May 3rd 2023

We’re back with our second AfriClassical Futures Series of 2023 which seeks to foreground the under-recognized achievements and challenges of African American composers and performers working in classical music. This month we havre special guests JJJJJJerome Ellis and Luc Mosley performing solo sets. We’ll then have a conversation between these two artists and AfriClassical Futures alum Sharon Udoh.

Artist Bios

Luc Mosley specializes in woodwinds and electronics. His style draws inspiration from jazz, classical, ambient, and electronic dance music. Utilizing a blend of woodwinds and electronics, he draws upon sounds of the past to forge new pathways for music of the future. In addition to leading his own group, the Luc Mosley ensemble, he performs with Mucca Pazza, Graphics, Groppler Zorn, and Autophysiopsychic Millennium. He is also a curator at Elastic Arts and co-runs the Image of Thought series with Rin Peisert.

JJJJJerome Ellis will play an improvised set with saxophone, piano, organ, and electronics.

Sharon Udoh is a gay, first-generation Nigerian-American composer, pianist, arranger, and vocalist. Her work abandons genre and is expansive, focusing on human complexity, order within chaos, and emotional connection. She sometimes takes the stage under the name Counterfeit Madison; her performances have been described as a warm bowl of soup, a tornado, a jalapeño pepper, a Jackson Pollock painting, a bulldozer, dangerous yet kind, and magnetic. She lives in the Midwest and has an absurd millennial addiction to sparkling water. Find out more at counterfeitmadison.com.

Angel Bat Dawid is a Black American composer, improviser, clarinetist, pianist, vocalist, educator and DJ. In 2019 she released her debut album The Oracle with Chicago label International Anthem Recording Co. and received widespread critical acclaim with Pitchfork declaring it, “a vibrant, spiritual, free-jazz document of Black life as it stands today.” Known for her prowess as a bandleader and performer, Angel has composed and performed several live pieces including Requiem for Jazz at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and Peace: A Suite for Skylanding, commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago for Yoko Ono’s outdoor Skylanding installation.

$15 – Tickets Available at the Door

Official Website

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