Neighborhood Arts
Welcome to Neighborhood Arts!
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Neighborhood Arts season! There’s a lot to look forward to, totally free and open to all. You’re invited to dance along with artists from Wampanoag Nation, celebrate Day of the Dead with Veronica Robles, and hear world premiere music when the Solo(s) Together project returns.
We’re excited to present so many different styles and points of view. Pulse-pounding flamenco, two artists’ reflections on Puerto Rican musical styles, dazzling marimba virtuosity, contemporary dance, and more round out the season’s schedule.
New this year: your Neighborhood Arts experience doesn’t end when the performance does. After each event, you’re invited to share refreshments and conversation with the artists, venue and Celebrity Series staff, and your fellow audience members.
We can’t wait for you to experience these events, and look forward to seeing you in the new season!
Robin Lee Baker Associate Director of Community Engagement
Israel Gutierrez Manager of Community Engagement
Support Arts For All!
Celebrity Series’ Neighborhood Arts program presents top local and Boston-affiliated artists in venues across the city, in concerts that are free and open to all.
We invite you to explore the season and see the range of performances these brilliant artists will offer. Many Neighborhood Arts artists also present workshops behind the scenes to give students deeper appreciation and insights.
Programs like Neighborhood Arts are made possible with the support of Celebrity Series donors and members. When you make a charitable gift to Celebrity Series, you’ll help create a lasting impact on the arts community in your neighborhood!
Your Neighborhood Arts Experience: What to Expect
Scan to make a gift!
• Tickets are not required for these events, but sign up for email reminders on our website.
• Signing up for reminders doesn’t guarantee your spot: seating is first come, first served.
• Food, drinks, and conversation: stay after for refreshments from neighborhood restaurants!
• If you would like to request an accommodation, please contact boxoffice@celebrityseries.org at least two weeks before the event.
• If you need to stand up, leave the hall, or take a sensory break from the performance, you’ll be able to return to your seat at a pause in the music.
• Help us improve: enter to win Celebrity Series tickets when you take a survey at every event to let us know what you loved, and what we can do better!
Follow us on YouTube for video highlights from select shows!
Fabiola Méndez Quartet Flora Campesina
Saturday, September 28 at 3pm
Roxbury Community College Media Arts Center, Roxbury
Fabiola Méndez and her band present new and original music from their latest release Flora Campesina, merging the sounds of Puerto Rican folklore with story-telling lyrics, upbeat grooves, and contemporary sounds.
Edmar Colón Jazz Quartet
Featuring Terri Lyne Carrington & Kris Davis
Saturday, October 5 at 3pm
Roxbury Community College
Media Arts Center, Roxbury
Saxophonist, pianist, and composer Edmar Colón returns to Neighborhood Arts with his Quartet (plus some special guests). They will explore a collection of new original works that will be part of Edmar’s upcoming solo debut album. The program will also include some timeless and classic songs from Edmar’s native Puerto Rico, adapted for this stellar band.
John Paul McGee Jazz Quartet
Intertwined: An Afternoon of Gospejazzical
Saturday, October 26 at 3pm
Bethel AME Church, Jamaica Plain
Pianist and bandleader John Paul McGee makes his Neighborhood Arts debut with his Jazz Quartet. Dr. McGee and his band blend gospel, jazz, and classical music into an entertaining and inspiring style that he calls “Gospejazzical.” Lift your spirits with the John Paul McGee Jazz Quartet!
Veronica Robles
Female Mariachi Día de los Muertos
Saturday, November 2 at 3pm Arlington Street Church, Back Bay
Veronica Robles returns to Neighborhood Arts to celebrate Day of the Dead. Traditional Mexican songs pair with newer selections that reflect on the spirit of the holiday. Veronica performs with her groundbreaking all-female mariachi and young artists learning Mexican folkloric dance traditions at Veronica Robles Cultural Center. Don’t miss a Celebrity Series audience favorite, and get ready to sing along!
Co-sponsored by Ágora Cultural Architects
más de la banda
Nino de los Reyes Flamenco Ensemble Uno
Saturday, November 16 at 3pm Roxbury Community College Media Arts Center, Roxbury
Flamenco artist Nino de los Reyes returns to Neighborhood Arts with Uno más de la banda, a new program that brings together music and dance in thrilling ways. Nino, the only dancer to win a Grammy Award for his musical contributions to Chick Corea and the Spanish Heart Band’s album Antidote, makes his steps, claps, and vocalizations an essential part of the music. In this show, the bailador in the spotlight becomes another member of the band.
Reggie Harris & Alastair Moock vocalists with Boston City Singers
Race and Song: A Musical Conversation
Saturday, December 7 at 3pm Salvation Army Kroc Center, Dorchester
Race and Song was born in 2020 out of a deep bond and nearly 30-year friendship between veteran musicians and storytelling troubadours Reggie Harris and Alastair Moock. Together in musical conversation, the two musicians from different backgrounds explore complex issues of race, class, gender, and history. They frame their lived experiences through music for a program that’s as entertaining as it is educational.
Stringfest with Rasa String Quartet
Featuring youth ensembles from Boston Music Project, City Strings United, and Project STEP
Saturday, December 14 at 3pm Salvation Army Kroc Center, Dorchester
Maura Shawn Scanlin violin
Emma Kondo Powell violin
Kiyoshi Hayashi viola
Mina Kim cello
Boston’s Rasa String Quartet finds their niche in the musical space where classical and East Asian folk traditions intersect. In this Stringfest concert, the Rasa Quartet coaches and performs alongside young string players from Boston Music Project, City Strings United, and Project STEP.
Vessel of Voice
Steph Davis marimba Maria Finkelmeier marimba with Angela Shankar clarinet
Saturday, February 8 at 3pm Multicultural Arts Center, East Cambridge
Through solos and duos, Steph Davis and Maria Finkelmeier, along with guest artist Angela Shankar, explore the resonance and sound spectrum of the marimba with clarinet. From moving spirituals to contemporary classical explorations, the artists share the ways in which the instruments can embody and express many voices and histories.
Solo(s) Together
Celebrity Series’ Solo(s) Together new works project returns in the new season!
Launched in 2022 as we considered what it means to be together after the isolation of the pandemic, the project matches composers with Boston-based ensembles to commission and create short pieces with a solo for each player before all the artists once again perform as a group.
The Solo(s) Together project centers a diverse group of creators and musicians from communities historically underrepresented in the chamber and classical music establishment.
Castle of Our Skins Wind Quintet
Saturday, March 1 at 3pm
Bethel AME Church, Jamaica Plain
In partnership with composer Brian Raphael Nabors, woodwind players from Castle of our Skins perform a world premiere contemporary work that gives each player a moment to shine: to dazzle you, to move you, to make you think. Also on the program are woodwind ensemble works by composer/conductor/bass-baritone Damien Geter, musician and multimedia artist Mason Bynes, and Ghana-born American composer Fred Onovwerosuoke.
Boston Conservatory Faculty Brass Quintet
Sunday, April 6 at 4pm Arlington Street Church, Back Bay
Five members of Boston Conservatory at Berklee School of Music’s brass faculty, all extraordinary performers and committed educators, come together to present the world premiere of a Solo(s) Together work by Alice Gomez, commissioned by Celebrity Series, along with other selections for trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba.
Co-sponsored by Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Ágora Cultural Architects
Joseph Foley trumpet
Richard Kelley trumpet
Anne Howarth horn
Angel Subero trombone
Kenneth Amis tuba
Trio Oko
Saturday, May 3 at 3pm Bethel AME Church, Jamaica Plain
Creating meaningful and joyful human connection through music, Trio Oko highlights their distinctive harp trio instrumentation with the world premiere of a Solo(s) Together work by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, created just for them. Esmail’s Piano Trio features on the program, rewritten for harp by Trio Oko’s Charles Overton. Other selections honor the spirit of Solo(s) Together, giving performers space to shine, one at a time.
Charles Overton harp
Emma Kondo Powell violin
Mina Kim cello
Choreographer Jenny Oliver with music composed by Steph Davis marimba Grey Space/Blue Skies
Saturday, February 22 at 3pm
Multicultural Arts Center, East Cambridge
Dancer and choreographer Jenny Oliver partners with marimbist Steph Davis for Gray Space / Blue Skies, an afternoon of new choreography and commissioned music.
Get excited for this creation by two engaging storytellers with big ideas, both committed to elevating the marginalized and inspiring audiences to strive toward empowerment, empathy, and liberation.
Wampanoag Nation Singers & Dancers
Saturday, March 8 at 2pm & 4pm
Multicultural Arts Center, East Cambridge
This powerful, joyful, familyfriendly performance offers a deep opportunity to learn and join the dancers in song and movement. Alongside the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers, the audience is invited to honor the natural world and 12,000 years of ongoing Wampanoag culture.
The Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers ask for your participation in this event: please come prepared to dance and sing in the ways that you are able!
Stringfest with Borromeo String Quartet
Featuring Boston String Academy
Saturday, March 29 at 3pm Salvation Army Kroc Center, Dorchester
Young musicians from Boston String Academy, one of the top El Sistemainspired programs in the United States, get an amazing opportunity when the internationally renowned Borromeo String Quartet coaches and performs Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence alongside them in this Stringfest performance.
Nadia Washington Quartet
Saturday, April 26 at 3pm Arlington Street Church, Back Bay
Powerhouse vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist Nadia Washington makes her Celebrity Series debut with her Quartet. Share an afternoon of heartfelt original music that effortlessly traverses jazz, gospel, folk, world, and rock & roll. Nadia’s captivating music and storytelling will reconnect you to hope and healing for an unforgettable artistic experience.
Co-sponsored by Ágora Cultural Architects
