Live Performers

Nicole Henry

Since her debut, Nicole Henry has established herself among the jazz world’s most acclaimed performers, possessing a potent combination of dynamic vocal abilities, impeccable phrasing and powerful emotional resonance. Her passionate, soulful voice and heartfelt charisma have earned her a Soul Train Award for “Best Traditional Jazz Performance,” and four Top-10 U.S. Billboard, JazzWeek and HMV Japan jazz albums. Heralded by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Japan Times, El Pais, Jazz Times, Essence and more, Henry tells real stories through peerless interpretations of repertoire from the American Songbook, classic and contemporary jazz, popular standards, blues and originals.

She has captivated audiences in more than 20 countries, headlining at venues in cities including New York, Tokyo, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Miami. Henry has also performed in more than 30 music festivals worldwide and in some of the world’s most famous venues, including Blue Note; Jazz at Lincoln Center; Blues Alley; Arsht Center; Feinstein’s; Green Mill; Jazz St. Louis; Madrid Jazz Festival; the Regattabar; and Catalina Jazz.

She has recorded with some of today’s musical greats including Kirk Whalum, Julian Lage and Gerald Clayton; and has performed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra and Michael Feinstein. In 2019, Henry returned to the theatrical stage and garnered critical praise in the musical version of “The Bodyguard.”

Based on Henry’s various career accomplishments and active commitment to supporting nonprofits such as Miami Music Project (board member), YoungArts and Miami Children’s Initiative (past board member), proclamations from the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County have named “Nicole Henry Days” in 2011, 2016 and 2017.

Constantine Kitsopoulos

Festival Boca’s Music Director, Kitsopoulos has established himself as a dynamic conductor known for his ability to work in many different genres and settings. He is equally at home with opera, symphonic repertoire, film with live orchestra, musical theatre and composition. His work has taken him all over the world, where he has conducted the major orchestras of North America, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Tokyo Philharmonic.

In addition to Maestro Kitsopoulos’ engagements as guest conductor, he is Music Director of the Festival of the Arts Boca and General Director of Chatham Opera. He is General Director of the New York Grand Opera and is working with the company to bring opera, free and open to the public, back to New York’s Central Park.

During the 2021-2022 season Maestro Kitsopoulos conducted return engagements with the San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony and Indiana University.

Maestro Kitsopoulos has developed semi-staged productions of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” for which he has written a new translation,“Don Giovanni” and “La Bohème.” On Broadway, Maestro Kitsopoulos has been music director of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,”The Gershwins’“Porgy and Bess” and many others.

Hina Khuong-Huu: “Scheherazade and Soloists”

A prizewinner of the Menuhin Competition, Violin Channel “Rising Star” Hina Khuong-Huu has been performing around the world appearing as a soloist and as a duo with her sister Fiona. Hina is a native to New York, where she studies at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of professors Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman, and Columbia University through their double degree program.

She has performed as a soloist with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Geneva, Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Mittel Europa Orchestra and the Musica Mundi Orchestra. She has collaborated with artists such as Grammy award-winner Jennifer Koh in her “Alone Together” series, and she shared a stage with Maxim Vengerov at Carnegie Hall and Buckingham Palace. She has performed on the NPR radio show “From the Top” and was recently a recipient of the Salon De Virtuosi Career Grant. During the summer, she has studied chamber music with the renowned faculty of the Perlman Music Program, with Shlomo Mintz at Crans Montana Classics, and her mentors include the likes of Vadim Gluzman and Menahem Pressler.

Sergio Mendes

One common thread weaves throughout the staggeringly diverse tapestry of music that Sergio Mendes has created over his remarkable six-decade career: the spirit of joy. From his pioneering contributions to the foundations of bossa nova alongside the likes of Antonio Carlos Jobim, through the era-defining Latin-pop sound of his iconic group Brasil ’66; to his scintillating collaborations with jazz legends like Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann; to his chart-topping adult contemporary smash “Never Gonna Let You Go;” on through his 21st-century reinvention with the Black-Eyed Peas and John Legend or his Oscar®-nominated theme song from the animated hit “Rio”; an infectious spirit of joy pervades everything Mendes has ushered into the ears of listeners.

The Brazilian legend’s 2020 album is no exception. On In the Key of Joy, Mendes looks back the only way he knows how—by once again moving forward. Released to coincide with a new documentary on his life by acclaimed filmmaker John Scheinfeld (“Chasing Trane,”“Who is Harry Nilsson?”), the album melds the classic Brazilian, jazz and pop sounds that have long characterized Mendes’ music with contemporary inspirations that make the album sound at once timeless and wholly of the moment.

Christina Maxwell: “Voices Rise: Young People’s Chorus of New York City”

New York City-based singer and actress Christina Maxwell is a rising star on the Broadway scene. She was recently awarded the New York Musical Festival’s award for “Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role” as Laura Evans in “Sonata 1962,” and for appearing as Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland in the Papermill Playhouse production of “Chasing Rainbows.” Maxwell has performed with symphonies and in concert across the globe, from the Forbidden City in Beijing, China to Carnegie Hall, at Citi Field with the New York Mets, and on television as the new face and voice of Humira’s national commercial campaign.

Maxwell also passionately works at the intersection of the arts and the corporate world as a director at Related Companies, serving as the executive director of High Line Nine Galleries, and overseeing the company’s art collection and cultural partnerships. Additionally, she was named the Distinguished Young Woman of America in 2012, for her excellence in scholastics, leadership and talent, joining the ranks of women including Dianne Sawyer and Deborah Norville and traveling the nation performing and speaking. Maxwell is a native of Asheville, North Carolina, and graduated summa cum laude from University of Michigan’s acclaimed Musical Theatre program.

Kara Ravaschieri: “Scheherazade and Soloists”

Kara Ravaschieri of Jupiter, Florida, performs in the Wind Ensemble and Philharmonic Orchestra at Dreyfoos School of the Arts. In 2021, she won first place in the second Festival of the Arts Music Contest. Ravaschieri is a member of the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County, FMEA All State MS Band (2019/2020), and FMEA All State 9/10 Concert Band (2021). In 2021 and 2022 she served as principal flute in the renowned New World Symphony Side-by-Side Concert conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Last January she was principal flute of the FMEA All State Concert Orchestra. In addition, Ravaschieri won the Palm Beach County Music Teachers Association Honors Competition (2021), and in 2022 she won the Florida Flute Association High School Young Artist Competition.

Young People’s Chorus of New York City

Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC) is a multicultural youth chorus internationally renowned for its superb virtuosity, brilliant showmanship and innovative model of diversity. Founded by Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez, a MacArthur Fellow and Musical America’s 2018 Educator of the Year, YPC’s spectacular artistry has been showcased in award-winning performances around the world. With repertoire spanning Renaissance, classical, gospel, folk, jazz, pop and contemporary traditions, YPC also continually invigorates its catalog of music for young voices by commissioning pieces of diverse music from many of the most distinguished and emerging composers of our time.

The chorus frequently inspires invitations from a wide range of cultural institutions and festivals and recently performed in front of a national televised audience during the 9/11 20th Anniversary Memorial; at the renowned Global Citizen Live festival; at the Saks

Fifth Avenue Holiday Light Show, alongside guest speaker Michelle Obama; and at the 95th-annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Among YPC’s many awards is America’s highest honor for youth programs, a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, presented to members of YPC at the White House. Under the direction of YPC’s Associate Artistic Director, Elizabeth Núñez, YPC also earned the distinction of “Choir of the World” at the 2018 International Choral Kathaumixw, marking the first time a North American chorus has ever won this title.