Wheaton welcomes back alumna Lauren Henderson, Class of 2009, to share the music that has been enchanting audiences across the world. “Through every lyric, she transmits connection and wonder; through every album, personal discovery…”. She’ll bring to us her multifaceted approach to music, as a bilingual songwriter, and a singer with familial roots across the Caribbean and Central America. “Washed with bright, bold harmonies and ruminative syncopation, her repertoire features tender ballads, swinging arrangements, flamenco dance patterns, Afro-Caribbean influences, and heartfelt storytelling”. Lauren’s passion for the music is clearly conveyed through her highly acclaimed performances.
Tickets: free for current students & employees, $10 alumni, $15 general admission. Available via the Watson Box Office.
Weber Theatre, Watson Fine Arts, 7:30 p.m.
Syncopated Ladies is a female Tap Dance Band from Los Angeles created by Emmy Award-Nominated tap dancer and choreographer, Chloé Arnold. Tap dance is extraordinary in its most traditional forms; these women take tap to a whole new level with their energy, precision and creative interpretations of popular music genres. The rhythms they bring to the floor are complex and layered, adding depth to the music that accompanies them. Please join us for a remarkable opportunity—they will amaze and inspire us. Tickets: free for current students & employees, $15 alumni, $25 general admission (limit 2).
Reserve/Purchase tickets via the Watson Box Office.
Combining a mix of performance and conversation, Dr. Samantha Ege animates the soundworlds and stories of the women who inspire her research. Dr. Ege is a leading interpreter and scholar of the African-American composer Florence B. Price. Dr. Ege’s publications and performances shed an important light on composers from underrepresented backgrounds. In 2023, she won the Society for American Music’s Irving Lowens Article Award for Chicago, the ‘City We Love to Call Home!’: Intersectionality, Narrativity, and Locale in the Music of Florence Beatrice Price and Theodora Sturkow Ryder (American Music journal). Dr. Ege’s first book South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene will be published with the University of Illinois Press in autumn 2024.
Free tickets via the Box Office.
Grammy-nominated Berklee Indian Ensemble (BIE) is a world-renowned collective known for its global Indian sound that honors regional South Asian musical traditions while boldly experimenting with a cross
pollination of genres, cultures, and multidisciplinary art forms from around the world. A diverse 8-piece ensemble that was born at the Berklee College of Music, the brilliant musicians of BIE provide an evening of
expansive, integrated musical explorations.
Free tickets via the Box Office.
Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today, a creative force with fifteen albums to her name. Kidjo’s creative power is palpable through the beauty and strength of her voice, her music and movement, visual aesthetic, linguistic prowess and enormous advocacy work that serves so many. Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. Yet her love for collaboration inspires musical fusions and partnering with gifted musicians from across the globe. Angelique also advocates on behalf of children as a UNICEF and OXFAM Ambassador. She created her own charitable foundation, Batonga, dedicated to support the education of young girls in Africa.