A Conversation with Composer Jennifer Higdon

by Lauren Wingenroth

Composer Jennifer Higdon is no stranger to Carolina Performing Arts. In 2017, her Cold Mountain opera, a collaboration with librettist Gene Scheer, was a sold-out hit.

But when the Philadelphia Orchestra brings Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra on November 5, it’ll be a particularly special visit to Memorial Hall: It will be Higdon’s first time experiencing her own work at CPA as a Chapel Hill local.

“I’d been to this area for various concerts over the past two decades,” says Higdon, who is one of the most in-demand composers in the United States. “Every time I came here, I remember thinking, wow, this area is so nice.”

After nearly four decades in Philadelphia, Higdon relocated to Chapel Hill last year. Living here, “I hear music clearer in my head—it’s easier to compose,” she says. She’s also a fan of the easy airport access to get to her many concerts across the country and abroad, and of course, “the amount of art in this area—it’s absolutely huge,” she says. “I have all these friends coming through on tour. I’ve only been here two years and I’ve had six different groups doing pieces of mine. It just feels inspiring—the energy here is very good.” Naturally, Higdon has become a regular CPA attendee: Recent favorites include Johnny Gandelsman’s residency last season, and Paola Prestini’s The Old Man and the Sea in 2024.

In many ways, the Philadelphia Orchestra performance feels written in the stars. For one, Higdon has a long and storied history with the Orchestra, where she formerly served as composer in residence and where many musicians are friends or former students. And Concerto for Orchestra, which the Philadelphia Orchestra commissioned in 2002, was the work that launched her career. Back then, Higdon was fresh out of graduate school, and had never written a full-length orchestra piece. “I was a complete unknown,” she says. “I thought, this will be the only orchestra commission I ever get, so I’m gonna put everything in it.”

Thankfully, Higdon was very wrong—but her bold approach to the work paid off. Not only was it an immediate hit, but it happened to premiere at the League of American Orchestras conference, in front of an audience full of orchestra managers from across the country.

“My life changed overnight,” she says. “My career shot off like a rocket—people started calling me for commissions; people started programming the piece. That was in June of 2002, and it literally has not slowed.”

Since then, Concerto for Orchestra has been recorded by three major orchestras, and is performed all over the world every season. “For a living composer to have a piece of this size recorded with three orchestras, it’s unheard of,” says Higdon.

Also unusual—and, at first glance, contradictory—is the piece’s premise. “Normally with a concerto, you have a soloist standing out front,” says Higdon. “This was a chance to hear the entire orchestra in that manner.” Though concertos for orchestra exist (most famously Béla Bartók’s 1943 work of that name), they are uncommon. “It’s a harder piece, more virtuosic than a normal orchestra piece,” says Higdon. “There’s a lot more energy, because you’re basically showing off the skill of all the players individually, but also as a unit.”

Writing Concerto for Orchestra was a challenge—and a thrill—for Higdon. “When I was in school, I used to buy really cheap seats in the nosebleeds at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and listen to these solos,” she says. “I thought, I’m going to get to write for all of these people. Everyone is going to get solos, absolutely everyone.” Higdon worked closely with orchestra members—and took requests. “There’s one movement that’s just percussion,” she says. “The timpani player asked if I could write them a really cool part. I tailor-made it for the musicians, like making a really good suit of clothes that fits well.”

The piece “taught me to really think about the fact that an orchestra is a collection of skilled musicians,” she says. “You could pluck anyone out of the Philadelphia Orchestra, no matter where they are, and put them in front, and they’d sound great playing a concerto. It’s a recognition of the incredible skill level that is uniformly fantastic across the entire ensemble.”

“I go back and I hear it now and I’m like, I can’t believe I wrote that,” says Higdon. “It’s been amazing to watch the piece transform. But there’s something magical about having the orchestra you wrote it for touring to the place where you live, doing the very piece that launched your career.”

Also on the November 5 program will be Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, and on November 4, the Orchestra will perform William Grant Still’s Wood Notes, Brahms’ Third Symphony, and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, featuring acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax. On both programs, the Orchestra will bring their signature expressiveness and passion. “There’s a lot of soul in their playing,” says Higdon. “They aren’t just running through the motions—it actually feels personal, like it means the world to them, like they must do this or they won’t exist.”

The same could be said for the Orchestra’s leader, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whose bold, energetic approach has made him one of the most exciting conductors in the United States. “The first time he conducted my work, I remember thinking, Holy cow, this guy is bringing out things in the texture that I didn’t realize were there,” says Higdon. “That’s a composer’s dream, because he’s giving me a revelation of a piece that came out of my head. I still pinch myself that I get to work with him.”

“It’s a joy to be able to share the Philadelphia Orchestra sound and some of the work we’ve done together,” says Higdon.

If you spot her at the show, don’t hesitate to say hello. “I’m honored to now be a part of this community,” she says. “It feels like I’ve stepped into a really comfortable pair of shoes.”

Don’t miss this extraordinary homecoming performance with this special offer: Use code PHILLYX2 for 50% off tickets to the November 5 performance only. Enter the code before choosing your seats to unlock your savings.

Inside Johnny Gandelsman’s First Season as Curator-in-Residence at CPA

This is the third in a three-part conversation with Johnny Gandelsman.

by Lauren Wingenroth

The Curator

Acclaimed violinist Johnny Gandelsman’s role as the curator-in-residence for Carolina Performing Arts’ 2024-25 season marked a first for both parties: CPA had never had a curator-in-residence before, and Gandelsman had technically never curated before.

But that doesn’t mean the work of curating—bringing artists together; imagining engaging programming; making connections between people, places, and genres—was new to Gandelsman. In fact, his propensity for doing just those things during his many visits to CPA over the past 20 years was what sparked the idea to bring him in as a curator.

“He’s always bringing people together,” says Amy Russell, CPA’s senior director of artistic and production. “It’s so special how he does that; there’s so much joy and enthusiasm from those collaborators, and such a strong desire to make new things together. We thought, how do we crack open the impact of why these people want to work with you? We came up with the curatorial idea. If you look at the way he works, he’s doing it all the time, but no one has ever given him that title before.”

The fruit of Gandelsman’s curatorial position—the five-part CPA This is America series based on his anthology of the same name—wraps up this month with performances on April 23 and 24, featuring both Gandelsman’s longtime collaborators as well as student and faculty musicians from UNC. We spoke to Gandelsman about what it feels like to officially take on the title of curator, the joys and challenges of curating, and what he’s most looking forward to as he concludes his CPA series.

Q&A with Johnny Gandelsman

We spoke with Gandelsman ahead of this month’s final two performances in the This is America series, asking about his inspiration for the anthology, what he’s learned from performing these works, and why they continue to resonate today.

This is your first time officially being curator, but it seems like you’ve been unofficially curating for most of your career.

The title sounds grand. But yes, in our work with Brooklyn Rider, we curate when we make decisions about commissioning new work. Over the last few years, I’ve been producing music for Ken Burns documentaries, and one of my roles is to match music and musicians to what the film is trying to achieve, and I guess that is also curation. And then, of course, I listen to music a lot, and I always share it. I think if you make a playlist and you give it to a friend, you’re a curator.

What’s it been like to curate this series? What was your approach?

I’m not thinking of it as curating. I’m thinking of it as getting to bring some friends and artists who I’ve admired for years to this place that has been dear to me for decades, and to either introduce or reintroduce them to Chapel Hill audiences. Some of these people I’ve been to Chapel Hill with before, like Kinan Azmeh, who was a longtime Silk Road Ensemble member; and Carla Kihlstedt [of Rabbit Rabbit Radio], who was a member of Two Foot Yard, who we played with the first time Brooklyn Rider came to town; and Gabe Kahane, who was part of the 100th anniversary Rite of Spring commission we had from CPA. But I’m really excited that audiences will get to see other, even more personal, sides of them. Every band is bringing their projects, and it’s who they are. So my friend Christina Courtin, who has been a friend for over 20 years, is one of the musicians and people I admire most, and she came with her band. There are no words to describe how amazing she is as a singer-songwriter; as a musician. I get to sit in the audience and just enjoy it. So, yeah, sign me up to be a curator anytime.

Were there any learning curves or challenges throughout the process of curating this series?

The challenges were, how do you make choices? Because there’s so many people and so many musicians I would love to introduce to people. That’s the hardest thing. Other than that, it’s all beautiful gravy. I love it.

Anything you’re especially looking forward to in the series?

We’re going to do a concert with students in April, and possibly some faculty and some local musicians. I think that’s going to be really fun. It will be a broader representation of what American music is, and I’m really excited about that.

Johnny Gandelsman on Music, Memory, and the Making of ‘This is America’

This is the second in a three-part conversation with Johnny Gandelsman.

by Lauren Wingenroth

The Anthology

In 2020, when the acclaimed violinist Johnny Gandelsman was commissioning music for what would become This is America, he gave the 22 composers he chose a seemingly straightforward task: To write a piece for solo violin that somehow responded to the moment in time they were living in.

The diversity of the anthology of music that resulted from those instructions, and the breadth of feelings and experiences it captured, speak to both Gandelsman’s gift as a curator and the rich diversity of American contemporary classical music. This year, in his role as Carolina Performing Arts’ first-ever curator-in-residence, Gandelsman has brought many of those complex and riveting pieces to Chapel Hill, through a series of five concerts—many of which have featured the composers themselves as guest musicians.

Though over four years have passed since the highly specific moment in time that inspired This is America, the anthology’s works remain prescient, illuminating and urgent.

“I invite you to stop listening to pundits, extend your ears, open up your imagination, and trust the music to guide you into a challenging, complicated and thrilling sound world,” Gandelsman wrote in the introduction to the anthology.

Q&A with Johnny Gandelsman

We spoke with Gandelsman ahead of this month’s final two performances in the This is America series, asking about his inspiration for the anthology, what he’s learned from performing these works, and why they continue to resonate today.

Tell me about the impetus for This is America. I know it came out of 2020—what was it about that moment that made you want to do a project like this?

It was a moment of serious disconnection. My family and I spent about six months of the pandemic away from our home in Brooklyn in a remote part of New Hampshire, so we were literally physically disconnected from our communities and our friends. And, of course, as performers, there were no shows. There was no way to be together. At the same time, all these things were happening—COVID and police brutality and the fires in California and the election. The discourse was a lot to experience while being in lockdown, away from people. So I was just trying to figure out what to do, because usually, in moments of crisis, artists think about ways to address things. I thought, what if I could commission new works from composers who are in need of work, and ask them to somehow reflect on that period of time? I didn’t know where it was going to go. I didn’t know how many pieces were going to be commissioned. I didn’t know it was going to end up being an anthology.

How did you go about choosing the composers you wanted to commission? What were you looking for?

I keep a lot of long lists of people I’ve been curious about or wanted to work with, and then, of course, friends who I love who I also wanted to commission. I did want it to be representative of this country, so people with different backgrounds, different ages, different musical styles and genres. I guess what I discovered is that there’s so much more out there. Since then, the list just exploded, which is exciting. I’m thinking about ways to start addressing that.

Given that the music really speaks to that moment in 2020, what do you think it has to say about this new moment we’re living in now, in 2025?

While it may feel like we’ve moved on, the truth is that many of the challenges we faced in 2020 remain unresolved. But I think the music resonates with audiences because it is directly tied to a period of time which is pretty fresh, and everyone has their own very unique and yet also universal memories of what was happening then. In a concert setting, when I’m presenting a selection of the works, I don’t think everybody loves everything, because the styles are very different, but I do think that people somehow connect to what the composer was experiencing. Each of these works is a small window into the person’s thought process, experiences, heart and soul. With what’s happening now, it’s just proof that there’s so much more work to be done. We can’t stop. Everything is so acute and so many communities that are part of this country and are also represented in this anthology are being targeted. So I don’t know what we can do, except represent those voices and lift them up somehow.

How has your own personal relationship to the music deepened over the past several years that you’ve been playing it?

When I was first receiving these works, in many cases, I was asked to do things that I was either unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with. So I definitely had that moment of fear before getting to the point where I could perform the works in front of audiences. That was a big learning experience for me. Now I feel like a proud Grandpa. I love these works. I love that they exist. Recently I saw an Instagram post of a violinist in San Francisco performing one of these works, and I just felt like a proud grandparent. They’re out in the world doing their thing, and I’m really happy about that.

As This is America continues to find new audiences, Gandelsman’s vision—to capture a country’s complexities through music—feels more vital than ever.

Johnny Gandelsman on 20 Years with Carolina Performing Arts, Collaboration, and Curating ‘This Is America’

This is the first in a three-part conversation with Johnny Gandelsman.

by Lauren Wingenroth

Setting the stage

When the Carolina Performing Arts staff was planning for the organization’s 20th anniversary this season, they took a look back at the past twenty years. “We reflected on the long-term partnerships we’ve had with artists over the years, to see what we’ve done and what’s really important to us,” says Amy Russell, CPA’s senior director of artistic and production. “We added up the visits by artists who have held a lot of meaning for us, and who’ve collaborated with us in the most compelling ways.”

One artist stood out: The acclaimed violinist Johnny Gandelsman, who took the title of being CPA’s most-frequent guest over the past twenty years. It’s not just the volume of Gandelsman’s visits to CPA that’s remarkable, but the diversity of them. He’s come many times with his string quartet, Brooklyn Rider, as well as with the Yo-Yo Ma-founded Silkroad Ensemble. He’s worked at CPA with collaborators from Memphis Jookin dancer Lil Buck to banjo player Abigail Washburn to tap dancer Michelle Dorrance. And of course, he’s come as a soloist, including with his performance of Bach’s Cello Suites in 2020.

“I love that I’ve gotten to be myself in slightly different situations,” he says. “Every project brings out something different, and that’s a nice feeling.”

Over the years, he’s also brought nearly as much to the Carolina community offstage as he has onstage—from working with students in the music department to teaching business school students about collaboration to playing for patients at the hospital.

For this 20th anniversary season, Gandelsman has returned to Chapel Hill in a new role, as CPA’s first-ever curator-in-residence. As curator, he’s programmed a five-part series featuring music and collaborators from his This is America anthology, which includes 22 commissions from 22 distinct composers, each responding to their experience of the early days of the COVID pandemic.

Offstage, he’s been spending time with Dr. Flavio Frohlich and his Carolina Center for Neurostimulation looking at music’s effect on the brain. “The healing power of music is something people have studied and believed in for centuries, from the Greeks to Beethoven,” Gandelsman said at a recent event, where attendees could observe the brain waves of one of Dr. Frohlich’s team members as she listened to Gandelsman play Bach. “I find the work that they’re doing so inspiring.”

Q&A with Johnny Gandelsman

We spoke to Gandelsman in the midst of his This is America series (two performances remain of the five-part CPA series) about why CPA is such a special place for him, his favorite memories in Chapel Hill, and why he loves collaborating.

When you first started coming to CPA, what struck you about it? What made it feel like a place you’d want to come back to?

I’ve been coming to CPA since 2007, but I think it was maybe a year later that I got invited to come to campus with Brooklyn Rider and a band called Two Foot Yard. We were invited to create a piece, and that was just so unusual, because we were very young, and not an established string quartet at all. The fact that CPA put this trust in us and in the process and valued that as much as the end result—maybe even more—was really cool. From that point on, it was like, this place is special. And now, it’s kind of funny because Brooklyn Rider is also celebrating our 20th anniversary. So, our little organization has been growing parallel to CPA. Now it’s been 20 years of going to all sorts of different presenters in this country and other countries, and still, what CPA does is incredibly unusual, and I think that’s why artists love coming to Chapel Hill.

What have been some of your favorite offstage memories with CPA over the years?

As a musician, we’re often on the road, going to places we haven’t been to before. You fly in, you take a train, you play a show, you leave, and you just repeat and repeat and repeat. When we come to CPA, we know we’re going to be there for a few days, and that just immediately means there’s a deeper engagement. This past time, we got to go to the Children’s Hospital and play there, and that felt really nice. I remember when we were in town with Lil Buck and Cristina Pato, the awesome Galician bagpiper, we did an event outside on campus. That was really funny, because the bagpipes are unbelievably loud. Nobody knew what was going to happen, but once they heard the bagpipes, the students just started gathering. That very impromptu moment of connection to the arts was kind of magical. You can see on students’ faces that there’s still a sense of wonder, and moments like that stick with you for a long time.

You’ve collaborated with so many different artists at CPA. What’s your philosophy around collaboration?

There’s always something unexpected that will happen. Going into something, it’s hard to know what you’re putting yourself into, so there’s a sense of discovery. There’s sometimes a sense of fear, because you’re walking into something unknown. When you get through to the other side of that fear or hesitation, you get to know not just the art of your collaborator—whether it’s dance, or a different genre of music that you’re not familiar with—but also the person, because you’re interacting with something that person cares about super deeply, so they’re usually very generous about sharing their knowledge. It’s a really good exercise in saying yes, in not rejecting something, but trying to figure out, what is the best way to achieve this thing?

Is there something about CPA that makes it an especially generative space for those collaborations?

The depth of CPA’s commitment to commissioning is really unusual. When you commission a new piece, that’s already putting an amazing amount of trust into the people who are going to create the work, because you don’t know what the end result will be. Very often, there’s nothing to share—there’s no video, no photos. It’s just, I’m thinking about this thing. The fact that that then resonates; the fact that CPA can take that and say, Oh yeah, I see value in this, and we’re going to put support behind you to make sure that you get from the seed of an idea to actually making it work. Artists often doubt themselves and we are very used to hearing no or not hearing anything at all. Most of the time, that’s what we hear. So when somebody says yes—and not just yes, but yes, and we will give you all this other stuff to make sure that you’re really fulfilling your vision—that’s priceless, and it’s rare.

Tell me about your latest engagement project with CPA: working with Dr. Flavio Frohlich and his Carolina Center for Neurostimulation on music and the brain.

It was really cool to play a little bit and then see the waves and how a person responds. Of course, I can’t read it—I don’t know what it means—but it’s really cool to see what happens to a person when they’re experiencing music. I know how it feels when I’m in a good space if I’m playing. I also know how it feels when it’s bad. If the brain mapping went not on the person listening, but on the person who was performing and could track when you’re nervous or when you’re calm, that would be interesting to see.

The Power of Giving: Stories Behind Carolina Performing Arts’ Success

By Lauren Wingenroth

Rachel Baum can’t exactly remember what was on the program the first time she attended a Carolina Performing Arts show as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over a decade ago. It may have been the acclaimed banjo player Béla Fleck, or possibly Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. What she is sure of: After that night, she was hooked.

Baum spent the rest of her undergraduate career attending as many shows as she could, and when she stuck around to earn her PhD in Environmental Sciences and Engineering, she brought her grad school friends to Memorial Hall, too. “It was so fun to bring people in and see them get excited about it, especially their first time,” she says. “They’d be like, ‘I can’t believe this is so accessible to me as a student.’”

After a detour to the Bay Area for several years (she credits CPA with her interest in seeking out out-of-the-box performances while in San Francisco), Baum’s life recently came full-circle: She’s back in Chapel Hill, working at UNC’s Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation, and continuing to see as many CPA shows as she can—but this time, as a donor.

For Baum, giving to CPA is about recognizing the impact that those performances—which were made possible by CPA’s $11 student ticket program—had on her life, and wanting all students to be able to have those same transformative experiences with the performing arts.

“I want students to be able to take advantage of this, and to help them blossom,” she says. “I want every single student to know about these tickets. If you just try it once, you’ll get hooked. And you’ll be like, ‘I need to go to every single one of these.’”

CPA celebrates its 20th anniversary this season, and throughout those past twenty years, donors like Baum—each with their own distinct relationship to the arts and reason for giving—have shaped the organization into what it is today, and helped secure its future for the twenty years to come.

“Every single time I see a show, there’s always something I get out of it,” says Baum. “As a donor, you’re opening that opportunity up to somebody, or you’re bringing a new performer into the light. You’re really opening up people’s perspectives, which I think is needed now more than ever.”

CPA “Continues to Feed My Soul”

Having grown up watching avant garde performances in New York City’s Greenwich Village, David Roth prides himself on his penchant for boundary-pushing contemporary performing arts. That’s part of why Roth and his wife, Adele, created CPA’s Creative Collisions for Artistic Innovation Endowment, aimed at “giving a platform for diverse views, opinions and expressions, so that people can deeply appreciate the multitude of ways in which human beings can express their desire for common ends,” he says.

The first performance supported by the Endowment took place in October: Martha Redbone Roots Project and American Patchwork Quartet in This Land is Our Land, a stirring, soulful evening of music with eclectic influences from folk to gospel to jazz to West African. “She was just glorious,” says Roth of Redbone.

Supporting CPA has allowed Roth to see firsthand just how powerful the performing arts can be, both on a personal and community level. “What I’ve gotten from giving to CPA is the reward of knowing that the organization continues to feed my soul, and feed my heart, and feed the community,” he says. “When I see audiences let go of whatever defense they have and give themselves over to something, I think those moments are of extreme value, and contribute to creating a world of loving kindness and awareness.”

Julie Daniels, an alum who recently moved back to Chapel Hill and joined CPA’s board, agrees. “There’s nothing like sitting in a dark theater with a community of people and experiencing the same thing together,” she says. “It brings people together, and we need that now more than ever.”

A Sense of Belonging

Anyone can tap into the community atmosphere one often feels at a CPA performance. But those who are involved in the organization—whether through monthly or annual giving, or board service—often feel a deeper sense of belonging, which makes those performances all the more fulfilling.

“I know the behind-the-scenes,” says Jerri Bland, a CPA board member and founder of the Dr. Jerri Bland Fund for Student Access. “When you’re in the seat watching things you heard about six months ago, it’s a different feeling.”

It’s also special to chat with fellow patrons, and hear their perspective on CPA performances, says Bland. “You’re like, ‘I’m a part of that. I’m a part of helping to make this happen.’”

Ken Broun, who with his wife Margie has supported CPA since its founding, agrees. “You feel a sense of belonging,” he says. “Of, ‘this is our organization.’ It enhances the experience.”

The Brouns feel so connected to CPA that several years ago they moved to downtown Chapel Hill, partially to be closer to Memorial Hall. (Ken jokes that “as we get older, we feel that they’re moving it further away every year.”)

After twenty years of patronizing CPA and even longer supporting the arts in Chapel Hill, they appreciate that Memorial Hall is often full of friends and familiar faces.

But they also “find it delightful when we notice a whole different mix of audiences,” says Margie. “Sometimes when we know less people, we enjoy it—I enjoy seeing the different groups that different performances attract, and how even the type of dress people wear depends on the performance. It’s fun to see the diversity. I really like that CPA has widened so that there are different performances that appeal to people other than people like us.”

For the Roths, CPA helped them find belonging in Chapel Hill. “We moved here in 1997 from New York, and it took us a while to acclimate to the community,” he says. “A turning point was in 2004,” when CPA was founded. “Everything just seemed to align—something clicked for us,” he says.

Opening Doors to the Arts

The fact that finding that sense of belonging at CPA isn’t conditioned upon being a certain demographic, or having a certain taste in the performing arts, is at least partially made possible by the diverse breadth of CPA’s programming. But it’s also a product of CPA’s relative affordability, including the $11 tickets that are available to UNC students as well as local students of all kinds.

Those $11 tickets are supported by donors like Bland. “As an alum, I’m interested in making sure that the doors of CPA are open for everyone,” she says of her Fund for Student Access. “I want students to have the opportunity to see world class theater and world class music. I don’t want money to be a barrier for anyone; that’s why I created the Fund. It will be after I’m gone that students really have access to it, but I want to make sure that ability never goes away.”

It’s not just getting students in the doors of Memorial Hall that donors like Bland enable, but making connections from the stage back to the classroom. “I think that’s an important thing for us as board members to think about,” she says. “We are art lovers, yes, but our need to go to performances is secondary to our need to educate about the arts. It’s easy to get wrapped up in, ‘Alvin Ailey is coming!,’ but we should think about what the impact is to the academics. How do we get the University as a whole engaged in this art?”

“I think that bringing high-quality art to this community enhances the attractiveness of the University overall,” says Ken. “And encouraging students to partake in it increases the educational experience.” He remembers observing a master class for UNC students taught by a musician from an orchestra in town with CPA. “I thought it was remarkable,” he says.

Daniels agrees, and believes that making connections between academics and the arts, “creates a well-rounded student,” she says. “We want people who are critical thinkers and who are exposed to a lot of different things, and the arts are a great way to do that. It’s a safe space; it’s a way for people to examine complex topics in a meaningful way with other people. It exposes students to something that will be a part of their life for the rest of their life.”

“Opportunities like these really solidify your relationship to the arts,” says Baum. “They’re a bridge to somewhere. I love it for students, because they’re young. Their minds are malleable, and they’re exploring things—it’s really powerful for them.”

Donors and board members have had their own artistic doors opened by CPA’s programming. For instance, the Brouns discovered Samara Joy, who has since become one of their favorite singers, and Daniels realized her love for dance after attending Hong Kong Ballet’s Romeo + Juliet last year. “I’ve started going to Carolina Ballet—I’m seeking out dance performances,” she says. “I told my daughter who lives in New York that I want to go to American Ballet Theater. Dance is really phenomenal, I just wasn’t exposed to it much.”

For Baum, seeing something new at CPA, “feels like a dopamine hit to your brain,” she says. “There’s this novelty, this excitement, that really grabs you.” One young potential patron she’s particularly interested in exposing to the arts? Her infant daughter (who has already attended one CPA event!). “I want her to grow up seeing the arts and being engrossed in them,” Baum says.

“I’m Hoping to Share it With As Many People As I Know”

Bland sees serving on CPA’s board as a chance to shape the organization’s future for generations of audiences to come. “It’s a huge opportunity to not only benefit personally from supporting the arts, but to share that love with other people,” she says. “Giving CPA—the staff, the student volunteers—that support, and letting them know we’re here and available to give feedback. We can shape what this organization looks like. In five or ten years, the things we’re doing today are going to be taking fruition and having an impact on what students and audiences are experiencing. It’s an opportunity to have a voice in what’s happening in our community.”

Of course, financial gifts are also key to sustaining CPA programming—and anyone can contribute. “All contributions are important, at any level,” says Daniels. “You can contribute what you can afford—everything makes a difference, and that support is something CPA counts on. If we want to see this level of programming continue, we have to be willing to make those donations so the organization can thrive.”

“There are so many ways to contribute value,” says Roth. “One is financially. Another is to participate in some way; to make your voice heard. Nothing’s too small.”

Roth recognizes that while he has a taste for new, groundbreaking performances, others in his demographic feel more comfortable with the familiar. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, Roth sees an opportunity to “be a liaison, as a senior, between CPA and that community,” he says. “I’m committed to supporting how CPA is approaching their future with the hope that they can bridge that gap and encourage people to go along for the ride, take the risk, and enjoy the risk.”

In this way, supporting CPA doesn’t have to look like giving money or even time or resources—it can be about ambassadorship, and advocacy. “I’m really excited to let more people know about CPA,” says Daniels. “That’s one of the things I can do, expose people who may not know about it to how great it is, get them to come to a show. Because if they come, they’ll come back. I’m hoping to share it with as many people as I know in the community.”

Breaking Bread: Recipes That Celebrate Culture, Connection, and Community

Few things embody the spirit of togetherness quite like the act of breaking bread—a timeless gesture of connection, warmth, and shared experience. 

Much like art, the act of sharing a meal can create space for storytelling and connection that bridges cultures and deepens bonds.

With that, we’re excited to share a collection of cherished bread recipes from the artists of the Silkroad Ensemble. These recipes offer a taste of their cultural traditions and celebrate the universal language of art and shared meals.

As you gather with loved ones this season, we invite you to try these special bread recipes. Whether you’re baking with family, sharing with friends, or connecting with neighbors, we hope these recipes bring a bit of warmth and connection to your table. 

Let’s break bread together and celebrate the art of coming together, one bite at a time.

Lebanese Pita Bread

Shared by Layale Chaker

Artist Notes:

Optional Tips

• If you want a softer crust, brush the top with olive oil after baking.
• The Greek yogurt adds a subtle tang and extra moisture, resulting in a tender, soft crumb. But you can go entirely without it, just substitute it with a cup of warm water!
• Enjoy your homemade bread!

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup warm water (110°F or 43°C)
• 1 package active dry yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon sugar (for activating yeast)
• 3¾ cups bread flour (469 grams), plus extra for dusting
• 1½ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
• ¾ cup whole-milk Greek yogurt (optional)

Instructions:

Activate the Yeast: In a small bowl, mix the warm water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, or until it becomes foamy. This step confirms that the yeast is active.

Prepare the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread flour, salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the activated yeast mixture, olive oil, and Greek yogurt (if using). Stir until the ingredients start to come together and form a sticky dough.

Knead the Dough: Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead it for about 8-10 minutes, or until it becomes smooth and elastic. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle a little extra flour as needed. The Greek yogurt will make the dough softer and slightly more moist, so adjust with flour if needed.

First Rise: Lightly oil a large, clean bowl and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free area for about 1 to 1½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Shape the Dough: Once the dough has risen, punch it down to release any air. Transfer it to a floured surface and shape it into a round loaf or divide it for smaller rolls.

Second Rise: Place the shaped dough onto a lightly floured or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover it loosely with a cloth and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes, or until it’s puffed up.

Bake: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Bake the loaf for 25-30 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. If making rolls, bake for 18-22 minutes.

Cool and Serve: Let the bread cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Hidalgo County Homemade Tortillas

Shared by Edward Perez

Artist Notes:

“Where I grew up, no one would ever eat a tortilla made in a factory. Tortillas were not something that accompanied the rest of the food, they themselves were the main attraction, and my family would sit around the table for long stretches of time on weekend mornings eating more tortillas after we had finished our breakfast plates. Everyone who made tortillas had their own touch and everyone’s tortillas came out just a bit different. My grandmothers were my favorites, and flour tortillas were the first food that I ever learned to prepare. “

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup Crisco vegetable shortening (or just a hair less)
• Plenty of salt to taste
• Optional: a tiny pinch of baking powder
• Water as needed

Instructions:

Step 1: Prepare the dough:

•  In a large mixing bowl add the flour.
• The Crisco will be sticky, break it into small globs and add it to the bowl, sifting as necessary so that it distributes well. 
• Add a generous amount of salt to taste
• Optional (most people prefer the results without): add a small pinch of baking powder
• Pour in a small amount of water to one corner of the bowl and use your hands to clump the flour mix in the immediate vicinity into a little ball of dough. Pull it out and knead it until it has a relatively even consistency.
• Add just a little bit more water into the bowl and put your dough ball back in the spot where it landed, rolling it around and sticking some more of the freshly wet flour mix onto your ball of dough to increase its size. Knead it again until it has an even consistency. 
• Repeat the last step as needed until all the flour mix is in one ball of dough. Try to use as little water as possible along the way, always adding more flour to the dough ball if the dough ball seems ready to accept it. 
• Once the large ball of dough has a smooth, even consistency, put It back in the bowl, cover with a towel and let it sit for at least ten minutes. Or, as my grandmother told me, “Let him rest.”

Step 2: Roll the tortillas

• After at least ten minutes, remove the towel and take out a large cutting board (preferably wooden) and a rolling pin
• Pinch off a little bit of dough from the large ball and roll into a small sphere between your palms. 
• Place the small dough ball on the cutting board and roll it out with the rolling pin. Roll from the center out, first up then down, then flip the dough over to the other side, rotating 90 degrees in the process, and repeat. If you find that the dough is too sticky, you may choose to add just a little bit of loose flour to the rolling pin, the cutting board, or both. You will find as you begin to roll that the dough naturally wants to contract back to its old position. Once you have rolled it thin/flat enough, it will maintain its shape and that’s how you know you have finished. Rolling perfectly round tortillas takes a lot of practice and depends largely on how consistent you were able to make the ball of dough. Don’t worry if your tortillas come out in funny shapes, they will still taste good.
• Place finished raw tortillas in a stack as you finish each one. Optionally place a tiny bit of flour between each one if they seem to be sticking too much. 
• Once you finish rolling the stack of tortillas, they can be kept in this state in the fridge (covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out) for several days. Do not continue to the step of heating the tortillas until you are going to eat them. In my family, our usual practice was to roll a whole batch and then only heat a small number of them for each meal. 

Step 3: Heat the tortillas

• Preheat a comal (heavy cast iron flat griddle) over medium-high burner. Apply a little bit of Crisco to a paper towel and quickly and carefully spread it on the comal to lubricate. If you don’t have a comal, you can try using a non-stick skillet but it’s not quite the same. 
• Usually medium-sized tortillas can fit three at a time on the comal. Place three tortillas on the comal. At first, they will stick but after a few seconds, you will be able to slide them around. As soon as they are not sticking, flip them the first time. 
• Wait until they are finished on the other side, with a nice white color and a few light –colored burn spots, and then flip them the second time. 
• They may inflate after the second flip and this is totally fine (it’s a sign they are cooking on the inside) feel free to press them back down with a spatula or deflate them. Remove them when they are are finished cooking on the other side and repeat, adding three more tortillas until you have heated all of the tortillas that you plan to immediately eat. 
• Place finished tortillas on a plate under a towel to keep them warm. 
• Put the stack of any remaining unheated raw tortillas in the fridge on a plate covered in plastic wrap
• Never clean the comal with water or soap.

Serving suggestions

Feel free to put a little butter and salt on them. They taste great alone, with coffee, or with scrambled egg in them as breakfast tacos. Even better with egg that has Mexican chorizo scrambled into it. 

 Tortillas taste far better if eaten in the first thirty seconds to one minute after they come off the comal. Sometimes my family would heat up tortillas for breakfast in two rounds so that we were never eating tortillas that had been sitting around for too long. 

Rhiannon Giddens’ Biscuit Recipe (Abridged)

adapted from Southern Living
Shared by Rhiannon Giddens

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter – frozen overnight 
• 2 1/2 C self-rising flour
• 1 C chilled buttermilk
• parchment paper 
• melted butter (2 T) 
• pan just big enough for the biscuits you are making

Instructions:

1. Measure a piece of parchment paper to fit your pan; make sure to make it longer but exactly as wide, so you can use the overhang to lift the sheet when there’s biscuits on top. Set aside. 
2. Sift the flour into a bowl and then grate in the frozen butter. Toss together briefly (but no need to work the butter into the dough). Throw this into the freezer.
3. While the bowl is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
4. Make a well in the middle of the butter/flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk.
5. Stir until it starts to come together, it should be pretty sticky and a bit wet. 
6. Turn it out onto a well-floured surface and pat into a rectangle.
7. Fold the dough like a letter and flatten out; turn and do it again in the other direction; do that whole process at least once more, for a total of 4 sets of folds.
8. Roll or pat out and start cutting your biscuits; use a biscuit cutter or a glass with a sharp edge top to cut them out, being careful NOT to twist (that is a myth that will end up actually curtailing your biscuit’s rise).
9. Place the biscuits on the parchment paper, in a honeycomb pattern so that there are no spaces. Move the biscuit laden parchment with the overhang onto the pan; this will take practice. 
10. Bake at 475 for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. You can feel they are done by shaking one with your fingertip on top; if they are too movable, they aren’t quite set. Throw them into a basket lined with a tea towel and cover; they will stay nice and moist this way. 

Learn more about biscuits from Rhiannon and the best chefs in Durham at Biscuits and Banjos – April 25-27, 2025 in Durham, NC. www.biscuitsandbanjos.com

Sandesh

Shared by Sandeep Das

Artist Notes:

This sweet dish is offered to Gods and Goddesses for every ritual and is a favorite for all festivals like Diwali , Holi, etc. A specialty from Bengal!  Love, Sandeep

Ingredients:

• One can of whole milk ricotta cheese 
• One small can of sweetened condensed milk 
• Optional: cardamom powder and saffron strands

Instructions

• Put the whole can of cheese in a flat pan on a slow to medium high cooktop. 
• Keep stirring so it doesn’t stick at the bottom for around 20 minutes then add condensed milk. 
• Keep stirring for around 45 minutes, it will start to bubble and thicken. 
• Add cardamom powder and saffron strands (optional). 
• Once it becomes semi solid, take it off of the stove. 
• After it’s cooled, make small balls of it in the shape of Sandesh.
• Serve and enjoy!

Cream Scones

Shared by Maeve Gilchrist

Artist Notes:

• Preheating the baking tray is essential for high-rising scones
• Makes 6 scones

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups (200 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• i teaspoons salt
• ¼ cup (50 g) superfine sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Lightly flour a baking tray and place in the oven to preheat.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. 
• Add the sugar and ¾ cup of the cream; work the dough with a fork until you have even-size clumps. If the mix is too dry to hold together, add the remaining ¼ cup cream and mix thoroughly.
• Place the dough on a floured worktop and knead 4 or 5 times. Dust with flour and roll flat with a rolling pin until i½ to 2 inches thick. Cut out 2½- to 3-inch circles with a crimped scone cutter.
• Place scones on the preheated tray, and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until they have risen nicely and browned at the edges.
• Serve with jam and butter. Best right out of the oven!

Focaccia Bianca e Rossa

Shared by Francesco Turrisi

Artist Notes:

Nowadays, “focaccia” is everywhere, on every exclusive restaurant’s menu, offered as a thick, fancy, and spongy high-hydration bread, usually topped with all sorts of things. But this doesn’t look at all like the focaccia I grew up eating in Italy. That one was thin, low hydration, crunchy, and drenched in olive oil. It came in grease-proof paper, and it was never eaten as bread at the dinner table. It was the perfect afternoon merenda—the middle-of-the-day snack needed to keep going until 8pm dinner. But it could also be a morning snack (or even breakfast in Liguria!), especially when I was out with my mother shopping, and we would stop at the panetteria (bakery), where we would buy bread and I could get a sneaky little piece of fresh focaccia on the go, and those were the best times! The bakers would always ask, “Bianca o rossa?” (White or red?) They often called it pizza blanca and pizza rossa, just to further confuse the ideas about what is pizza and what is focaccia. Pizza bianca was the classic oily focaccia; pizza rossa was the same but with a veil of tomato sauce on top. So here’s a little recipe to try to recreate those two focacce of my childhood!

This recipe is for two round pans with a 30cm (12in) diameter.

Ingredients:

Focaccia

• 500g (4 cups) 00 bread flour
• 275ml (9.2 oz) cold water
• 7.5g (0.2 oz) fresh brewer’s yeast (or 2.5g (0.8 oz) dried yeast)
• 12.5g (1 tbsp) fine sea salt
• 10g (2/3 tbsp) malt
• Polpa di pomodoro (pomodoro sauce) (optional)

Salamoia (brine)

For each focaccia pan you will need:

• 45ml (3tbsp) water
• ½ tsp sea salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions:

• Dissolve the yeast and malt together into the water.
• Add the salt to the flour.
• Add the liquids to the flour and start kneading (by hand or in a stand mixer with bread hook)
• Work the dough for a few minutes until it comes together. Don’t over-knead it—the texture should still be quite rough
• Shape the dough into a ball and put it in an oiled container with a lid. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 20 hours.
• Brush baking pans generously with olive oil
• Divide the dough into two balls of equal weight and start flattening each ball with your hands.
• Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough thinner, into even discs roughly the same diameter of your pans.
• Transfer the dough discs into the pans and let rest uncovered for 90 minutes.
• Dust the discs very lightly with flour and press into them with your index, middle, and ring fingers to create the classic focaccia “holes”.
• Prepare the salamoia by dissolving the salt into lukewarm water.
• Pour the salamoia over the dough (it should almost be submerged) and distribute it equally.
• Pour olive oil over the focaccia holes until they are filled.
• At this stage, if you want to make focaccia rossa, spread a thin layer of polpa di pomodoro over one or both doughs.
• Let rest for another 90 minutes uncovered.
• Preheat oven to 230 C (450 F) degrees.
• Cook the focaccie on the bottom of the oven (touching the bottom) for 6-7 minutes, then finish them for another 2-3 minutes in the middle of the oven.
• Remove the focaccie from the pans and let cool on a rack.
• Brush with olive oil and serve.

Special Event: “Build a House” with Rhiannon Giddens

Join us at Epilogue Book Café on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 4 PM for a very special book reading, signing, and Q&A with Build a House author, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and Southern Futures Artist-in-Residence Rhiannon Giddens.  

“Build a House”: A Sit Down and Signing with Author Rhiannon Giddens

YOU BROUGHT ME HERE TO BUILD YOUR HOUSE… 

African Americans were forcibly enslaved and brought to this land to build houses they were not allowed to live in, tend to families who were not their own, and sow the seeds that fed a nation — while being left with only scraps themselves. They were not expected to thrive. But they did. 
 
In her picture book debut from Candlewick Press, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and Southern Futures Artist-in-Residence Rhiannon Giddens depicts a family’s resilience in the face of violence and sorrow. They are determined not just to survive, but also to tell their own story. 
 
Based on the song “Build A House,” composed for the 155^th anniversary of Juneteenth and performed with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Giddens’s stirring text is paired with moving illustrations by Monica Mikai. Build a House confronts the history of slavery in America by telling the story of a courageous people who would not be moved and the music that sustained them through untold challenges. Steeped in sorrow and joy, resilience and resolve, turmoil and transcendence, this dramatic debut offers a proud view of history and a vital message for readers of all ages: honor your heritage, express your truth, and let your voice soar, even — or perhaps especially — when your heart is heaviest. 

Epilogue Book Café, Candlewick Press, and Carolina Performing Arts are thrilled to present this family event. 

Rhiannon Giddens will be in Chapel Hill to continue her Southern Futures research. As an artist-in-residence at Carolina Performing Arts, Giddens is focused on celebrating the cultural contributions and the impact of Black and Indigenous populations that resided — and helped to build — Chapel Hill.  

Carolina Performing Arts will present Giddens’ powerful new opera, Omar, Feb. 25-26, 2023. The spring season will be announced Nov. 1, 2022. Public on-sale for Omar and other spring events begins Nov. 15, 2022.   

Alvin Ailey’s Revelations: An Experience Worth Repeating

A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student shares her perspectives on this year’s performance — and her joy of discovery with each viewing of this modern classic.

By Kari Lindquist

Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater, Carolina Performing Arts’ longest-running artistic partner, performed two separate programs at Memorial Hall on May 3 and 4 — but both featured the company’s classic closing piece, Revelations, an experience worth repeating. Repetition allows audiences to search for what’s new, what details stand out and how are they different than the last time. 

Revelations was choreographed by Alvin Ailey and premiered in New York in 1960. He drew on African American cultural heritage and memory describing it as “sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.” He used the idea of “blood memory,” that events are remembered in the body across generations, passed down by blood. Memory and repetition are central to the piece and it has been performed consistently across the world from the time of its premiere. 

Before beginning as a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill, I taught a program at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago with elementary and middle schoolers connected to the matinee performance by the Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater. Some of my students saw the performance multiple times over the course of the years and I asked them each time, what surprised them? My students even came to expect to be surprised and thus brought to the performance both what they remembered and the craving to notice something new. 

There’s so much to enjoy in Revelations, from the smallest gesture to the skill and athleticism of the dancers. My favorite part is in the opening movement of “I’ve Been Buked” — the hand flick on unaccentuated beat in the music that is added last to the iconic formation associated with Ailey and Revelations. I remember this gesture and anticipate it, but the moment when it happens still surprises me. 

This time, I was surprised by the rapidly shaking hand gesture used in Cry, right before Revelations, and that I remembered in “Fix Me, Jesus,” danced beautifully by Jacqueline Green and Yannick Lebrun. I was thinking that with how quickly this small gesture moves, it must be hard for the dancers to control it exactly and that each time must be spontaneous and slightly different. Even if only by one or two shakes or with how quickly they happen, the gesture would be difficult to recreate the same way each time even on tempo with the music. I found myself trying out the gesture by trying out the shake in my own hand as I walked across campus after the performance and thinking that not only is it different across the differently choreographed pieces, it must vary across dancers and unique performances. Although the recorded music used for Revelations is the same each time, the element of live performance lends itself to the spontaneous, even in the often-repeated choreography and the way the rhythm is conveyed.

When Ailey talked about Revelations, he even mentioned the music even more than the choreography. The music of Revelations, curated by Ailey, comprised of traditional spirituals. The texture of the vocal lines resembles the way the choreography allows individual dancers’ strengths to stand out and blend into the ensemble. Many of the tracks have sparse instrumentation highlighting the choral sound with limited percussive instruments. Additionally, the recording of Revelations includes Billy Porter as one of the singers, now recognizable from his role on the series Pose among his other accomplishments. 

A favorite number of my students, “Wade in the Water” brings out props at a midpoint in the performance. The song was used as a way to give advice during the Underground Railroad that in order to not be tracked, those escaping enslavement could walk through water. The song seemed innocuous to those unaware of its secret meaning. This reflects the “double-consciousness” of Black Americans that W.E.B. DuBois has described; the layers of meaning draw on a rich cultural heritage and lend themselves to new understanding in their repetition.

Whether you’ve never seen Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater or if you’ve been to every performance, there is more to enjoy with each repeated viewing of Revelations. From the choreography and the music to the individual expressions of the dancers in the company, Revelations makes repeated viewing valuable. Each performance can reveal a new aspect of this treasured piece if you let it surprise you. 

Kari Lindquist is a graduate student in musicology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Music.

CPA looks forward to the return of Alvin Ailey® American Dance Theater in the 23/24 season.

Outdoor Festival Showcases Local Bands

Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture and Carolina Performing Arts (CPA) are excited to collaborate on Tracks Local Music Fest, a free outdoor concert in downtown Chapel Hill later this month. 

On Saturday, May 21 from 3-7 p.m., five diverse acts from the Tracks Music Library collection will perform back-to-back as part of Tracks Music Fest, taking place outside at CPA’s CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio. The lineup spans a range of genres — from pop to hip hop to punk rock — mirroring the mix of sounds that make up the Triangle’s music scene. Each act will play a 30-minute set with small break in between:

3:00 p.m. — Kicking off the event is Anne-Claire, NC-born and Carrboro-based singer and songwriter. “I write music about experiences I’ve had growing up in the Triangle,” says Anne-Claire in her artist bio. AC is known for elegant vocals both on and off the stage — as a teacher of singing and songwriting for adults and kids alike. 

3:50 p.m. — Americana band Dissimilar South takes the stage with sounds rooted in country and folk genres while experimenting with synthesizers, electric guitars, and drum kits. Expect tight harmonies and lyrics that explore “the bittersweet nature of relationships and queerness with honesty and whit.”  

4:40 p.m. — Transition to the dance realm with Treee City, the electronic music project of Durham-based DJ and producer Patrick Phelps-McKeown. Drawing inspiration from field recordings, pop radio, vintage technology, and 90’s rave nostalgia, Treee City’s sound is unique and an essential part of the Triangle’s electronic music scene.

5:30 p.m. — Rapper, producer and songwriter Austin Royale turns up with a full band to explore experimental sounds of hip hop, rock, and beyond. Austin continues to recreate himself and has been an ongoing influence in the local music scene for almost a decade.

6:20 p.m. — The event closes out with punk rock duo, BANGZZ, hailed for their “loud and fast songs with in your face feminist themes.” Guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Erika Libero, is also the co-founder of the local Chapel Hill music festival Manifest. 

Each slated act appears on Tracks Music Library, a free local music streaming platform from Community Arts & Culture and Chapel Hill Public Library. With over 100 albums from Triangle-based artists, Tracks aims to help new audiences discover new music and for local musicians to reach new listeners.

Tracks Music Fest will be held at CPA’s CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio, located in Carolina Square and created to connect campus and community via the arts. “Carolina Performing Arts is thrilled to partner with Community Arts & Culture to host this celebration of North Carolina music at CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio, right in the heart of downtown,” says Alison Friedman, CPA’s James and Susan Moeser Executive and Artistic Director. “It’s an important moment to collaborate to launch artists, local businesses, and our communities on the road to recovery from the last two years.” 

Limited seating is available so bringing a chair or blanket is recommended. Beer and ice cream will be available for purchase. Additional food can be purchased at local and nearby restaurants. To learn more about the event, including parking and transportation options, visit chapelhillarts.org/tracksfest. To learn more about Tracks Music Library, visit tracksmusiclibrary.org. 

Media inquiries: Contact Melissa Bartoletta at mbartoletta@chapelhillarts.org.

Southern Hip Hop Primer Playlist

Hip Hop South Festival co-curator and CPA staff member Christopher Massenburg (a.k.a. Dasan Ahanu) offers a Southern hip hop playlist to help audiences prepare for the April 22–23 events.

“Southern Futures aims to imagine a more just and inclusive vision of the American South by imagining the future, focusing on humble listening and community engagement, and bringing storytelling and art to the foreground. With that aim in mind, I selected Southern rap tracks that I felt brought social commentary to the forefront, spoke beautifully of material conditions, offered compelling messages and were a vibe. I selected songs from acts that represent different parts of the South. There are some big hits and some songs that are loved but not chart topping. They all deserve a listen. The South still saying all the things!”

Read more about the scholarship and inspiration behind this new event: Hip Hop South Festival Q&A with Christopher Massenburg

Hip Hop South Festival Q&A with Christopher Massenburg

Hip Hop South Festival co-curator and CPA staff member Christopher Massenburg (a.k.a. Dasan Ahanu) shares the scholarship and inspiration behind this new event — and what audiences can expect.

What inspired you to partner with Dr. Regina Bradley on the Hip Hop South Festival? 

Regina and I met while we were both Fellows at Harvard University’s Hip Hop Archive and Research Institute. Regina is a brilliant Southern hip hop scholar. When I suggested the idea of the festival, I knew I wanted to work with Regina. We’ve had so many great conversations about the culture and the South. I knew she would have the perfect perspective on the festival. 

How would you describe your co-curation process? How does your Fellowship at Harvard — and your continued scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill and elsewhere — inform it? 

The great thing about working with Regina is that we are friends. Talking about the festival is really us dreaming about a dope Southern hip hop experience that we would want to enjoy. The curation is experience first. Then we think about the logistics that can provide that experience.  

We are both products of the culture. We grew up in it and it is a part of how we see the world, how we move. We both seek to bring the South, the Black South, the Hip Hop South into our work whenever we can. It is our experience with that ongoing integration in spaces like our fellowship, our teaching, our writing, and our participation in various projects that we brought to the curation of the festival. 

How did you determine which artists to feature? What makes their work particularly noteworthy or exemplary of Southern hip hop culture? 

We started with a large list of possibilities. We wanted to make sure there was a range of artists on that list. The South isn’t a monolith. The same is true for hip hop in the South. The artists are different and distinct.  

The other thing to consider is geography. There is a Southern aesthetic, but that aesthetic also varies from area to area. What is happening musically in Memphis is different from Atlanta, New Orleans and North Carolina. It makes for a really beautiful puzzle to work with. Of course, we also wanted to make sure North Carolina was represented in this festival.  

How do the festival artists and academics tie to CPA’s Southern Futures initiative? 

Southern Futures aims to imagine a more just and inclusive vision of the American South. I believe that to do so it is imperative to consider the role of hip hop in the story of the South. Hip hop is a revolutionary culture that pushes back at rigid conventions. It offers folks an outlet to speak about the material conditions impacting their life. It also allows for a celebration of their South own their terms.  

Southern Futures’ mission is to examine the past of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and greater community; and imagine the future, focusing on humble listening and community engagement, bringing storytelling and art to the foreground. Storytelling is a big part of Southern hip hop music. There are rich and beautiful stories to be told and Southern rap artists tell them in compelling fashion. 

Southern hip hop scholarship is still making sure the academy knows the South got something to say. It was critical to hold space within the festival for Southern scholars to be able to connect and network. Fighting for room within the academy for your scholarship can feel daunting, but knowing that you are part of a cadre of scholars pushing the Hip Hop South to the forefront can be encouraging and affirming. We wanted folks to be able to know what work was being done, share experiences and resources, and build new relationships. An initiative like Southern Futures provides an opportunity to center Southern art and scholarship. 

How would you describe Southern hip hop culture to those who may be less familiar with it? What makes it distinctly different from the broader hip hop culture and canon? 

I can’t describe Southern hip hop to someone. I can let them know that it is its own flavor of wonderful. I can assure them that they need to experience it. Commercial representation doesn’t do it justice. The festival is a chance for people to really immerse themselves in the culture in a Southern way. Like many things in the South, you have a better understanding when you can experience in context and it its moment. So folks just need to come on down and have some fun with us.  

What can audiences expect to see and hear during the festival? 

What audiences can expect to see and hear is joy. Throughout the festival there will be excitement, anticipation and joy. There is joy when we gather. There is joy when we celebrate. When we can get together in a space held for us we can be us openly. That is joy.  

So folks should come ready to have a ball, hang out with good folks, and experience some Southern joy. 

What do you hope audiences will take away from the Hip Hop South Festival experience? 

I want folks to have enjoyed it so much they can’t wait to see what we do next. I want folks to know that this event is exactly what is needed and is a great addition to the music landscape in North Carolina, in the South.  

Get ready for the Hip Hop South Festival with Chris’ playlist: Southern Hip Hop Primer Playlist

Announcing the Hip Hop South Festival at Carolina Performing Arts

Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is excited to announce the Hip Hop South Festival, a two-day event from April 22–23, 2022 that celebrates the impact of hip hop across the South. Co-curated by Harvard Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellows Christopher Massenburg (also known as Dasan Ahanu) and Regina Bradley, the festival will feature headlining performances by hip hop heavyweights and local artists, as well as academic gatherings, late-night beat and dance battles, visual art and more. 

The Hip Hop South Festival is part of CPA’s Southern Futures initiative, which features arts experiences co-created with local communities and focuses on racial equity, social justice and the American South. As a co-curator and CPA staff member, Christopher Massenburg looks forward to exploring hip hop culture with audiences.  

The festival kicks off Friday, April 22 with a main show at Cat’s Cradle, featuring North Carolina favorites Carolina Waves, Shirlette Ammons, and Rapsody — followed by Turn It Loose, Volume 3 — a late-night B-boy jam at CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio, hosted by the Raleigh Rockers, and featuring breakdancing demonstrations and competitions with dance crews from across the region.  

The excitement continues Saturday, April 23 with a main show at Memorial Hall, featuring some of the South’s finest hip hop artists — Radio Rehab, Sa-Roc, and Big Boi — followed by a late-night beat battle at CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio, hosted by The Underground Collective, and featuring local luminaries The Soul Council, who will provide beat demonstrations and judging.  

Festivalgoers will also enjoy a visual arts experience throughout the two days. “Dirty South Scribes,” an exhibit by Regina Bradley at CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio, honors the groundbreaking writers who spotlight Southern rap’s significance.  

See the full festival schedule.

Tickets are on sale now and include single-day and two-day pass options; a limited number of UNC-Chapel Hill student tickets are available. 

Learn more about what to expect when you visit our venues — including ticketing, parking, and health and safety protocols — in our Event FAQ. 

About Carolina Performing Arts 

The mission of Carolina Performing Arts is to spark curiosity, inspiring all members of its community to discover and more fully engage with the world. The 21/22 season programming at Carolina Performing Arts features Southern Futures at Carolina Performing Arts, designed to facilitate co-creative arts experiences that produce diverse and nuanced narratives about racial equity, social justice, and the American South and create spaces for inclusive dialogue and learning. 

Local Educators Bring Atmospheric Memory Into the Classroom

Carolina Performing Arts teamed up with two outstanding local educators to explore topics presented in Atmospheric Memory — including surveillance, climate change, public health, racial injustice and more — into syllabi across the Triangle

The North American premiere of immersive art environment Atmospheric Memory, created by artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, arrived at Carolina Performing Arts in December 2021 to rave reviews from critics and patrons alike.

The stunning installation, which focused on computer pioneer Charles Babbage’s 19th century theory that the atmosphere is a ‘vast library’ recording everything we say, featured larger-than-life projections, livestream video integration and interactive components — but a new program that happened behind the scenes of the colossal endeavor was just as impactful.

Led by Associate Director of Engagement Amanda Graham and Producing Coordinator Ellie Pate, CPA named two local educators — Howard Davis (Wake Technical Community College) and Jen Painter (Charles E. Jordan High School) — Atmospheric Memory Teaching Fellows. They and their students were invited to integrate Atmospheric Memory into their curriculum and dig deeper into Babbage’s theory than a single visit to the installation would allow.

On December 1, Graham and Pate paid a virtual visit to Professor Davis’ Technology and American Society class at Wake Tech. They opened the floor to a lively discussion and overview of Atmospheric Memory before students visited the installation, being sure to encourage critical thinking about its focus on data privacy — or the lack thereof — as well as the many other aspects of Babbage’s theory.

“We’re cognizant that there are learners from every background imaginable in Chapel Hill,” said Pate, who is a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna. “Having such a wide-ranging list of themes in Atmospheric Memory, it was a good chance for us to finally act on the partnerships we’ve wanted to develop and people we’ve wanted to with. It’s a seamless entry point into one of our most stunning events.”

During her lecture to Davis’s class, Graham posed the questions artist Lozano-Hemmer encouraged all visitors to consider during their experience: Do our words belong to us? If not, then who owns them? How does language change when it leaves our minds and manifests in our writings, actions or dialogues?

The students’ responses were equally thought-provoking: “Your thoughts are your own, but your spoken words aren’t,” one student said. “Once they leave your mind, they’re for the world to interpret.”

Jen Painter’s Civics class, which is open to Jordan High School students who speak English as their second language, was also introduced to important topics in Lozano-Hemmer’s work during both a class visit and a Learning Morning lecture at Memorial Hall on December 14.

After experiencing Atmospheric Memory, both classes were encouraged to continue reflecting on Babbage’s theory by creating original art and sharing  it on social media — further exploring the relation between art and technology — and sparking future collaborative ideas. 

“While working with CPA, I hope that the educators were able to imagine the versatile ways that art can inform their curriculum,” said Graham, who cam up with the concept of the Atmospheric Memory Teaching Fellows program. “Specifically, what kinds of questions can an artist and artwork prompt? How might those questions challenge or highlight disciplinary study? Art can be a way into social studies, science, philosophy, or all three.”

And the CPA team is already excited about the future possibilities of educational partnerships.

“I would love to do something like this again,” said Pate. “We want to continue to invest in these relationships with students that exist outside the university that will maybe, someday, be a part of the university. The more we work together, the more creative we can get.”

By Jess Abel

Fill Us In: Culture Mill

Welcome to Fill Us In, our rapid fire fill-in-the-blank Q&A inspired by the famous Proust questionnaire where we take a peek inside the minds of Carolina Performing Arts’ artists.   

In this edition, we’re talking with Tommy Noonan and Murielle Elizéon of Culture Mill, a Saxapahaw, NC-based performing arts laboratory. Dancers and choreographers with over 35 years of combined experience, Tommy and Murielle are also an integral part of the Southern Futures at Carolina Performing Arts initiative, through which they will create a series of new artist residencies, prototyped by their own work, Eclipse.

Carolina Performing Arts: What is the best way to start your day?
Culture Mill: Drinking a fresh ginger lemon tea outside and watching the sunrise.

CPA: What is the worst way to start your day?
CM: Fearfully.

CPA: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
CM: It’s ok to not know.

CPA: What do you splurge on?
CM: Travel.

CPA: What is your idea of a perfect day?
CM: A day where time is not an issue.

CPA: What smell can transport you back to your childhood?
CM: Cow poop and lavender.

CPA: How do you hope others describe you, in three words or less?
CM: moving, nofilter, honest

CPA: What person do you most admire?
CM: My daughter

CPA: If you had a motto, what would it be?
CM: Ring the bell that still can ring / forget your perfect offering / there is a crack in everything / that’s how the light gets in – Leonard Cohen

CPA: What does the perfect “room of one’s own” look like to you?
CM: Spacious. Warm. Light. Uncluttered.

CPA: If you could transform into an animal, what animal would it be?
CM: A phoenix

CPA: If you weren’t an artist, what would your profession be?
CM: Community Organizer

CPA: What advice do you have for artists just starting out?
CM: Don’t think you have to know. Take time to listen.

The Spark with Tift Merritt featuring Culture Mill originally aired on Thursday, October 21, 2021.

Announcing Southern Futures at Carolina Performing Arts

Internationally celebrated musician Rhiannon Giddens named to three-year research residency

Today, Carolina Performing Arts (CPA) announced “Southern Futures,” an initiative that meets this pivotal moment in history by engaging artists and community partners in restorative justice and co-creation.

Southern Futures at CPA will produce new works, collaborations, and research on social justice, racial equity, and the American South. The organization has named GRAMMY and MacArthur Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens to a three-year research residency at the core of the initiative, beginning in spring 2022. Giddens will focus on discovering and sharing cultural artifacts and local histories that challenge entrenched narratives and monolithic thinking on topics central to Southern Futures.

“Access to our past via research, writings, archival recordings, and beyond is an integral part of this,” said Giddens. “Highlighting stories untold and voices unheard, my aim is to celebrate the cultural contributions of those who came before us in my art and to bring to light the impact of Black and Indigenous populations that resided in Chapel Hill.”

Through Southern Futures, CPA will commission artists to make new works on themes central to the initiative. In addition to receiving commissioning support, those artists will complete residences in Chapel Hill, through which they will partner with community members to co-create through restorative justice practices—a framework unique in the field of the performing arts. This framework will be designed and facilitated by Culture Mill, an arts laboratory based in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. The first artists to be commissioned in this way will include the collaborative ensemble of Marcella Murray, David Neumann, and Tei Blow from Advanced Beginner Group.

“We hope that this cohort of artists and collaborators will go forward from their Southern Futures experiences feeling more confident and skilled and open to co-creating across communities through restorative justice practices,” said Amy Russell, CPA director of programming. “We want the importance of power-sharing and co-creation to be made more visible and celebrated across our field and among our stakeholders.”

Programming for the 2021-22 season presents new and existing works offering diverse and nuanced storytelling around themes of Southern Futures. The featured artists—including Flutronix, Marcella Murray, David Neumann, Tei Blow, William Ferris, and Culture Mill—have demonstrated thoughtful and rigorous engagement around race and the American South in their creative work. 

For Southern Futures, the organization has also invested in new platforms supporting broad public access and collaboration, including a free digital archive to be designed as a catalyst for and collection of community-wide discourse, and the launch of the second season of The Spark, a series of live-streamed conversations hosted by UNC alumna and musician Tift Merritt.

Southern Futures is a collaborative initiative of The College of Arts & Sciences, University Libraries, Carolina Performing Arts, and The Center for the Study of the American South. The initiative helps imagine, understand, and create regional transformation by focusing on humble listening, community engagement, and bringing the arts and humanities to the foreground. Southern Futures supports faculty, students, policymakers, and storytellers doing extraordinary work committed to a future where all southern communities can flourish.

“Our campus is wrestling with long-held beliefs and overturning assumptions that are shaking us to our core,” said Jacqueline Lawton, the new co-director of Southern Futures at UNC-Chapel Hill and associate professor of dramatic art. “Southern Futures works to disrupt stereotypes of the American South and create a bold, new, radically inclusive vision for who we are and who we can be. In doing so, we will be better equipped to face the truths of our past and the consequences of our actions and inactions, however painful, and bring about much-needed change for our future.”

With Southern Futures — which received a $1 million grant from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust — CPA builds on its successful artist residency programs, including the DisTIL and Creative Futures initiatives. CPA’s partnership with the Kenan Trust dates to its founding in 2005, when the Trust established an inaugural challenge endowment to fuel CPA’s inception. From that time, the Kenan Trust has supported CPA in its evolution to become a leading university-based presenter in academic integration and design of artist residencies and co-creative practices. CPA will continue its investment in artists and their collaborative work through the long-term, iterative relationships at the core of Southern Futures.

In using the arts to amplify the larger Southern Futures initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill, Southern Futures at CPA aligns with key strategic initiatives in the chancellor’s Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good, especially: build our community together; strengthen student success; discover; promote democracy; serve to benefit society; and globalize.

“The Southern Futures mission statement is a call to collective action: Reimagine the American South,” said Elizabeth Engelhardt, co-director of Southern Futures at UNC, senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities in the College of Arts & Sciences, and John Shelton Reed Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies. “We bring artists and performers together with students, faculty, archivists, community leaders, scholars, and researchers in service of an American South that is ethical and just for everyone. To imagine is powerful; to reimagine is transformative.”

About Carolina Performing Arts

The mission of Carolina Performing Arts is to spark curiosity, inspiring all members of its community to discover and more fully engage with the world. The 21/22 season programming at Carolina Performing Arts features Southern Futures, designed to facilitate co-creative arts experiences that produce diverse and nuanced narratives about racial equity, social justice, and the American South and create spaces for inclusive dialogue and learning.