectacular blues anchored by electric blues pioneer and living legend, Buddy Guy. Saturday, March 25 performances begin with King Solomon Hicks and Eric Gales.

At age 86, Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. Buddy Guy has received 8 Grammy Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, 38 Blues Music Awards (the most any artist has received), the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #23 in its “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

In July of 2021, in honor of Buddy Guy’s 85th birthday, PBS American Masters released “Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away”, a new documentary following his rise from a childhood spent picking cotton in Louisiana to becoming one of the most influential guitar players of all time. Though Buddy Guy will forever be associated with Chicago, his story actually begins in Louisiana. One of five children, he was born in 1936 to a sharecropper’s family and raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, located some 140 miles northwest of New Orleans. Buddy was just seven years old when he fashioned his first makeshift “guitar”—a two-string contraption attached to a piece of wood and secured with his mother’s hairpins.

In 1957, he took his guitar to Chicago, where he would permanently alter the direction of the instrument, first on numerous sessions for Chess Records playing alongside Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and then on recordings of his own. His incendiary style left its mark on guitarists from Jimmy Page to John Mayer. “He was for me what Elvis was probably like for other people,” said Eric Clapton at Guy’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2005. “My course was set, and he was my pilot.”

Buddy Guy remains a genuine American treasure and one of the final surviving connections to an historic era in the country’s musical evolution.

Eric Gales grew up in a musical family with four brothers, two of them who learned to play the guitar upside down and left-handed in the same fashion that Eric does. Eric released his first record at age 16 to an amazing response from the media and music fans around the globe. Guitar World Magazine’s Reader’s Poll named Eric as “Best New Talent,” in 1991. Through the years, it would not be unusual to look out in the audience and see artists including Carlos Santana, Eric Johnson, B. B. King, and Eric Clapton, looking on with interest as Eric took his guitar and worked crowd after crowd into a frenzy. As both an African-American left-handed guitarist of extraordinary ability and an expressive vocalist, it is natural for people to compare Eric to Hendrix. But Eric has developed a unique hybrid blues/rock sound that also draws upon influences as diverse as Albert King and Frank Gambale. A unique amalgam of styles, Eric Gales is among the most prolific guitarists in his genre.

King Solomon Hicks grew up in Harlem “around a lot of great musicians.” and his playing and singing blend a reverent familiarity with vigorous freshness–the work of an artist deeply rooted in blues birthed decades before him but equally invested in finding his own way of playing it. Hicks has been steeped in music for as long as he can remember. He was on stage at the Cotton Club when he was 13, and during high school as part of a 15-piece band playing there three nights a week. Hicks, not surprisingly, stayed afloat during those encounters, building a reputation on the scene that began to spread outside of the New York area. After high school he began playing in Europe, opening for Jeff Beck and Ringo Starr, playing festivals in Spain and France, as well as at the Cotton Club in Tokyo, and being booked on Joe Bonamassa Blues Alive at Sea Cruise. He’s shared stages with the likes of Tony Bennett, Beth Hart, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Mavis Staples, Paul Shaffer and others. This is his second SMF appearance, having played on a 2018 bill with other Benedetto Guitars sponsored artists.

General Admission $109+ / VIP $249+

Location: Trustees' Garden

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8:00pm: Kodo: Tsuzumi

Exploring the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko, Kodo is forging new directions for a vibrant and living art form. Since the group’s debut at the Berlin Festival in 1981, Kodo has given over 6,500 performances on all continents, spending about a third of the year overseas, a third touring in Japan and a third rehearsing and preparing new material on Sado Island. In their first commemorative work, Tsuzumi, Kodo performs “Dyu-Ha,” one of their earliest pieces, on tour for the first time in 15 years. The late Maki Ishii, a modern composer who was introduced to Kodo by conductor Seiji Ozawa, presented this piece to Kodo as a gift to congratulate the ensemble on its debut in 1981. Tsuzumi will also feature Ishii’s masterpiece “Monochrome” and other Kodo signature pieces such as “O-daiko,” “Yatai-bayashi” and “Zoku,” coupled with new compositions. This celebration of 40+ years traces the group’s origins back to the beginning. Tsuzumi will also serve as a cornerstone for Kodo’s next ground-breaking chapter.

Approx. 2 hrs
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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Sunday, March 26, 2023

4:00pm: Buddy Guy “Damn Right Farewell” with special guests Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Jontavious Willis

Experience Buddy Guy on his final tour at two special outdoor concerts on opening weekend of the 2023 Savannah Music Festival! Bring a lawn chair or blanket, grab some food from the food trucks and enjoy two days of spectacular blues anchored by electric blues pioneer and living legend, Buddy Guy. Sunday, March 26 performances begin with Jontavious Willis and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.

At age 86, Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. Buddy Guy has received 8 Grammy Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, 38 Blues Music Awards (the most any artist has received), the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #23 in its “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

In July of 2021, in honor of Buddy Guy’s 85th birthday, PBS American Masters released “Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away”, a new documentary following his rise from a childhood spent picking cotton in Louisiana to becoming one of the most influential guitar players of all time. Though Buddy Guy will forever be associated with Chicago, his story actually begins in Louisiana. One of five children, he was born in 1936 to a sharecropper’s family and raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, located some 140 miles northwest of New Orleans. Buddy was just seven years old when he fashioned his first makeshift “guitar”—a two-string contraption attached to a piece of wood and secured with his mother’s hairpins.

In 1957, he took his guitar to Chicago, where he would permanently alter the direction of the instrument, first on numerous sessions for Chess Records playing alongside Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and then on recordings of his own. His incendiary style left its mark on guitarists from Jimmy Page to John Mayer. “He was for me what Elvis was probably like for other people,” said Eric Clapton at Guy’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2005. “My course was set, and he was my pilot.”

Buddy Guy remains a genuine American treasure and one of the final surviving connections to an historic era in the country’s musical evolution.

Since the release of Kingfish, his Grammy-nominated 2019 debut album, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Christone “Kingfish” Ingram has quickly become the defining blues voice of his generation, winning a Grammy Award for his second album, 662. From his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi to stages around the world, the 23-year-old has already headlined three US tours, performed at Australia’s largest music festival, amazed fans across Europe and the UK, and was selected to open for The Rolling Stones in London’s Hyde Park. Kingfish has also performed with friends including Vampire Weekend, Jason Isbell and Buddy Guy. In July 2021, NPR’s Morning Edition featured Kingfish in a seven-minute story. In April 2022, Kingfish made his national television debut on CBS Saturday Morning, performing three songs as well as being featured in an in-depth interview segment. Kingfish debuted on the Billboard Blues Chart in the #1 position and remained on the chart for an astonishing 91 weeks. Born to a talented family, he fell in love with music as a child, initially playing drums and then bass. At a young age, he got his first guitar and quickly soaked up music from Robert Johnson to Lightnin’ Hopkins, from B.B. King to Muddy Waters, from Jimi Hendrix to Prince. Through classes at the Delta Blues Museum, he learned the history of the blues. Under the tutelage of Richard “Daddy Rich” Crisman and Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram creates contemporary blues music that speaks to his generation and beyond, delivering the full healing power of the blues.

Hailing from Greenville, Georgia outside of Columbus, Jontavious Willis grew up singing gospel music at the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church with his grandfather. At the age of 14, he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters playing “Hoochie Coochie Man” and was hooked. That’s when he set his course on the blues. All types—Delta, Piedmont, Texas, gospel. As a fingerpicker, flat-picker, and slide player. On guitar, harmonica, banjo, and cigar box. And four years later he was playing on Taj Mahal’s stage. Jontavious has played at the SMF season kick-off in 2019 with William Bell, at the annual festival beer release with Southbound Brewing, for an SMF-produced episode of The Kennedy Center’s virtual “Arts Across America” during the pandemic, and on a co-bill with Amythyst Kiah in the May 2021 series. This is his first Savannah show with a full band.

General Admission $109+ / VIP $249+

Location: Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Philip Dukes and Friends I Schubertiade

Schubert
Piano Quintet in A Major, Opus 114, D. 667,

“Trout”
Schubert Octet in F Major, D. 72

Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Brendan Speltz, violin; Robin Ashwell, viola; Philip Dukes, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Joseph Conyers, bass; Sebastian Knauer, piano; Michael Collins, clarinet; French horn and bassoon TBA

The first performance in this season’s Philip Dukes and Friends concert series follows the success of the all-Beethoven concert from SMF 2022 with a classic ‘Schubertiade’ featuring two of the composer’s most popular chamber music works. The first half is dedicated to the joyous Trout Quintet with the semi-programmatic theme and variations at the heart, before turning to the magnificent masterpiece, the Octet, in the second half of the program. Vienna, here we come!

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 2 hrs
$52.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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Tuesday, March 28, 2023

12:30pm: Anna Tilbrook and Friends

Strauss
Nottorno, Opus 44, No. 1

Mendelssohn
Songs Without Words

(a selection for solo piano)

Saint-Saëns
Bassoon Sonata in G Major, Opus 168

Brahms
Clarinet Trio in A minor, Opus 114

Anna Tilbrook, piano, Keith Robinson, cello; Michael Collins, clarinet; French horn and bassoon TBA;

This program features the brilliant woodwind and brass guest artists for SMF 2023, alongside the wonderful British pianist Anna Tilbrook. The major chamber music work is Brahms’ glorious late Clarinet Trio in A minor. The remainder of the program is sprinkled with an eclectic array of solo gems from Richard Strauss, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr 5 mins
$42.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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4:30pm: Charles McPherson Quintet Feat. Sean Jones / Joe Alterman Trio Feat. Houston Person

Acclaimed alto saxophone player, composer and bandleader Charles McPherson returns to SMF after 10 years, with a quintet featuring Sean Jones on trumpet, Jeb Patton on piano, David Wong on bass and Bill Drummond on drums. McPherson left Detroit for New York in 1959 at 19 years of age, joining Charles Mingus’ band the following year for a stint of more than 12 years. He has toured worldwide for concerts and festivals with his own ensembles, as well as with jazz greats Barry Harris, Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Nat Adderley, Wynton Marsalis, Randy Brecker, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie and others. McPherson was the featured saxophonist in Clint Eastwood’s film Bird about Charlie Parker. Trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and activist Sean Jones brought his quartet to SMF in 2022. He has released eight albums, been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and SFJAZZ Collective and is a respected leader in jazz education.

Six years since his last SMF performance, pianist and Atlanta native Joe Alterman returns with his trio and special guest Houston Person on tenor saxophone. As Person puts it, Joe Alterman “is doing his part to keep alive the art of the swinging trio. He is a wonderful pianist whose playing brings smiles and good feelings to his listeners.” Alterman earned a master’s in Jazz Piano at NYU and went on to perform with Person, Les McCann, Dick Gregory and Ramsey

Lewis. Tenor saxophonist Houston Person waS born in Florence, South Carolina in 1934. He has played with Don Ellis, Cedar Walton and Etta Jones, among many others.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons - A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs
$46.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Maeve Gilchrist: The Harpweaver

Described by one critic as “a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity,” Maeve Gilchrist has taken the Celtic (lever) harp to new levels of performance and visibility. Born and raised in Edinburgh and currently based in New York, her innovative approach to her instrument stretches its harmonic limits and improvisational possibilities. Maeve Gilchrist has played with a range of musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Viktor Krauss, Ambrose Akinmusire, Darol Anger and others. Joined by guitarist Kyle Sanna for her Savannah debut, Gilchrist presents The Harpweaver, richly imaginative original music based on a 1920s poem by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (which is woven throughout). The Harpweaver is neo-traditional folk music at its finest, coming from the newest generation of migrant Celtic musicians to hit New York.

Approx. 2 hrs 10 mins
$39.00

Location: Charles H. Morris Center

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8:00pm: Charles McPherson Quintet Feat. Sean Jones / Joe Alterman Trio Feat. Houston Person

Acclaimed alto saxophone player, composer and bandleader Charles McPherson returns to SMF after 10 years, with a quintet featuring Sean Jones on trumpet, Jeb Patton on piano, David Wong on bass and Bill Drummond on drums. McPherson left Detroit for New York in 1959 at 19 years of age, joining Charles Mingus’ band the following year for a stint of more than 12 years. He has toured worldwide for concerts and festivals with his own ensembles, as well as with jazz greats Barry Harris, Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Nat Adderley, Wynton Marsalis, Randy Brecker, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie and others. McPherson was the featured saxophonist in Clint Eastwood’s film Bird about Charlie Parker. Trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and activist Sean Jones brought his quartet to SMF in 2022. He has released eight albums, been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and SFJAZZ Collective and is a respected leader in jazz education.

Six years since his last SMF performance, pianist and Atlanta native Joe Alterman returns with his trio and special guest Houston Person on tenor saxophone. As Person puts it, Joe Alterman “is doing his part to keep alive the art of the swinging trio. He is a wonderful pianist whose playing brings smiles and good feelings to his listeners.” Alterman earned a master’s in Jazz Piano at NYU and went on to perform with Person, Les McCann, Dick Gregory and Ramsey

Lewis. Tenor saxophonist Houston Person waS born in Florence, South Carolina in 1934. He has played with Don Ellis, Cedar Walton and Etta Jones, among many others.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons - A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs
$46.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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Wednesday, March 29, 2023

12:30pm: NOON30: Charles McPherson Quintet Feat. Sean Jones

This is a mid-day encore performance by alto saxophone player, composer and bandleader Charles McPherson with a quintet featuring Sean Jones on trumpet, Jeb Patton on piano, David Wong on bass and Bill Drummond on drums. See page 19 for more information on Charles McPherson Quintet feat. Sean Jones.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
Cost: $31.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Philip Dukes and Friends II Purcell, Mozart, Beethoven

Purcell
Chaconne in G minor, Z. 730

Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414

Beethoven
Septet in E-flat Major, Opus 20 for Violin, Viola, Horn, Clarinet, Bassoon, Cello and Bass

Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Jack Liebeck, violin; Brendan Speltz, violin; Robin Ashwell, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Joseph Conyers, bass; Anna Tilbrook, piano; Michael Collins, clarinet; French horn and bassoon TBA

Continuing the small-ensemble theme from the opening concert, this program presents Beethoven’s dramatic Septet as the focus, preceded by the string quintet version of Mozart’s exquisite Piano Concerto in A Major K. 414. The simplicity and purity of Henry Purcell’s Chaconne is an ideal opening to a program that gathers exciting musical momentum towards a thrilling conclusion.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
52.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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7:00pm: Tedeschi Trucks Band / Eddie 9V

Tedeschi Trucks Band is a Grammy Award-winning 12-piece powerhouse ensemble led by the husband/wife duo of guitarist Derek Trucks and singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, “two of the best roots rock musicians of their generation” (NPR). With their own potent original songwriting alongside an extensive canon of influences, the dynamic all-star band owns a reputation for world-class musical expression. Since forming in 2010, the band’s caravan has traveled countless miles to bring their music to audiences around the world. From sold-out multi-night residencies across America to barnstorming tours through Europe and Japan to the flagship Wheels of Soul annual summer amphitheater tour, the band’s shows are an eagerly anticipated highlight of the live music calendar and “nothing short of exhilarating” (Salon). Whether on stage or in the studio, when these supremely talented artists get together, it’s a musical experience of profound quality. Thirteen years ago, the band played their first show as the Tedeschi Trucks Band at SMF, and in 2018, they headlined the festival finale and first large-scale concert event at Trustees’ Garden. Don’t miss their highly-anticipated return!

Following up his Closing Night Party appearance at SMF 2022, Eddie 9V (“9-Volt”) opens the show with a 45-minute set. An Atlanta native, Eddie 9V has retooled the soul-blues genre on his own terms, reminding a new generation why the music hits so hard.

Approx. 2 hrs
General Admission $89+ / VIP $229+

Location: Trustees' Garden

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Thursday, March 30, 2023

12:30pm: NOON30: Bruce Molsky and Maeve Gilchrist

In this lunchtime performance, Bruce Molsky (see page 22) performs work from his most recent album for solo guitar, his original instrument. Known and respected internationally for decades as a master fiddler, preserver of American music traditions and multi-style collaborator, Bruce Molsky’s first musical love was finger-style guitar. With this project, Molsky dives into intimate and unique arrangements of a wide swath of tunes and songs through his own musical lens—Scandinavian, Scottish, Irish, African and American—both old and new. Join us for Bruce Molsky’s solo exploration of a lifetime of his most loved songs and tunes.

Described by one critic as “a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity,” Maeve Gilchrist has taken the Celtic (lever) harp to new levels of performance and visibility. Born and raised in Edinburgh and currently based in New York, her innovative approach to her instrument stretches its harmonic limits and improvisational possibilities. Maeve Gilchrist has played with a range of musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Viktor Krauss, Ambrose Akinmusire, Darol Anger and others. Joined by guitarist Kyle Sanna for her Savannah debut, Gilchrist presents The Harpweaver, richly imaginative original music based on a 1920s poem by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (which is woven throughout). The Harpweaver is neo-traditional folk music at its finest, coming from the newest generation of migrant Celtic musicians to hit New York.

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$31.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band

Eddie Palmieri is an acclaimed pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer of salsa and Latin jazz. His playing skillfully fuses the rhythms of his Puerto Rican heritage with the complexity of his jazz influences: Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner, as well as his older brother, Charlie Palmieri. Throughout a 60-year career, Palmieri has innovated and popularized the Latin Jazz Funk Fusion style. In addition to winning eight Grammy Awards, Palmieri is an NEA Jazz Master. Come down to see the Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band playing some of his favorite dance tunes!

A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

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7:00pm: Bruce Molsky, Tony Trischka and Michael Daves / The Onlies

A powerhouse trio encompassing old-time and bluegrass, Bruce Molsky, Tony Trischka and Michael Daves are exceptional exponents of American roots music. Tony Trischka is one of the most influential banjo players in the world, referred to as “the great banjo liberationist” by NPR and the “father of banjo fusion” by The Wall Street Journal. Georgia-born guitarist and singer Michael Daves has been heralded by The New York Times as a “leading light of the New York bluegrass scene,” whose unorthodox interpretations of roots music standards have earned him a place of nearly fanatical admiration. All three trio members are also committed educators. For more information on Bruce Molsky, see page 22.

The Onlies are a young group of old friends—Sami Braman, Riley Calcagno, Vivian Leva, Leo Shannon—who perform together in a stringband. They grew up playing fiddles, guitars and banjos in their hometowns of Seattle, Washington and Lexington, Virginia. In 2017 while all still in their early 20s, The Onlies won first place at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival. They’ve toured the US extensively, performing and collaborating with Bruce Molsky, Elvis Costello, Foghorn Stringband, Tatiana Hargreaves and Darol Anger, among others.

Approx. 2 hrs 20 mins
$42.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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8:00pm: St. Paul and The Broken Bones

St. Paul and The Broken Bones is an ever-evolving musical powerhouse. In a profound shift for the Alabama-born eight-piece ensemble—Paul Janeway (vocals), Jesse Phillips (bass), Browan Lollar (guitar), Kevin Leon (drums), Al Gamble (keyboards), Allen Branstetter (trumpet), Chad Fisher (trombone), and Amari Ansari (saxophone)—the band’s most recent work arrives at a convergence of rock and roll, R&B, psychedelia and funk. This is their long-awaited festival debut!

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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8:30pm: Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band

Eddie Palmieri is an acclaimed pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer of salsa and Latin jazz. His playing skillfully fuses the rhythms of his Puerto Rican heritage with the complexity of his jazz influences: Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner, as well as his older brother, Charlie Palmieri. Throughout a 60-year career, Palmieri has innovated and popularized the Latin Jazz Funk Fusion style. In addition to winning eight Grammy Awards, Palmieri is an NEA Jazz Master. Come down to see the Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band playing some of his favorite dance tunes!

A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

Buy Tickets

Friday, March 31, 2023

12:30pm: NOON30: Bruce Molsky

In this lunchtime performance, Bruce Molsky performs work from his most recent album for solo guitar, his original instrument. Known and respected internationally for decades as a master fiddler, preserver of American music traditions and multi-style collaborator, Bruce Molsky’s first musical love was finger-style guitar. With this project, Molsky dives into intimate and unique arrangements of a wide swath of tunes and songs through his own musical lens—Scandinavian, Scottish, Irish, African and American—both old and new. Join us for Bruce Molsky’s solo exploration of a lifetime of his most loved songs and tunes.

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$31.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

Buy Tickets

12:30pm: Jack Liebeck, Violin and Sebastian Knauer, Piano

Clara Schumann
Three Romances for Violin and Piano,
Opus 22

Clarke
Midsummer Moon for Violin and Piano

Ysaÿe
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Opus 27,
“Ballade”

Mendelssohn
Variations sérieuses, Opus 54

Brahms
Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Opus 78

“[Jack Liebeck’s] playing is virtually flawless in its technical ease, scintillating articulateness and purity of tone.” –GRAMOPHONE (UK)

This program brings together the celebrated British violinist and SMF debutant Jack Liebeck, with the ever-popular and familiar pianist Sebastian Knauer in what will undoubtedly be a colorful and vibrant duo recital.

British/German violinist, director and festival director Jack Liebeck, possesses “flawless technical mastery” and a “beguiling silvery tone” (BBC Music Magazine). Liebeck is the Royal Academy of Music’s first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin and Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.

German pianist Sebastian Knauer has appeared in most every season since 2004 in roles including recitalist, soloist, conductor and chamber musician. He began playing piano at age 4, and made his debut at the age of 14 at the Laeiszhalle in his hometown of Hamburg. In 2012, Knauer founded Mozart@Augsburg. He is also the Artistic Director of the Internationale Musikfestwoche in Bad Berleburg and the Beethoven Festival in Aachen.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr
$42.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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4:30pm: Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno / The Foreign Landers

Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno write and perform old-soul roots music with stunning breadth and originality. Though both just out of college, their talents extend far beyond their years. Both Leva and Calcagno grew up in the Appalachian stringband tradition, have noted parents in the old-time scene, and spent formative years running wild around festival campgrounds. They are steeped in an instrumental culture of hard-picking and virtuosic musicianship. However, this duo project fluidly melds this traditional backbone with fresh, iconic melodies and tightly wound vocal harmonies. Calcagno first attended SMF as a participant in the Acoustic Music Seminar.

A Transatlantic folk duo, The Foreign Landers are upstate South Carolina mandolinist David Benedict and Northern Ireland banjo player and guitarist Tabitha Agnew Benedict. Before forming The Foreign Landers, Tabitha performed with BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award finalists Cup O’Joe from Northern Ireland, and British bluegrass band Midnight Skyracer. David toured with 10-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year recipient Missy Raines, and later with New Artist of the Year ensemble Mile Twelve. These opportunities led both of them to receiving Instrumentalists of the Year Momentum Awards from the IBMA. Both of them are previous participants in SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar, and they are the bluegrass artists featured in this season of SMF’s Musical Explorers.

Approx. 2 hrs
$39.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Cajun Dance Party: The Lost Bayou Ramblers

The Grammy Award-winning Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers continues to excite, challenge and redefine both genre expectations and cultural preconceptions. Founded in 1999 by brothers Andre and Louis Michot, the last five years have brought them a feature on Jack White’s American Epic, score contributions to the Oscar-nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild and tours with both Arcade Fire and the Violent Femmes. Lost Bayou Ramblers stands at the crosscurrents of Louisiana culture by inhabiting the gray area between Cajun and Creole, convention and innovation, mystery and a revelation, experimenting and growing to what it’s become today: an eclectic mix of modern sounds and rhythms with ancient Cajun melodies and lyrics.

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

Buy Tickets

7:30pm: Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno / The Foreign Landers

Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno write and perform old-soul roots music with stunning breadth and originality. Though both just out of college, their talents extend far beyond their years. Both Leva and Calcagno grew up in the Appalachian stringband tradition, have noted parents in the old-time scene, and spent formative years running wild around festival campgrounds. They are steeped in an instrumental culture of hard-picking and virtuosic musicianship. However, this duo project fluidly melds this traditional backbone with fresh, iconic melodies and tightly wound vocal harmonies. Calcagno first attended SMF as a participant in the Acoustic Music Seminar.

A Transatlantic folk duo, The Foreign Landers are upstate South Carolina mandolinist David Benedict and Northern Ireland banjo player and guitarist Tabitha Agnew Benedict. Before forming The Foreign Landers, Tabitha performed with BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award finalists Cup O’Joe from Northern Ireland, and British bluegrass band Midnight Skyracer. David toured with 10-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year recipient Missy Raines, and later with New Artist of the Year ensemble Mile Twelve. These opportunities led both of them to receiving Instrumentalists of the Year Momentum Awards from the IBMA. Both of them are previous participants in SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar, and they are the bluegrass artists featured in this season of SMF’s Musical Explorers.

Approx. 2 hrs
$39.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

Buy Tickets

8:00pm: Terence Blanchard Feat. The E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet

Two-time Oscar nominee, six-time Grammy Award-winner and 2018 USA Fellow trumpeter/ composer Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning pivotal moments in American culture—past and present. Regarding his consistent attachment to artistic works of conscience, Blanchard confesses: “Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter live by their Buddhist philosophy and try to expand the conscience of their communities. I’m standing on all of their shoulders. How dare I come through this life having had the blessing of meeting those men and not take away any of that? Like anybody else, I’d like to play feel-good party music but sometimes my music is about the reality of where we are.” In this SMF debut, Blanchard and The E-Collective along with the Turtle Island Quartet elaborate on the music of Wayne Shorter.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

Buy Tickets

8:30pm: Cajun Dance Party: The Lost Bayou Ramblers

The Grammy Award-winning Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers continues to excite, challenge and redefine both genre expectations and cultural preconceptions. Founded in 1999 by brothers Andre and Louis Michot, the last five years have brought them a feature on Jack White’s American Epic, score contributions to the Oscar-nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild and tours with both Arcade Fire and the Violent Femmes. Lost Bayou Ramblers stands at the crosscurrents of Louisiana culture by inhabiting the gray area between Cajun and Creole, convention and innovation, mystery and a revelation, experimenting and growing to what it’s become today: an eclectic mix of modern sounds and rhythms with ancient Cajun melodies and lyrics.

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

Buy Tickets

Saturday, April 01, 2023

12:30pm: NOON30: Pasquale Grasso Trio

Born in Italy and now based in New York, Pasquale Grasso has developed an astounding technique and concept informed not by jazz guitarists so much as by bebop pioneers like Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as the classical-guitar tradition. The sparkling, immaculately balanced tone; the tasteful tinges of stride and boogie-woogie rhythm; the stunning single-note lines that connect his equally striking use of chordal harmony—for Grasso, great solo arranging also evokes Art Tatum. Many serious guitar heads have been hip to Grasso for a while now, particularly after he won the 2015 Wes Montgomery International Guitar Competition. SMF audiences got to see him perform in 2022 with the incomparable young jazz singer Samara Joy, with whom he continues to perform. This is Pasquale Grasso’s SMF debut as a bandleader.

A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$31.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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4:30pm: Alexa Tarantino Quartet / Pasquale Grasso Trio

Alexa Tarantino is an award-winning young jazz saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer and educator. She was recently named one of the Top Five Alto Saxophonists in the JazzTimes Critics’ Poll and nominated as a “Rising Star – Alto Saxophone” in the Downbeat Critics’ Poll. Tarantino has played prestigious venues such as Jazz in Marciac Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Hollywood Bowl and many others. She first performed at the Savannah Music Festival in May of 2021 with Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y. Tarantino has appeared with a wide variety of ensembles including the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Cécile McLorin Salvant Quintet, Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and others, and she leads the Alexa Tarantino Quartet.

Born in Italy and now based in New York, Pasquale Grasso has developed an astounding technique and concept informed not by jazz guitarists so much as by bebop pioneers like Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as the classical-guitar tradition. The sparkling, immaculately balanced tone; the tasteful tinges of stride and boogie-woogie rhythm; the stunning single-note lines that connect his equally striking use of chordal harmony—for Grasso, great solo arranging also evokes Art Tatum. Many serious guitar heads have been hip to Grasso for a while now, particularly after he won the 2015 Wes Montgomery International Guitar Competition. SMF audiences got to see him perform in 2022 with the incomparable young jazz singer Samara Joy, with whom he continues to perform. This is Pasquale Grasso’s SMF debut as a bandleader.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs
$46.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

Buy Tickets

5:00pm: Stanton Moore Trio / Roosevelt Collier

Stanton Moore is a Grammy Award-winning drummer, educator and performer born and raised in New Orleans. He is especially connected to his hometown city, its culture and collaborative spirit. In the early ‘90s, Moore helped found the New Orleans-based essential funk band Galactic (see page 32), who continue to amass a worldwide audience via recording and touring globally. In 2018, Moore and his bandmates in Galactic pooled their resources to purchase the internationally renowned music venue Tipitina’s. Moore has eight records as a solo artist/bandleader, with the most recent being With You In Mind: The Songs of Allen Toussaint. Throughout his 25-year career, he has played with a range of artists including Maceo Parker, Joss Stone, Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty, Skerik, Charlie Hunter and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, among others. Stanton Moore is also a committed educator and a Gretsch Drums artist.

Pedal and lap steel guitar ace Roosevelt Collier performs a potent mix of blues, gospel, rock and, in his words, “dirty funk swampy grime.” Brought up in the House of God Church in Perrine, Florida, Roosevelt built his “sacred steel” guitar prowess alongside his uncles and cousins in The Lee Boys, known for their spirited, soul-shaking live performances. On his own, Collier has become a sought-after talent both on record and on stage. At festivals, he is a regular “Artist at Large,” performing alongside musical luminaries in the fields of rock, blues and pop, having included the Allman Brothers, String Cheese Incident, Buddy Guy, Umphrey’s McGee, Los Lobos, Robert Randolph, the Tedeschi Trucks Band and the Del McCoury Band. This is his SMF debut, following up a 2019 performance at the annual festival beer release at Southbound Brewing Co.

Approx. 2 hrs
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

Buy Tickets

6:00pm: Philip Dukes and Friends III Dohnányi’s Delight

Mahler
Piano Quartet

Brahms
Quintet in B minor, Opus 115 for Clarinet (or Viola) and String Quartet

Dohnányi
Sextet in C Major

Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Brendan Speltz, violin; Robin Ashwell, viola; Philip Dukes, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Michael Collins, clarinet; French horn TBA;  Sebastian Knauer, piano; Anna Tilbrook, piano

The Dohnányi Piano Sextet is a lavish, buoyant, musical extravaganza that consistently surprises and delights audiences whether hearing it again or for the very first time. Once described as a “musical romp,” the Sextet is complimented by the sumptuous Brahms Clarinet Quintet and the beguiling single-movement Piano Quartet by Gustav Mahler as the opener.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr 40 mins
$52

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

Buy Tickets

8:00pm: Alexa Tarantino Quartet / Pasquale Grasso Trio

Alexa Tarantino is an award-winning young jazz saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer and educator. She was recently named one of the Top Five Alto Saxophonists in the JazzTimes Critics’ Poll and nominated as a “Rising Star – Alto Saxophone” in the Downbeat Critics’ Poll. Tarantino has played prestigious venues such as Jazz in Marciac Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Hollywood Bowl and many others. She first performed at the Savannah Music Festival in May of 2021 with Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y. Tarantino has appeared with a wide variety of ensembles including the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Cécile McLorin Salvant Quintet, Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and others, and she leads the Alexa Tarantino Quartet.

Born in Italy and now based in New York, Pasquale Grasso has developed an astounding technique and concept informed not by jazz guitarists so much as by bebop pioneers like Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as the classical-guitar tradition. The sparkling, immaculately balanced tone; the tasteful tinges of stride and boogie-woogie rhythm; the stunning single-note lines that connect his equally striking use of chordal harmony—for Grasso, great solo arranging also evokes Art Tatum. Many serious guitar heads have been hip to Grasso for a while now, particularly after he won the 2015 Wes Montgomery International Guitar Competition. SMF audiences got to see him perform in 2022 with the incomparable young jazz singer Samara Joy, with whom he continues to perform. This is Pasquale Grasso’s SMF debut as a bandleader.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs
$46.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

Buy Tickets

8:00pm: Los Lobos

For all the trailblazing musical acts who’ve emerged from Los Angeles, very few embody the city’s wildly eclectic spirit more wholeheartedly than Los Lobos. Over the past five decades, the renowned East L.A. band has made an indelible mark on music history by exploring an enormous diversity of genres—rock ‘n’ roll and R&B, surf music and soul, mariachi and música norteña, punk rock and country—and building a boldly unpredictable sound all their own. In their recent work, the multiple Grammy Award-winners and 2021 National Heritage Fellows map their musical DNA by covering a kaleidoscopic selection of songs from their homeland, ultimately creating a crucial snapshot of Los Angeles’ musical heritage.

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

Buy Tickets

8:30pm: Stanton Moore Trio / Roosevelt Collier

Stanton Moore is a Grammy Award-winning drummer, educator and performer born and raised in New Orleans. He is especially connected to his hometown city, its culture and collaborative spirit. In the early ‘90s, Moore helped found the New Orleans-based essential funk band Galactic (see page 32), who continue to amass a worldwide audience via recording and touring globally. In 2018, Moore and his bandmates in Galactic pooled their resources to purchase the internationally renowned music venue Tipitina’s. Moore has eight records as a solo artist/bandleader, with the most recent being With You In Mind: The Songs of Allen Toussaint. Throughout his 25-year career, he has played with a range of artists including Maceo Parker, Joss Stone, Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty, Skerik, Charlie Hunter and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, among others. Stanton Moore is also a committed educator and a Gretsch Drums artist.

Pedal and lap steel guitar ace Roosevelt Collier performs a potent mix of blues, gospel, rock and, in his words, “dirty funk swampy grime.” Brought up in the House of God Church in Perrine, Florida, Roosevelt built his “sacred steel” guitar prowess alongside his uncles and cousins in The Lee Boys, known for their spirited, soul-shaking live performances. On his own, Collier has become a sought-after talent both on record and on stage. At festivals, he is a regular “Artist at Large,” performing alongside musical luminaries in the fields of rock, blues and pop, having included the Allman Brothers, String Cheese Incident, Buddy Guy, Umphrey’s McGee, Los Lobos, Robert Randolph, the Tedeschi Trucks Band and the Del McCoury Band. This is his SMF debut, following up a 2019 performance at the annual festival beer release at Southbound Brewing Co.

Approx. 2 hrs
$39.00

Location: North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Museum

Buy Tickets

Sunday, April 02, 2023

4:00pm: Galactic / Cory Wong / Nate Smith + Kinfolk

Galactic draws on 25 years together in order to progress with each performance and subsequent record. After 10 albums, over 2,000 gigs and tens of millions of streams, the proud New Orleans, Louisiana quintet—Ben Ellman (saxophone, harmonica), Robert Mercurio (bass), Stanton Moore (drums, percussion), Jeffrey Raines (guitar) and Richard Vogal (keyboards)—are the rare collective who can support Juvenile on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, contribute music to a blockbuster soundtrack, and light up the stages of Coachella, Bonnaroo and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (a staggering 22 times). Joined by vocal powerhouse Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, they continue to forge ahead, making their 2023 SMF debut at Trustees’ Garden.

Guitarist, composer and producer Cory Wong considers himself a “hype man” first and foremost. The Minneapolis native brings head-spinning rhythm guitar wizardry, technical ebullience, laugh-out-loud jokes and radiance on stage that have established him as both a sought-after collaborator and celebrated solo artist. After an impromptu meeting at the weekly jam hosted by Prince’s rhythm section (where the Purple One often either performed or watched), he crossed paths with Vulfpeck who welcomed him as a frequent collaborator and member of the band. He and Nate Smith are members of storied cult funk band The Fearless Flyers. “The guiding light is to impart a feeling of joy,” remarks Cory Wong. “I want people to experience instrumental music in a different way. This is hype. It’s more than just guitar.”

Nate Smith is a drummer, composer and producer from Chesapeake, Virginia. His visceral, instinctive and deep-rooted style of drumming has led to three Grammy nominations and work with esteemed artists including Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Brittany Howard, The Fearless Flyers and Norah Jones. Smith fuses his original compositions with an eclectic mix of music, including everything from jazz to R&B to hip-hop to pop. His KINFOLK project has charted his evolution as a musician, enlisting a wide range of special guests since its 2018 debut. This ensemble includes Amma Watt on vocals, Jaleel Shaw on saxophones, Brad Allen Wiliams on guitar, John Cowherd on keyboards, Fina Ephron on bass and Nate Smith on drums.

General Admission $79+ / VIP $199+

General Admission tickets start at $79 + fees and include access to:

Trustees’ Garden grounds and scheduled concerts
A variety of local food trucks
Bars, concessions, and free water stations
Official band and festival merchandise

VIP Tickets start at $199 + fees and include
All General Admission ticket benefits, plus:

Priority entry to Trustees’ Garden

Up-close, prime viewing area at the main stage
Access to the VIP lounge featuring seating and indoor restrooms
Exclusive full-service bar and snack kiosk
Complimentary non-alcoholic beverages

Location: Trustees' Garden

Buy Tickets

Tuesday, April 04, 2023

5:00pm: Philip Dukes and Friends IV The Finale

Clarke
Dumka

Mozart
Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581

Brahms
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor

Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Jack Liebeck, violin; Brendan Speltz, violin; Philip Dukes, viola; Robin Ashwell, viola; Keith Robinson, cello; Eric Kim, cello; Michael Collins, clarinet; Anna Tilbrook, piano; Sebastian Knauer, piano

Rebecca Clarke was an eminent viola player and part-time composer, and unquestionably highly regarded and respected. Her music is influenced by Ravel, Vaughan Williams and Stanford, and is both attractive and accessible. With Mozart‘s irresistible Clarinet Quintet to follow and the rousing and passionate G minor Piano Quartet by Brahms to round out SMF Chamber Series 2023, this program has something to suit every musical taste.

-Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr 40 mins
$52.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

Buy Tickets:

7:30pm: Ger Mandolin Orchestra

MIKE MARSHALL, MUSIC DIRECTOR

David Benedict
Sharon Gilchrist
Caterina Lichtenberg
Josh Pinkham
Dana Rath
Eric Stein
Joe K. Walsh
Jeff Warschauer
Tony Williamson
Radim Zenkl

Conceived by Israeli-American Avner Yonai, whose ancestral research led him to a tattered photograph of his relatives playing in a pre-WWII Jewish mandolin orchestra in Góra Kalwaria, Poland (Ger in Yiddish), Ger Mandolin Orchestra is a contemporary version of this rich pre-Holocaust cultural tradition. Following the group’s 2011 premiere at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, Yonai received an invitation from the current mayor of Góra Kalwaria, inviting the ensemble to perform there. Six months later the orchestra returned to the town of its origin, performing for a standing-room-only audience in the dilapidated remains of the old Ger synagogue. It was the first public event to take place in this building since the deportation of the town’s Jewish community in February 1941. SMF hosts the second US performance of this program (following our canceled 2020 attempt), in which Mike Marshall leads an all-star cast of nine musicians from across North America and Europe.

Approx. 1 hr 50 mins
$43.00

Location: Trustees Theater

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Wednesday, April 05, 2023

6:00pm: Regina Carter: Gone in a Phrase of Air

Trying to fit Regina Carter into a neatly defined musical category is futile. Carter enjoys performing many styles of music, including but not limited to jazz, R&B, Latin, classical, blues, country, pop and African. In each she explores the power of music through the voice of the violin. The MacArthur “Genius,” Doris Duke Artist Award recipient and NEA Jazz Master makes her SMF debut with her project: Gone in a Phrase of Air. It is an exploration of the impact of urban renewal on African-American and immigrant communities beginning in the 1950s, and the displacement of people and of culture that resulted from neighborhoods in Carter’s hometown of Detroit to others in St. Louis, Chicago, New York City and more. In the work’s collection of original and reimagined music of the era, Carter shines a spotlight on what’s been lost—gone in a phrase of air—then finds celebration in the ashes, reinforcing her status as one of the world’s most exuberant and original artists.

A free and open-to-the-public Q&A with the artist follows immediately after the performance.

Pianos by Steinway & Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs 35 mins
$46.00

Location: Trustees Theater

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7:30pm: Sam Bush plays John Hartford / The Jerry Douglas Band

Best known for his award-winning mandolin playing, Kentucky-born Sam Bush is a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader who has influenced generations of American acoustic music artists. Growing up with American fiddle tunes and bluegrass music, Bush eventually looked to expand upon these traditions, helping create what became known as newgrass. He has won four International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Mandolin Player of the Year Awards, and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist from the Americana Music Association. This is Bush’s SMF debut with his band, although he did appear in two productions in the 2005 season: Mando Madness and in concert with Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyer (with whom he still tours regularly). Bush and his band are set to play selections from his recent tribute to the late John Hartford, his longtime friend, collaborator, hero and mentor.

Dobro master and 14-time Grammy Award-winner Jerry Douglas has reinvented the instrument in countless ways since first hearing Josh Graves play it with Flatt & Scruggs. Douglas incorporates elements of country, bluegrass, rock, jazz, blues, and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision. A three-time Country Music Association (CMA) Musician of the Year award recipient, Jerry Douglas is an innovative solo artist and bandleader for The Jerry Douglas Band and his Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band The Earls of Leicester. Douglas was also a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station, J.D. Crowe & the New South, The Country Gentlemen, Boone Creek and Strength In Numbers. He is a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellow, and has served as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Artist-in-Residence. Douglas has appeared in seven previous SMF seasons since 2007, two of which were with The Earls of Leicester.

Approx. 2 hrs 20 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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Thursday, April 06, 2023

5:00pm: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba / Jake Blount, Nic Gareiss and Laurel Premo

Bassekou Kouyate is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa. He has collaborated with many notable musicians in and outside of Mali, including Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté, Taj Mahal and Béla Fleck. Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba is an ensemble with unusual instrumentation, including three players of ngonis of varying sizes and two percussionists (talking drum, yabara and calabash). Completed by the incredible singer Amy Sacko, the band has performed at major venues and festivals around the globe, last performing at SMF in 2010. Their sound is rhythmic, joyful and most certainly infectious. In 2013, BBC named Bassekou Kouyate “African Artist of the Year.” In addition to Ngoni Ba, Bassekou Kouyate collaborates regularly across the fields of jazz, blues and world music.

Jake Blount, Nic Gareiss and Laurel Premo, award-winning folk performers, have joined forces in this new trio project of rich tones, deft movements and stories long untold. Jake Blount is a singer and multi-instrumentalist described by NPR as “an Afrofuturist in roots-music garb.” Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss has been named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” and received the Michigan Heritage Award, the highest honor his home state bestows on traditional artists. Laurel Premo has spent her life immersed in American and Nordic folk music traditions. Blount, Gareiss and Premo are not only skilled performers, but researchers with degrees in ethnomusicology, ethnochoreology and performing arts technology. Their years of experience as performers, educators and scholars in their respective traditions have drawn them close to the creative force at the heart of music-making.

Approx. 2 hrs
$42.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Dover Quartet with Joseph Conyers

Haydn
Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 33, No. 2,
“The Joke”

Walker
String Quartet No. 1

Dvo?ák
String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Opus 77
Joel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin; Hezekiah Leung, viola; Camden Shaw, cello; Joseph Conyers, bass

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet has become one of the most in- demand chamber ensembles in the world. In addition to its faculty role as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Dover Quartet holds residencies with the Kennedy Center, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Artosphere and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.

Savannah native Joseph Conyers is an artist who has redefined classical music both as a genre and as a tool for social change and human connection. With his unique and outstanding strengths of musicianship, virtuosity, youth advocacy, and community engagement, Conyers’ work has created a blueprint for the multi-faceted, multi-dimensional 21st-century musician. He has been assistant principal bassist of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2010.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr 35 mins
$57.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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7:30pm: Leo Kottke

A self-taught guitar player and songwriter, Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia. A stint in the US Navy was followed by a move to Minneapolis, where he found a nurturing environment in the city’s thriving folk scene. Kottke’s breakthrough came in 1969 when his mentor, legendary guitarist John Fahey, invited him to record for his fledgling Takoma label. Known for prodigious technique and a languid, dulcet-toned voice, Kottke has performed and recorded with a wide array of musicians including Chet Atkins, Procol Harum and the Violent Femmes. His prowess on the six- and 12-string guitar has influenced a span of three generations of acoustic guitarists, including innovators such as the late Michael Hedges, Preston Reed and Don Ross, and contemporary wunderkinds such as Daniel Bachman.

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
$43.00

Location: Trustees Theater

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8:30pm: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba / Jake Blount, Nic Gareiss and Laurel Premo

Bassekou Kouyate is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa. He has collaborated with many notable musicians in and outside of Mali, including Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté, Taj Mahal and Béla Fleck. Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba is an ensemble with unusual instrumentation, including three players of ngonis of varying sizes and two percussionists (talking drum, yabara and calabash). Completed by the incredible singer Amy Sacko, the band has performed at major venues and festivals around the globe, last performing at SMF in 2010. Their sound is rhythmic, joyful and most certainly infectious. In 2013, BBC named Bassekou Kouyate “African Artist of the Year.” In addition to Ngoni Ba, Bassekou Kouyate collaborates regularly across the fields of jazz, blues and world music.

Jake Blount, Nic Gareiss and Laurel Premo, award-winning folk performers, have joined forces in this new trio project of rich tones, deft movements and stories long untold. Jake Blount is a singer and multi-instrumentalist described by NPR as “an Afrofuturist in roots-music garb.” Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss has been named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” and received the Michigan Heritage Award, the highest honor his home state bestows on traditional artists. Laurel Premo has spent her life immersed in American and Nordic folk music traditions. Blount, Gareiss and Premo are not only skilled performers, but researchers with degrees in ethnomusicology, ethnochoreology and performing arts technology. Their years of experience as performers, educators and scholars in their respective traditions have drawn them close to the creative force at the heart of music-making.

Approx. 2 hrs
$42.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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Friday, April 07, 2023

5:00pm: The Alt with Oisín McAuley / Téada

The beautiful mountain Knocknarea in Ireland’s County Sligo is said to be the final resting place of the ancient Irish warrior-queen Maeve. The ‘Alt’ is a storied glen on the side of Knocknarea, and it was in the shadow of this glen in the little village of Coolaney that the three master Irish traditional musicians in The Alt—John Doyle, Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O’Leary—first gathered to rehearse. Each player in The Alt is a leading light of today’s folk scene and though this could be easily called a supergroup, at its heart The Alt is really a celebration of friendship and song. The old ballads, winding tunes and freshly discovered songs that each artist bring to the table reflect the pure love of the song that has made Irish music so beautiful and compelling. For this Savannah performance, they are joined by fiddler Oisín McAuley. McAuley is one of Ireland’s premier fiddle players, and currently serves as the Director of Summer Programs at Berklee College of Music.

A traditional band of worldwide acclaim, Téada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, the Middle East and Australia. Highlights include a 30,000-capacity stadium concert in Brittany, along with performances at Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia, Edmonton Folk Festival in Canada, Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe and Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo. In 2014, the band performed to 40,000 people during an extensive seven-week tour of Japan and Taiwan. In May of 2022, the band released their newest album, which features the band’s customary reenergizing of rare Irish traditional tunes in addition to a vocal collaboration with actor and singer John C. Reilly.

Approx. 2 hrs
$42.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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5:30pm: Kenny Barron and Dave Holland Trio with Johnathan Blake

Celebrate the incomparable jazz pianist Kenny Barron in his 80th birthday year!

This exquisite collaboration between Kenny Barron and Dave Holland expands on the fruitful relationship forged by the two jazz icons with the seamless addition of the masterful young drummer,  Johnathan Blake. Separated in age by only three years, Kenny Barron and Dave Holland—both honored as NEA Jazz Masters—represent an impressive spectrum of jazz history between them. The Philadelphia-born pianist Barron apprenticed with such giants as Dizzy Gillespie and Yusef Lateef before collaborating with the likes of Stan Getz, Ron Carter, Buster Williams and Regina Carter. The British bassist Holland came to prominence in groundbreaking groups led by such legends as Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Betty Carter, and Anthony Braxton—as well as collaborations with the likes of Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Jack DeJohnette and John McLaughlin. Johnathan Blake, hailing from Barron’s hometown of Philadelphia, first worked with him as a teenager. Blake has collaborated with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Linda May Han Oh, Jaleel Shaw, Chris Potter, Maria Schneider and countless other distinctive voices in jazz.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$46.00

Location: Charles H. Morris Center

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6:00pm: Emerson String Quartet

Haydn
String Quartet No.5 in G Major, Opus 33, Hob. III: 41 “How Do You Do”

Mozart
String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421

Beethoven
String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Opus 59, No. 2

Eugene Drucker, violin; Philip Setzer, violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola; Paul Watkins, cello

The Emerson String Quartet will have its final season of concerts in 2022-23, disbanding after more than four decades as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles. The Quartet has made more than 30 acclaimed recordings and has been honored with nine Grammy Awards (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year” award. As part of their larger mission to keep the string quartet form alive and relevant, they have commissioned and premiered works from some of today’s most esteemed composers, and have partnered in performance with leading soloists such as Renée Fleming, Barbara Hannigan, Evgeny Kissin, Emanuel Ax, Mstislav Rostropovich and Yefim Bronfman, James Galway, Edgar Meyer, Menahem Pressler, Leon Fleisher, André Previn and Isaac Stern, to name a few. In its final season, the Quartet will give farewell performances across North America and Europe, including this, their sixth season performing at SMF (and first since 2015).

Approx. 1 hr
$57.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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8:00pm: Patty Griffin

Patty Griffin is among the most consequential singer-songwriters of her generation, a quintessentially American artist whose wide-ranging canon incisively explores the intimate moments and universal emotions that bind us together.

Over the course of two decades, the Grammy Award winner has crafted a remarkable body of work that prompted The New York Times to hail her for “writing cameo-carved songs that create complete emotional portraits of specific people…her songs have independent lives that continue in your head when the music ends.” Widely regarded among the best pure songwriters of this or any other era, Griffin has had her work performed by a truly epic assortment of her fellow artists, among them Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Solomon Burke, Kelly Clarkson, Jeff Beck, Martina McBride, and Miranda Lambert, to name but a few. Having crafted a rich catalog that chronicles love and death, heartache and joy, connection and detachment, Patty Griffin continues to push her art forward, as always imbuing every effort with compassion and craft, uncanny perception, and ever-increasing ingenuity. This is her SMF debut.

Approx. 1 hr 30 mins
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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8:30pm: The Alt with Oisín McAuley / Téada

The beautiful mountain Knocknarea in Ireland’s County Sligo is said to be the final resting place of the ancient Irish warrior-queen Maeve. The ‘Alt’ is a storied glen on the side of Knocknarea, and it was in the shadow of this glen in the little village of Coolaney that the three master Irish traditional musicians in The Alt—John Doyle, Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O’Leary—first gathered to rehearse. Each player in The Alt is a leading light of today’s folk scene and though this could be easily called a supergroup, at its heart The Alt is really a celebration of friendship and song. The old ballads, winding tunes and freshly discovered songs that each artist bring to the table reflect the pure love of the song that has made Irish music so beautiful and compelling. For this Savannah performance, they are joined by fiddler Oisín McAuley. McAuley is one of Ireland’s premier fiddle players, and currently serves as the Director of Summer Programs at Berklee College of Music.

A traditional band of worldwide acclaim, Téada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, the Middle East and Australia. Highlights include a 30,000-capacity stadium concert in Brittany, along with performances at Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia, Edmonton Folk Festival in Canada, Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe and Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo. In 2014, the band performed to 40,000 people during an extensive seven-week tour of Japan and Taiwan. In May of 2022, the band released their newest album, which features the band’s customary reenergizing of rare Irish traditional tunes in addition to a vocal collaboration with actor and singer John C. Reilly.

Approx. 2 hrs
$42.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

Buy Tickets

8:30pm: Kenny Barron and Dave Holland Trio with Johnathan Blake

Celebrate the incomparable jazz pianist Kenny Barron in his 80th birthday year!

This exquisite collaboration between Kenny Barron and Dave Holland expands on the fruitful relationship forged by the two jazz icons with the seamless addition of the masterful young drummer,  Johnathan Blake. Separated in age by only three years, Kenny Barron and Dave Holland—both honored as NEA Jazz Masters—represent an impressive spectrum of jazz history between them. The Philadelphia-born pianist Barron apprenticed with such giants as Dizzy Gillespie and Yusef Lateef before collaborating with the likes of Stan Getz, Ron Carter, Buster Williams and Regina Carter. The British bassist Holland came to prominence in groundbreaking groups led by such legends as Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Betty Carter, and Anthony Braxton—as well as collaborations with the likes of Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Jack DeJohnette and John McLaughlin. Johnathan Blake, hailing from Barron’s hometown of Philadelphia, first worked with him as a teenager. Blake has collaborated with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Linda May Han Oh, Jaleel Shaw, Chris Potter, Maria Schneider and countless other distinctive voices in jazz.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$46.00

Location: Charles H. Morris Center

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Saturday, April 08, 2023

12:30pm: NOON30: Téada

This is a mid-day encore performance by Irish traditional music band Téada featuring Oisín Mac Diarmada on fiddle, Paul Finn on accordion, Damien Stenson on flute, Seán McElwain on guitar and Tristan Rosenstock on bodhrán.

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$31.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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2:00pm: Etienne Charles: Traces feat. Vincent Ségal, Jorge Glem and Or Baraket / Harold López-Nussa: Timba a la Americana feat. Gregoire Maret, Luques Curtis and Ruy Adrian López-Nussa

Hailed by The New York Times as “an auteur” and by JazzTimes as “a daring improviser who delivers with heart-wrenching lyricism,” Etienne Charles is also the Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Michigan State University. He has received critical acclaim for his exciting performances, thrilling compositions and knack for connecting with audiences worldwide. In June 2012, Charles was written into the US Congressional Record for his musical contributions to Trinidad and Tobago and the world. Perhaps more than any other musician of his generation or Eastern Caribbean origin, Charles brings a careful study of myriad rhythms from the French, Spanish, English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean to the table. With Traces, Etienne Charles enlists the endless talents and inventiveness of cellist Vincent Ségal, cuatro player Jorge Glem and bassist Or Baraket.

Harold López-Nussa was born in 1983 in Havana, Cuba. His father is an esteemed drummer and educator, his uncle an acclaimed pianist and his late mother, Mayra Torres, a highly-regarded piano teacher. At age eight, López-Nussa began studying at the Manuel Saumell Elementary School of Music, then went to the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, ultimately graduating with a degree in classical piano from the Instituto Superior de Arte. Early in his career, he recorded Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Fourth Piano Concerto with Cuba’s National Symphony Orchestra and won First Prize at the Jazz Solo Piano Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, in 2005. Today, his tightly-knit band captivates audiences with a relentless vivaciousness that “bridges generations and genres” (Billboard). Harold Lopéz-Nussa’s Timba a la Americana features harmonica player Grégoire Maret, bassist Luques Curtis and his brother Ruy Adrian López-Nussa on drums.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs 15 mins
$46.00

Location: Charles H. Morris Center

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5:30pm: Etienne Charles: Traces feat. Vincent Ségal, Jorge Glem and Or Baraket / Harold López-Nussa: Timba a la Americana feat. Gregoire Maret, Luques Curtis and Ruy Adrian López-Nussa

Hailed by The New York Times as “an auteur” and by JazzTimes as “a daring improviser who delivers with heart-wrenching lyricism,” Etienne Charles is also the Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Michigan State University. He has received critical acclaim for his exciting performances, thrilling compositions and knack for connecting with audiences worldwide. In June 2012, Charles was written into the US Congressional Record for his musical contributions to Trinidad and Tobago and the world. Perhaps more than any other musician of his generation or Eastern Caribbean origin, Charles brings a careful study of myriad rhythms from the French, Spanish, English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean to the table. With Traces, Etienne Charles enlists the endless talents and inventiveness of cellist Vincent Ségal, cuatro player Jorge Glem and bassist Or Baraket.

Harold López-Nussa was born in 1983 in Havana, Cuba. His father is an esteemed drummer and educator, his uncle an acclaimed pianist and his late mother, Mayra Torres, a highly-regarded piano teacher. At age eight, López-Nussa began studying at the Manuel Saumell Elementary School of Music, then went to the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, ultimately graduating with a degree in classical piano from the Instituto Superior de Arte. Early in his career, he recorded Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Fourth Piano Concerto with Cuba’s National Symphony Orchestra and won First Prize at the Jazz Solo Piano Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, in 2005. Today, his tightly-knit band captivates audiences with a relentless vivaciousness that “bridges generations and genres” (Billboard). Harold Lopéz-Nussa’s Timba a la Americana features harmonica player Grégoire Maret, bassist Luques Curtis and his brother Ruy Adrian López-Nussa on drums.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs 15 mins
$46.00

Location: Charles H. Morris Center

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6:00pm: Zydeco Dance Party: Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys

One of the most influential accordionists and vocalists in modern zydeco music, Jeffery Broussard continues to be one of the genre’s most dynamic performers. Broussard began his career with traditional zydeco music playing drums in his father’s band, Delton Broussard and The Lawtell Playboys. After developing the nouveau zydeco sound as a member of the band  Zydeco Force, he is now returning to a more traditional sound with his own band, Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys. Broussard has a range seldom seen in zydeco—from traditional songs of old masters to originals, from single-note and triple-note accordion to fiddle. Whether he is playing a festival stage in front of thousands of dancers, a small theater of seated patrons, giving an interview or teaching a lesson, his warmth, love of the music and talent shine. Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys last performed at SMF in 2016, in addition to being the zydeco artist for SMF’s K-2 music education program, Musical Explorers (see page 50).

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$39.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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6:00pm: Drew Petersen, Piano

Chopin
Étude in A-flat Major, Opus 25, No. 1
Étude in F minor, Opus 25, No. 2
Étude in F Major Opus 25, No. 3
Étude in F Major Opus 10, No. 8

Ravel
Gaspard de la Nuit

Schumann
Fantasie in C Major, Opus 17

Acclaimed young American pianist Drew Petersen is a sought-after soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has been praised for his commanding and poetic performances of repertoire ranging from Bach to Zaimont, and is the recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, 2017 American Pianists Award and the Christel DeHaan Fellow of the American Pianists Association. In solo recital Petersen has appeared at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Brevard Music Center’s Summer Festival and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, among many others. A champion of chamber music, Petersen has appeared on French radio’s France Musique while a member of a Verbier Festival piano trio. 2018 marked the release of his first solo recording of music by Barber, Carter, and other American composers on the Steinway and Sons label for which BBC Music Magazine acknowledged his presence as a rising star. This is his SMF debut.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons

Approx. 1 hr
$52.00

Location: Trinity United Methodist Church

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7:30pm: Cécile McLorin Salvant / San Salvador

Born in Miami in 1989, Cécile McLorin Salvant studied piano beginning at age 5, sang in a children’s choir at 8, and then began classical voice lessons. She pursued dual tracks as an undergraduate in France (her mother is French, her father Haitian)—studying French law at one university while attending the Darius Milhaud Conservatory studying baroque music and jazz. Though at the time she didn’t intend to sing professionally, she entered the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010 and won. Salvant has won Grammy Awards for three consecutive albums, received the Doris Duke Artist Award and became a MacArthur Fellow, all while relentlessly developing her artistic conception. Salvant has a passion for storytelling, in particular for finding connections between vaudeville, blues, traditional music, theater, jazz and Baroque music. This unique co-bill pairs Cécile McLorin Salvant with San Salvador, who sing in Occitan, one of her three heritage languages.

Occitan polyphony is the starting point for San Salvador, the six-voice and percussion collective. The ensemble embarks on the search for universal folklore, rooted in the deep troubadour traditions of the region yet circulating between cultures and musical genres. Their compositions use the Occitan language as a rhythmic instrument, combining poetry with hypnotic vocal harmonies cascading over shifting patterns of compelling percussion. San Salvador questions the myth of an unalterable heritage. It is a joyful quest that sees them following every path from the crossroads of trance, choral punk, global vocalese and math-rock constructions.

Pianos by Steinway and Sons | A Faircloth Jazz Series Performance

Approx. 2 hrs
Tickets start at $37

Location: Lucas Theatre for the Arts

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9:00pm: Zydeco Dance Party: Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys

One of the most influential accordionists and vocalists in modern zydeco music, Jeffery Broussard continues to be one of the genre’s most dynamic performers. Broussard began his career with traditional zydeco music playing drums in his father’s band, Delton Broussard and The Lawtell Playboys. After developing the nouveau zydeco sound as a member of the band  Zydeco Force, he is now returning to a more traditional sound with his own band, Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys. Broussard has a range seldom seen in zydeco—from traditional songs of old masters to originals, from single-note and triple-note accordion to fiddle. Whether he is playing a festival stage in front of thousands of dancers, a small theater of seated patrons, giving an interview or teaching a lesson, his warmth, love of the music and talent shine. Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys last performed at SMF in 2016, in addition to being the zydeco artist for SMF’s K-2 music education program, Musical Explorers (see page 50).

Approx. 1 hr 15 mins
$39.00

Location: Metal Building at Trustees' Garden

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Date: March 23 - April 8, 2023

Location: Various Venues in Savannah, GA

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