This page, clockwise from top left: Lakecia Benjamin (page 35), Taj Mahal (page 18), Angélique Kidjo (page 16), Philip Dukes (pages 17, 21, 26, 34).
Opposite page: Anda Union (page 28)
Welcome to the Savannah Music Festival!
We are excited to present our 2025 Savannah Music Festival lineup, and as you look through this brochure, you will see why! It is a musical feast with beautiful experiences waiting to be discovered. You will see why publications like the Toronto Star have called us “one of North America’s most distinctive musical events.” We hope you will join us to hear world-class artists in classical, jazz, American and global roots as they perform in venues throughout Savannah’s beautiful Historic District.
SMF is a world of music in one city, showcasing talents from across the globe. Some are festival favorites returning with new projects such as Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Sebastian Knauer, Angélique Kidjo, DakhaBrakha, Branford Marsalis, Danish String Quartet, BalletCollective and Anda Union, and others like Step Afrika!, Warren Haynes Band, Marcus King, Lakecia Benjamin, Endea Owens & the Cookout, Julia Fischer, and Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano make their festival debuts. Additionally, we’ll celebrate the musical legacy of the late Gregg Allman with a series of events during the second weekend that will feature special guests.
SMF is known for its unique co-bills, artistic collaborations, and special concert events. This season is no exception. The Philip Dukes & Friends chamber series (generously sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas V. and Susan G. Reilly) welcomes Dukes and his colleagues from across North America and Europe for six concerts of extraordinary classical music; BalletCollective’s long-anticipated return brings Georgia native choreographers Troy Schumacher and Gabrielle Lamb home for a series of ballets with live, original scores; Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller bring musical suites that celebrate the natural world; and co-bills feature the likes of Langhorne Slim and Shovels & Rope, along with emerging bluegrass artists Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and East Nash Grass.
This season also features an expanded Encounters series, including documentary screenings, panel discussions, pre-concert talks, a music and cooking session, and other activities—offering added context to the artists’ work and enriching the SMF experience.
An event of this international stature, along with the year-round community impact programs in local classrooms, afterschool programs, and community centers, would not be possible without the support of a wonderful community of donors, sponsors, community partners, and volunteers. We especially wish to recognize the generous contributions given by our Founding Sponsors: Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Bob Faircloth, the Wall Lynch Family, and Ron and Susan Whitaker. We are grateful to everyone who has helped us bring this festival to life for the past 36 years, and we hope you will delight in the fruits of your support by enjoying the full range of our offerings.
On behalf of the Savannah Music Festival board of directors and staff, we thank you for being part of this season!
Director
Gene Dobbs Bradford Executive
Ryan McMaken Artistic Director
Festival Society
Chickadee Communications, The Drayton Hotel, John Davis Florist, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Lighthouse Catering & Events, Lucky Savannah Vacation Rentals, Pittman Enterprises, Staging By Design LLC
Media Sponsors
Concert Circle Supporters
Founder
Bob Faircloth
The Wall Lynch Family ♪
Ron & Susan Whitaker ♪
Diamond
Mr. & Mrs. Curtis Anderson
Charles A. Frueauff Foundation ♪
Robert M. and Diane vS. Levy
Family Foundation ♪
Charles & Rosalie Morris
Thomas V. & Susan G. Reilly
Platinum
Anonymous
Mary & Patton Dugas
Marla & Morris Geffen ♪
David & Caroline Johnson
Diana Lee Langer Jones
Dayle & Aaron Levy ♪
J C Lewis Foundation
Vicki & Jerry McElreath ♪
Tom & Ruth McMullin
Wilson Morris
Stephanie & Michael Reardon
Shelby G. Schavoir
Robin & Sandy Stuart
Pamela & Peter Voss
Rhegan White-Clemm & Timothy Clemm
Gold
Ira P. Berman & Helen A. Borrello
Joseph & Susan Dockman
Richard Kessler
Jeff & Lee Ann Kole
Larry Pike in memory of Bonnie Pike
Jackie & Stephen Rabinowitz
Maura Sovchen
Johanna Anderson Trueblood
Foundation ♪
Susan Willetts & Alan Pritz
Silver
Walter G. Canipe Foundation, Inc. ♪
Dorothea & Tim Coy
Joel Canter and Amanda Bodian
The Chatham Foundation
Steve & Carter Eagle
Jonathan Friedland
The Hunter Foundation
Bill & Bev Jaques
Bill & Becky Keightley
Farina & Christopher Kingsley
Kiwanis Club of Skidaway ♪
Dave Lake & Linda Wright
Margie & B.H. Levy, Jr.
Marysue McCarthy
Phillipa S. & James L. Montag
Dave & Sylvaine Neises
The One Hundred Children’s Foundation ♪
Regina & Rick Roney
The Solomons Fund
John & Polly Tucker
Charles & Karena Virginia
Nina & Bill Weil
Harold & Peggy Yellin
♪ Thank you to these donors and sponsors who gave in whole or part to support Savannah Music Festival’s community impact programs. Please see page 40 and 41 for more information about these efforts.
* Donors and sponsors whose sponsorships are partially in-kind Listings above as of 11.05.2024
Bronze
Robin & Steve Allen
Einar and Betsey Andersen
Anonymous ♪
Kelley & Neil Berman
Carole & Gene Brogdon
Joan & Gary Capen
Lori & Bruce Eckert
Find Your Light Foundation ♪
Friends of the Savannah Music Festival
Willard & Jean Holland
Toby W. Hollenberg
Karen & Ted Kleisner
Betsy Lancaster
Richard K. Lane
Dr. M. Ann Levett
Mr. & Mrs. Francis J. Mirabello
Mrs. Ellen O'Bannon
Liz & Bruce Pendleton
Joyce Roché & Johnie Seals
R.D. Sachdev
Diane & Ed Schmults
Dr. & Mrs. Andrew T. Sheils, Jr.
Marti & Austin Sullivan
Obby Tapley
Christopher Walls
Cynthia Willett
Gary & Judy Witbeck
Concerts at a Glance
Wed 3/26
Thu 3/27
Fri 3/28
6 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 15mins
6 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 30mins
7 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 15mins
7:30 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 15mins
8 PM
Approx. duration: 2hrs
8 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 30mins
12:30 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 15mins
5 and 7:30 PM
Approx. duration: 1hr 15mins
5:30 and 8 PM
Sat 3/29
DakhaBrakha Borscht Workshop
Julia Fischer & Jan Lisiecki
Emmet Cohen & New Jazz Underground
DakhaBrakha
BalletCollective: Translation
Leftover Salmon
Noon30: Emmet Cohen, piano
Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
Approx. duration: 1hr 15mins BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
6 PM Approx. duration: 1hr 5mins Michelle Cann, piano
Approx. duration: 2hrs Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Family-friendly performances (applies to early show only). Ticket discounts for children are available. See page page 45 and call 912.525.5050 for more information.
$39 (General Admission)
Trinity United Methodist Church
$58 (General Admission)
Metal Building at Trustees' Garden
$47 (General Admission)
District Live
$47 (General Admission)
Metal Building at Trustees' Garden
$45 (General Admission)
Metal Building at Trustees' Garden
$47 (General Admission)
Trustees Theater
$47 (General Admission)
Johnny Mercer
$195 (Gold Circle), 135, 95, 77, 57
Identifies performances in which patrons are likely to be on their feet and/or dancing. In theaters, those sensitive to this activity are encouraged to purchase early and select balcony/mezzanine seats.
Julia Fischer, violin & Jan Lisiecki, piano
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 6 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission $58
CLASSICAL
One of the world’s leading violinists, Julia Fischer is a versatile musician also known for her extraordinary abilities as a concert pianist, a chamber musician and a music teacher. The first prize at the international Yehudi Menuhin Competition in 1995 was one of the milestones in her early career. She has since performed with top orchestras worldwide and frequently collaborates with renowned conductors. In her Savannah Music Festival debut, Fischer is joined by Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, who made his Savannah Music Festival recital debut in 2017. Lisiecki looks back on a career spanning a decade and a half on the world’s greatest stages. He also works closely with the foremost conductors and orchestras of our time, performing over a hundred concerts a year. This unique duo program will be presented only 15 times in major halls and festivals across North America and Europe. This opening night festival concert is not to be missed.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Violin Sonata No. 26 in B-flat Major, K. 378
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Opus 24, “Spring“ –INTERMISSION–
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Opus 121
Emmet Cohen & New Jazz Underground
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 7 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $47
JAZZ
Pianist and composer Emmet Cohen has emerged as one of his generation’s leading figures in jazz. DownBeat observed that his “nimble touch, measured stride and warm harmonic vocabulary indicate he’s above any convoluted technical showmanship.” Possessing a fluid technique, an innovative tonal palette, and an extensive repertoire, Cohen plays with the command of a seasoned veteran and the passion of an artist fully devoted to his medium. In this Savannah Music Festival return, Emmet Cohen is joined by New Jazz Underground, a trio that has been described as “an innovative and ultra-creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of jazz and beyond”. Merging traditional jazz sensibilities with modern influences such as swing, hip-hop, house, Afrobeat, and Afro-Cuban music, the trio initially gained recognition through viral videos showcasing their chemistry, musicality, and raw ambition.
NEXT-DAY MIDDAY PERFORMANCE
Noon30:
Emmet Cohen, piano
Friday, March 28, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $39
JAZZ
DakhaBrakha
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 7:30 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
GLOBAL ROOTS
DakhaBrakha is a quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine that creates a world of unexpected new music. Reflecting fundamental elements of sound and soul, DakhaBrakha was created in 2004 at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art ‘DAKH’ by avant-garde theater director Vladyslav Troitskyi. The name means ‘give/take’ in the old Ukrainian language. After experimenting with Ukrainian folk music, they began to incorporate the rhythms of global traditions into their music, creating the unique and unforgettable sound of DakhaBrakha. Accompanied by Indian, Arabic, African, and Ukrainian traditional instrumentation, the quartet’s astonishingly powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a distinctive global sound that is still rooted in Ukrainian culture. This is their first Savannah Music Festival appearance since 2017.
ENCOUNTERS SERIES
DakhaBrakha’s Borscht Workshop
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 | 6 PM
Teaching Kitchen at the Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $20
Join DakhaBrakha for an evening of Ukrainian folk songs and borscht! In a cooking show style, they’ll prepare a pot of the classic beet soup live on stage, accompanied by traditional Ukrainian tunes. Everyone will get the opportunity to sample the soup at the end of the workshop.
“The group mixes everything from punk-pop to traditional Ukrainian songs in cool yet beguiling textures, often with the close harmonies usually associated with Balkan music. But it’s really the live shows that take DakhaBrakha beyond mere curiosity to utter brilliance.”
–NPR
BalletCollective: Translation
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 8 PM
Lucas Theatre for the Arts
Tickets start at $46
DANCE
Founded in 2010 by acclaimed choreographer, director, and New York City Ballet soloist Troy Schumacher, arts nonprofit BalletCollective asks not what ballet is, but what it can be. By partnering with both emerging and established art makers and thought leaders, they use a deeply collaborative, signature process to make forward-thinking ballet-based works. This long-anticipated BalletCollective presentation incorporates work by dancerchoreographers and Georgia natives Gabrielle Lamb and Artistic Director Troy Schumacher. This program features scores by composers Caleb Burhans, Phong Tran and Julianna Barwick and pieces from collaborations with artist and MacArthur Fellow Trevor Paglen, game developer Samantha Lee, Chilean installation artist Sergio Mora Diaz and science fiction writer Ken Liu. Anchored by Schumacher’s Translation, the program takes the audience through several styles of ballet.
Leftover Salmon
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 8 PM
Victory North
General Admission
AMERICAN ROOTS
$47
In their fourth decade as a band, Leftover Salmon’s current lineup has been together longer than any other and is one of their strongest ever. Built around founding members Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman, the band is now powered by banjo wizard Andy Thorn, the steady rhythm section of bassist Greg Garrison (who performed at Savannah Music Festival 2024 with Mighty Poplar) and drummer Alwyn Robinson, along with dobro and keyboard player Jay Starling. This lineup continues Salmon’s storied history, which began with their roots in progressive bluegrass and evolved as they became one of the original jam bands and the architects of what is now known as jamgrass. Don’t miss their Savannah Music Festival debut!
Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
Friday, March 28, 2025 | 5 PM and 7:30 PM Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $45
GLOBAL ROOTS
Formed by writer Rina Durante in 1975, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS) is regarded as Italy’s leading and longest-standing traditional music ensemble, hailing from Salento in Puglia. Italy’s fascinating dichotomy of tradition and modernity comes together in the music of CGS. The seven-piece band and dancer are the leading exponents in a new wave of young performers reinventing Southern Italy’s pizzica music and dance traditions for today’s global audience. The tens of thousands who often congregate for this Lecce-based band’s concerts in Italy know that bandleader, fiddler and drummer Mauro Durante and company can make an audience shimmy with the energy of the ancient ritual of pizzica tarantata, said to cure the tarantula spider’s bite with its frenzied trance-like dances. CGS shows are full of energy, passion, rhythm and mystery, bringing the audience from the past into modernity, and back. This is their first time at Savannah Music Festival.
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
Friday, March 28, 2025 | 5:30 PM and 8 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
AMERICAN ROOTS
CAJUN DANCE PARTY!
Michelle Cann, piano
Friday, March 28, 2025 | 6 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission $58
CLASSICAL
For 50 years, two-time Grammy winner BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet has been hailed as one of the best Cajun bands in the world. Doucet and the band can be credited with helping take Cajun music from its regional roots in Louisiana to popularity worldwide. Making their Savannah Music Festival debut with these performances, BeauSoleil’s distinctive sound derives from New Orleans jazz, blues rock, folk, swamp pop, zydeco, country and bluegrass. Driven by bandleader Michael Doucet’s spellbinding fiddle and soulful vocals, BeauSoleil always gets audiences dancing!
Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann is one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation and a leading interpreter of the music of Florence Price. Recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Her honors include the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. A committed educator, she joined the Curtis Institute of Music piano faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies. In 2024, she was named the inaugural Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner of the American Pianists Association, responsible for artistic oversight of the American Pianists Awards. This is Michelle Cann’s Savannah Music Festival debut.
FLORENCE PRICE Fantasie Nègre Nos. 1, 2, 4
MARGARET BONDS Spiritual Suite
BETTY JACKSON KING Four Seasonal Sketches
NORA HOLT Negro Dance Opus 25, No. 1
HAZEL SCOTT
Improvisation on Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C-sharp minor
Improvisation on Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Shovels & Rope / Langhorne Slim
Friday, March 28, 2025 | 8 PM Lucas Theatre for the Arts Tickets start at $39 AMERICAN ROOTS
A co-bill of special acoustic performances!
Shovels & Rope’s Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst are an acclaimed folk-rock duo from Charleston, SC. This intimate acoustic set will feature songs from their Fall 2023 Bare Bones tour, where they performed across 16 cities on the East Coast and Midwest. The duo will perform strippeddown renditions of songs from their celebrated body of work, including their most recent album, Something is Working Up Above My Head
Langhorne Slim is a beloved and acclaimed American singer, songwriter and performer. Over the last two decades, he has merged a stew of styles to create a sound that is unique, powerful and raw. From campfires to dive bars, and theaters to arenas, Slim brings an intimacy and edge through his innate ability to connect with his audiences. Though he’s been at this for the better part of his days, it somehow feels like he’s just getting started.
East Nash Grass / Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Saturday, March 29, 2025
4:30 PM and 8 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $47
AMERICAN ROOTS
East Nash Grass, a standout band from Nashville’s vibrant music scene, built its reputation on nightly performances around Music City’s East side. What began as a casual weekly bluegrass night at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge gradually evolved into a dedicated group, eventually becoming one of bluegrass’s top young bands. In 2024, they won the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) “New Artist of the Year” award, with members highly sought after as side musicians for genre stars. Whether playing bluegrass Mondays at Dee’s or on the Ryman Auditorium stage, East Nash Grass brings swagger, skill, and high energy to every performance.
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes is renowned as a prolific instrumentalist, earning two IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year awards and a Grammy for her work with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway. Her new solo album, I Built a World, also showcases her impressive vocal abilities. As a child, she transitioned from music lessons to public performances, especially in Irish music, after her family moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. Her lifelong music education, including the American Roots Music program at Berklee and Savannah Music Festival’s Acoustic Music Seminar, continues to shape her work. She blends traditional bluegrass with personal expression, saying, “My favorite bluegrass musicians are rooted in tradition but don’t see boundaries.”
Catherine Russell & Sean Mason
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 5 PM and 7:30 PM
District Live at Plant Riverside District
General Admission $47
JAZZ
Esteemed Grammy-nominated vocalist Catherine Russell and celebrated pianist Sean Mason join forces for this opening Savannah Music Festival concert at District Live. Catherine Russell and Sean Mason share a profound connection that transcends their impressive individual talents. Both masters of jazz, their repertoires span the vast landscape of AfricanAmerican and American popular music, from the blues and R&B to the Great American Songbook, Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. This collaboration represents a unique convergence of experience and youthful virtuosity, offering a fresh yet timeless sound. “Singing with the great pianist Sean Mason allows for the freedom to have fun and be in the moment. We understand each other,” says Russell.
“A voice that wails like a horn and whispers like a snake in the garden of eden.”
Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 5 PM and 8 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
GLOBAL ROOTS
Son cubano is one of the most popular musical styles in Cuba, and Kiki Valera is one of its foremost exponents. Over the last century, this style of traditional Cuban music has contributed to many other genres of music, including jazz, cha cha cha, mambo, salsa, songo and timba. Kiki Valera is the oldest son of the famous La Familia Valera Miranda septet, a multi-generational traditional music group from Santiago de Cuba. Since the 19th century, La Familia Valera Miranda has played a significant role in Cuban culture by collecting and preserving the deep-rooted traditions of the legendary Sierra Maestra mountain region. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and producer, he’s best known as one of the world’s greatest players of the Cuban cuatro, a mid-size guitar with 8 strings grouped in sets of 2. His current project features several other internationally acclaimed recording artists and is sure to keep audiences on their feet.
Angélique Kidjo
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 8 PM Lucas Theatre for the Arts Tickets start at $42
GLOBAL ROOTS
Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today—a creative force with sixteen albums to her name. Time Magazine has called her “Africa’s premier diva” and named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2021. The BBC has included her in its list of the continent’s 50 most iconic figures, and in 2011 The Guardian listed her as one of their Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World. Forbes Magazine has ranked Kidjo as the first woman in their list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2015 Crystal Award given by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the 2016 Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the 2018 German Sustainability Award, the 2023 Vilcek Prize in Music, and the 2023 Polar Music Prize. As a polyglot performer, her striking voice, stage presence and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have won the respect of her peers and expanded her following across national borders. Kidjo has crosspollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. Don’t miss this electrifying opening weekend concert and be prepared to get on your feet and dance!
Philip Dukes & Friends I: Mozart by Candlelight
Sunday, March 30, 2025 | 3 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $53
CLASSICAL
An unforgettable concert experience, unlike any we’ve presented at the Savannah Music Festival! A fabulous and extended evening featuring some of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most popular compositions and readings from his letters. Step back in time and look forward to Savannah Music Festival chamber musicians as you have never seen them before—in 18th-century costume!
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478 Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K. 304 –INTERMISSION–
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Divertimento No. 1 in D Major, K. 136 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525
Encore to follow
Jenny Scheinman presents All Species Parade
featuring Bill Frisell, Carmen Staaf, Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen
Sunday, March 30, 2025 | 7 PM
District Live at Plant Riverside District General Admission $39
AMERICAN ROOTS
Jenny Scheinman, acclaimed violinist and composer, for many years a stalwart of the New York jazz and creative music scenes, returned to her native Humboldt County, California in 2012. She has played Savannah Music Festival with her projects Mischief & Mayhem and Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait, and was an instructor during Savannah Music Festival’s Acoustic Music Seminar. With the creation of her new project, All Species Parade, Scheinman immersed herself in the sounds and cultural history of her homeland, aiming to musically conjure the extraordinary diversity of life, past and present, in the Pacific Northwest. Scheinman’s all-original program came together on a duo album including pianist Carmen Staaf, guitarists Bill Frisell, Nels Cline and Julian Lage, and the revered rhythm section of Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen.
”All Species Parade may well be the versatile Jenny Scheinman’s best across a multi-genre career.”
–GLIDE MAGAZINE
Taj Mahal Quintet
Sunday, March 30, 2025 | 7 PM Lucas Theatre for the Arts Tickets start at $42
AMERICAN ROOTS
For more than 40 years, four-time Grammy-winning Blues Hall of Famer Taj Mahal and his band have taken blues on a joyous ride through reggae, funk, jazz, Cajun, and more, leaving a trail of swinging hips and raised palms in their wake. The Quintet is made up of internationally renowned bassist Bill Rich and steel drummer Robert Greenidge (Jimmy Buffet’s Coral Reefer Band), revered percussionist/drummer Tony Durham and Hawaii-based guitarist and lap steel master Bobby Ingano. The Quintet matches musical virtuosity with downhome grit unlike anyone else. They blend sophistication with humble familiarity, equally at home on a shotgunshack porch or the Carnegie Hall stage. According to Taj, the collaboration extends far beyond the Quintet itself.
“Music is like theater to a lot of people— they’re watching it,” he says. “You can watch it, but you’re supposed to participate. The audience is just as much a part of the music as the musicians are.”
Taj pauses, then adds with a warm laugh, “I do like it when they dance.”
Simon Mulligan Plays Bernstein
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church General Admission $47
CLASSICAL
British pianist Simon Mulligan is a prolific and versatile musician, having performed with Yehudi Menuhin, Lynn Harrell, and Joshua Bell, among many others. He also works in contemporary music, film and jazz, holds the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music, and is an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland. In this Savannah Music Festival solo debut, Mulligan plays his own transcriptions and improvisations of celebrated works by Leonard Bernstein from West Side Story, On the Town, Wonderful Town, and Candide. Simon Mulligan is a Steinway artist.
Edmar Castañeda Quartet
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $47
JAZZ GLOBAL ROOTS
Upon arriving in the United States in 1994, Colombian-born Edmar Castañeda made a name for himself as the preeminent jazz harp virtuoso. Castañeda brings forth a brilliance that beautifully merges the jazz tradition with a diverse set of styles and genres while bringing attention to the harp. Single-handedly, Castañeda has cemented the harp’s place in jazz with innovative technique and heartfelt creativity from a wealth of formidable collaborations with music titans such as Wynton Marsalis, Béla Fleck, John Scofield, Ricki Lee Jones, Hiromi, Pedrito Martinez, Marcus Miller, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ivan Lins, The Yellowjackets, Paco De Lucia, and Paquito D’Rivera. This is his Savannah Music Festival debut.
Noon30: Edmar Castañeda & Andrea Tierra
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $39
JAZZ GLOBAL ROOTS
An encore duo lunchtime performance by Edmar Castañeda (see page 19) and his wife, vocalist Andrea Tierra
Cillian Vallely, David Doocey & Alan Murray
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 4:30 and 7 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $47
GLOBAL ROOTS
This new trio features a unique collaboration between three of the bestknown names in traditional Irish music: Cillian Vallely on uilleann pipes, David Doocey on fiddle, and Alan Murray on guitar and vocals. They released their debut album to great critical acclaim, including a four-star review from the Irish Times. Armagh native Cillian Vallely has established his name over the last two decades through his playing with awardwinning Irish supergroup and Savannah Music Festival favorite Lúnasa, in addition to performing or recording with artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Declan O’Rourke. David Doocey, from Co. Mayo, is at the forefront of a younger generation of Irish musicians. He has won several awards for his outstanding fiddle playing, including the All-Ireland Fleadh, and has performed with Grada, Michael McGoldrick, Martin Hayes, and Sharon Shannon, among others. Guitarist, bouzouki player and singer Alan Murray hails from Glasgow, Scotland, where he grew up playing the whistle and later guitar. He has also worked with a wide range of artists, including Lúnasa, Eileen Ivers, and The Battlefield Band.
Philip Dukes & Friends II: Gems
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 6 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission $53
CLASSICAL
“Gems” of repertoire and “gems” of artists come together to deliver a glittering program of variety and some more lighthearted presentations—with one or two hidden talents on display! Philip Dukes and his chamber musician friends welcome a new artist to the chamber group: Grace Park on violin. It will be an evening to remember!
FRANZ SCHUBERT Fantasie in F minor, D. 940 (four hands)
ALAN RIDOUT Ferdinand and the Bull
ROBERT SCHUMANN Fantasiestücke, Opus 73
WALTER LEIGH Romance for Piano Quintet
–INTERMISSION–
GABRIEL FAURÉ Dolly Suite, Opus 56 (four hands)
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Opus 28
SAMUEL BARBER Adagio for Strings, Opus 11
LEROY ANDERSON Fun Favorites (arr. William Zinn): Serenata
Forgotten Dreams
Belle of the Ball
Encore to follow
Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 7 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
AMERICAN ROOTS
With a combined 18 IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year awards, these two phenoms have joined forces for a new duo project that is already taking the industry by storm. Their first single “Give It Away” reached #1 on Bluegrass Today’s charts, and weeks after its release, the duo received two standing ovations at the Grand Ole Opry (along with a quick invitation to return). From late-night jam sessions and unforgettable stage performances, to recording on each other’s solo projects, the idea of a joint collaboration began taking shape each time Carter and Cleveland visited. Michael Cleveland is a Grammy Award winner and NEA National Heritage Fellow who began playing professionally after high school with Dale Ann Bradley and Rhonda Vincent. He fronts the instrumental powerhouse Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, and has performed with Béla Fleck, Tommy Emmanuel, Billy Strings and Vince Gill, among others. For over three decades, Jason Carter has been a cornerstone of the bluegrass world, serving as the fiddler for the renowned Del McCoury Band and as co-founder of the Travelin’ McCourys. Carter has won three Grammy Awards, and has also recorded and performed with an impressive array of bluegrass and country music artists. In 2015, the prolific fiddler and baritone’s name was added to The Country Music Highway in Eastern Kentucky, alongside artists including Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle and Chris Stapleton.
Step Afrika!
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Lucas Theatre for the Arts
Tickets start at $39
AMERICAN ROOTS
Founded in 1994 by C. Brian Williams, Step Afrika! is the world’s leading authority on the art form of stepping. Under Mr. Williams’ leadership, stepping has evolved into one of America’s cultural exports. The company’s selftitled work Step Afrika! introduces audiences to stepping through both a traditional and contemporary lens. Step Afrika! combines percussive dance styles from historically African American fraternities and sororities, traditional African dances, and a range of contemporary dance and art forms to create a cohesive and compelling artistic experience. Performances are much more than dance shows; they integrate songs, storytelling, humor, and audience participation. Their blend of technique, agility, and energy makes each performance unforgettable, leaving audiences with hearts pounding.
Noon30:
Darol Anger & Bruce Molsky
Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $39
AMERICAN ROOTS
Darol Anger and Bruce Molsky have been musical explorers together for years, sharing a creative universe that’s resulted in some epic collaborations, including the Grammy-nominated Fiddlers Four (with Michael Doucet and Rushad Eggleston), crashing each other’s concerts and recordings, and just finding big joy in playing together. Freestyle fiddler, composer, producer and educator Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. Described as “an absolute master” (No Depression), Bruce’s take on tradition has landed him in collaborations with some of the world’s most highly respected players from roots to rock. This duo project results from their recent release, Lockdown Breakdown
“Bruce Molsky is one of those great players who ‘get it’: has all the links to the past but is happy not to be chained to it.”
–MARK KNOPFLER
American Opera Icon
Celebrating Sherrill Milnes on the 60th anniversary of his Metropolitan Opera Debut
Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 6 PM
District Live at Plant Riverside
General Admission $53 OPERA
Presented in partnership with
Join American baritone Sherrill Milnes, who shares stories about the debut that launched him into international stardom and his life as the most recorded American opera singer of his time. Through exciting live performances from Milnes’ colleagues and mentees, along with special video presentations, see a storied opera career through the eyes of a living legend.
Sherrill Milnes in the title role of “Don Giovanni” at the Metropolitan Opera
Väsen + Hawktail / Darol Anger & Bruce Molsky
Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 7 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $47
GLOBAL ROOTS AMERICAN ROOTS
Väsen + Hawktail is the culmination of decades of influence and musical relation. Brittany Haas, Jordan Tice and Paul Kowert met while in college on the East Coast, jamming on Väsen tunes and attending their concerts. These experiences proved highly formative to their musical identities. There’s a strong tie between their respective fiddle traditions and each band’s approach to tune-writing that makes this collaboration a natural fit. The opportunity to perform together is something that both bands have been looking forward to for years. “The members of Hawktail are brilliant musicians I met when they were teenagers coming to Väsen-gigs on our US tours.” says Väsen Nyckelharpa player, Olov Johansson. “It’s been amazing to follow their path and now we get to create new Hawktail-Väsen music together!” Add Darol Anger and Bruce Molsky (see page 23 for more information) to this festival co-bill, and you have an extended family of fiddle music influences and traditions.
NEXT-DAY MIDDAY PERFORMANCE
Noon30: Väsen + Hawktail
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission
$39
GLOBAL ROOTS AMERICAN ROOTS
Victor Wooten & the Wooten Brothers
Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 7 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
AMERICAN ROOTS
For over four decades, the Wooten Brothers—Victor on bass and vocals, Joseph on keyboards and vocals, Roy on percussion and vocals and Regi on guitar and vocals—have been redefining jazz, funk, soul, R&B, rock, and bluegrass. Growing up as military kids, they shared stages with artists like Curtis Mayfield, The Temptations, and Ramsey Lewis. In the mid-80s, they released an album as The Wootens with Clive Davis’ Arista Records. Together the Wooten Brothers bring an uncanny level of experience, originality and musical expertise to the stage. Their shows are a high-energy, super funky, artistic blend of styles, including original songs and classics. In short, these brothers are the real deal, and their shows are not to be missed.
Marcus King
Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 8:30 PM Lucas Theatre for the Arts Tickets start at $47
AMERICAN ROOTS
Marcus King faces heartache, addiction, and mental health head-on in his music. The Grammy-nominated fourth-generation musician from Greenville, SC, started playing guitar at eight years old following in the footsteps of his guitarist father and grandpa. Logging thousands of miles on the road as “The Marcus King Band,” he established himself with unparalleled performance prowess. During 2020, he linked up with Dan Auerbach and cut his solo debut El Dorado, garnering a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Americana Album.” Between headlining venues, he performed alongside Chris Stapleton, Greta Van Fleet, and Nathanial Rateliff. He has launched various mental health initiatives, including a guitar auction collaboration with MusiCares. With his latest album Mood Swings, produced by Rick Rubin, his vocals are front-andcenter more than ever before, alongside his always impressive guitar playing. This is Marcus King’s Savannah Music Festival debut.
Philip Dukes & Friends III: French Tragedy
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 6 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission $53
CLASSICAL
What series would be complete without dramatic and tragic elements? In this concert, Philip Dukes and Friends feature three incredible French masters who, for different reasons, suffered through various addictions or afflictions: Gabriel Fauré’s chainsmoking contributed to his death, alcoholism killed Erik Satie, and Ernest Chausson’s mental health issues resulted in an apparent suicide when the brakes on his penny farthing “failed” on a steep hill and he hit a brick wall. Be sure to bring a handkerchief!
AMÉDÉE-ERNEST CHAUSSON
Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Opus 21 INTERMISSION
ERIK SATIE Trois Gymnopédies
GABRIEL FAURÉ
Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor, Opus 45
Endea Owens & The Cookout
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 6 PM and 8:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $47
JAZZ
Known as one of the most vibrant emerging artists in jazz, Endea Owens is a Detroit-raised bassist and composer. She has been mentored by Marcus Belgrave, Rodney Whitaker, and Ron Carter. She has toured and performed with Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Holliday, Diana Ross, Rhonda Ross, Solange, Jon Batiste, Jazzmeia Horn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Cyrus Chestnut.
In 2018, Endea Owens graduated from The Juilliard School, and joined the Late Show with Stephen Colbert as a member of the house band, Stay Human. Since then, Endea has won an Emmy, Grammy, and a George Foster Peabody Award. Also a committed educator and philanthropist, Owens founded The Community Cookout, a nonprofit organization born out of the pandemic that provides meals and music to underserved neighborhoods worldwide. A recent performance by Endea Owens & The Cookout for NPR Music prompted this comment: “This Tiny Desk energized the whole room, each musician a master of their instrument. Owens joked: ‘We are all Juilliard alumni, so you can hear it in the sound.’”
Hazel Dickens at 100: Della Mae with Special Guests Laurie Lewis & Alice Gerrard
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 7 PM
District Live at Plant Riverside
General Admission
AMERICAN ROOTS
$40
In the 100-year anniversary of her birth, the late Hazel Dickens’ pioneering musical legacy will be celebrated by her former duo partner Alice Gerrard, along with some of the leading women of bluegrass, Laurie Lewis and Della Mae
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Alice Gerrard has known, learned from, and performed with many of the old-time and bluegrass greats, and has earned worldwide respect for her own important contributions to the music. Gerrard is known for her groundbreaking collaboration with Hazel Dickens during the 60s and 70s when the duo produced four classic albums that have influenced scores of young women singers. For nearly four decades, Laurie Lewis has gathered fans and honors for her powerful and emotive voice and her versatile, dynamic songwriting. She is also a dedicated teacher and mentor. Della Mae is a Grammy-nominated all-woman string band featuring founding members Celia Woodsmith (lead vocalist/guitarist) and 2-time Grand National champion fiddle player Kimber Ludiker, along with guitarist Avril Smith, and two-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year Vickie Vaughn.
Della Mae
Laurie Lewis
Alice Gerrard
Anda Union
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 8 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
GLOBAL ROOTS
As with all nomads, the Mongols have an oral culture, passed on through generations in stories, music and songs, and thus Anda Union sings their history. The band’s thoroughly addictive combination of Mongolian musical styles is a reflection of their roots. Formed in 2000, Anda Union has influenced a generation of young Mongolians in Inner Mongolia as traditional music flourishes in the capital. Hailing from differing ethnic nomadic cultures, the ten members unite tribal and music traditions from all over Inner Mongolia. They do so by bringing a wide range of musical instruments and vocal styles together in a fusion that would have made Genghis Khan himself proud. If you missed their 2019 festival debut, and especially if you did not, the 2025 return of Anda Union is something you will want to behold!
NEXT-DAY MIDDAY PERFORMANCE
Noon30:Anda Union
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 12:30 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $39
GLOBAL ROOTS
“From a jaunty drinking song to eerie demonstrations of throat singing, this versatile ninepiece summoned the lonely grandeur of their homeland beautifully.”
–THE GUARDIAN (UK)
Warren Haynes Band
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 8 PM Lucas Theatre for the Arts
Tickets start at $47 AMERICAN ROOTS
Visionary Grammy Award-winning artist Warren Haynes is a cornerstone of the American music landscape, lauded as one of the most formidable guitarists and vocalists of the modern era, and a prolific songwriter and producer. He effortlessly cross-pollinates genres and unfurls solos that broil with passion in his distinctive signature style. Throughout his prolific career as part of three of the greatest live groups in rock history— Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and the Dead—and as an acclaimed solo artist, he has become one of music’s most treasured storytellers. His artistry has led to thousands of memorable performances and millions of album and track sales. Haynes is a beacon of creativity and musical excellence that inspires fans as well as fellow musicians, evidenced by the diverse array of artists that he has performed and recorded with, including Dave Matthews Band, Peter Frampton, Chris Stapleton, Coheed and Cambria, Dave Grohl, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and many more. Haynes released his new solo album, Million Voices Whisper, on November 1, 2024, marking his first solo album in almost a decade and fourth solo release in his esteemed career catalog. The soulful blues-rock collection includes guest appearances from his ABB bandmate Derek Trucks, Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson. Haynes also curates and hosts the Christmas Jam, an annual star-studded holiday charity show in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, which will return for its 33rd event in 2025 due to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts this year. As one of the most celebrated and longest-running live concerts in the US, the Christmas Jam has raised nearly $3 million for Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, constructing over 50 homes, and helps the region’s housing needs through newer partner BeLoved Asheville.
Sebastian Knauer: Hollywood
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 3 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission
$47
CLASSICAL
Following his acclaimed projects Überbach, This Is (Not) Beethoven, and The Mozart / Nyman Concert, Savannah Music Festival favorite Sebastian Knauer’s artistic journey has now taken him to Hollywood. His latest album, Hollywood, showcases the work of American composers such as George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Alex North, Elmer Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, and Jerry Goldsmith—all of whom share three common threads: they hail from the USA, blend classical composition with film music, and are connected to Alfred Newman, a pioneering figure of the Hollywood sound. This special festival performance will feature Knauer, a Steinway artist, on piano, accompanied by a string quintet.
Solas
Saturday, April 5, 2025
4:30 PM and 7 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission $47
GLOBAL ROOTS
Solas is hailed by The Boston Globe as “the finest Celtic ensemble this country has ever produced.” Since forming in New York City in 1995, they have been a galvanizing element in the Irish music scene—a lightning rod of talent and inspiration that set new standards for musicianship, repertoire, and intensity. Over the course of twelve critically acclaimed albums and endless international touring, Solas brought their love and respect for the traditions of Irish music, and their sense of melodic and instrumental adventure to the world. In 2017, after a remarkable two-decade career, Solas decided it was time for a break. Eight years later, the break is over, and Solas is back and ready to celebrate their 30th anniversary! The musical adventure continues in 2025. The ensemble features Seamus Egan on guitar, banjo and flute, Winifred Horan on fiddle, Nuala Kennedy on flute and vocals, John Williams on button accordion and Alan Murray on guitar and vocals.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 4:30 PM
Trustees Theater
General Admission $47
GLOBAL ROOTS
For 60 years, South Africa’s five-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves and charming onstage banter. The group sings a traditional music style called isicathamiya (Is-Cot-A-Mee-Ya), which developed in the mines of South Africa. It was Paul Simon’s 1987 Graceland album that introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world. The late former South African President Nelson Mandela designated the group “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors to the world,” a title the members carry with them with the highest honor. In 2018, the group received not one, but two Grammy Award nominations for two separate albums, a first in the history of the World Music category. Ladysmith Black Mambazo has performed for millions of people, singing a message of peace, love and harmony.
“It isn’t merely the grace and power of their dancing or the beauty of their singing that rivets the attention, but the sheer joy and love that emanates from their being.”
–PAUL SIMON
ZYDECO DANCE PARTY!
Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 5 PM and 7:30 PM
North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
General Admission $45
AMERICAN ROOTS
For more than three decades, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas have toured extensively, performing everywhere from local Louisiana spots to international stages, with an ensemble that has always been a family affair. Bandleader Nathan Williams started his professional music career at 21, recording singles for his brother’s El Sid label. Sid also opened a venue in Lafayette, El-Sid-O’s, where Nathan became a staple performer on Friday nights. Williams’ big break came when Buckwheat Zydeco recommended him to Rounder Records, which was searching for an accordionist after Buckwheat left the label for Island Records. Nathan auditioned and secured a recording contract, and in 1985, he founded Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, inspired by a Chenier instrumental. The band debuted at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1988. Their music blends zydeco, jazz, blues, and R&B, with most of the band’s original songs penned by Williams.
John Moreland
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 8 PM
District Live at Plant Riverside
General Admission $40
AMERICAN ROOTS
Following an impressive run of albums in the 2010s that earned him a devoted fanbase, accolades from outlets like The New York Times, Fresh Air, and Pitchfork, and a place in the upper echelon of modern Americana singer-songwriters, John Moreland recently took an entire year off from playing shows and didn’t use a smartphone for six months. After nearly a decade in the limelight, constantly jostled by the expectations of his audience, the music industry, and anonymous strangers online, he carved out some time to rest, heal and reflect. The result of that unplugged year at home is the 2024 release Visitor, a folk-rock record that is intimate, immediate, deeply thoughtful and extremely catchy. Moreland recorded the album at his home in Bixby, Oklahoma, in only ten days, playing nearly every instrument himself as well as engineering and mixing the album. It is a return to the approach Moreland took on his breakthrough albums, 2013’s In The Throes and 2015’s High On Tulsa Heat On a musical level, the result is a raw, straightforward sound for which he has become known.
An Evening with Branford Marsalis
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 8 PM
Lucas Theatre for the Arts Tickets start at $42
JAZZ
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis is one of the most influential and revered figures in contemporary music. The NEA Jazz Master, Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee is equally at home performing concertos with symphony orchestras and sitting in with members of the Grateful Dead, but the core of his musical universe remains the Branford Marsalis Quartet. After more than three decades of existence with minimal personnel changes, this celebrated ensemble is revered for its uncompromising interpretation of a kaleidoscopic range of both original compositions and jazz and popular classics. John Zeugner captured the quartet’s impact in a live performance with a recent concert review calling it “casually confident, professional, cerebral, and supercharged with energy. The Branford Marsalis Quartet...was all of those adjectives and more.”
Philip Dukes & Friends IV: The Locomotive Man
Sunday, April 6, 2025 | 5 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission $53
CLASSICAL
Motion and music have always been synonymous, as was Dvořák and his obsession with trains—hence the title “The Locomotive Man”—and his love of cigars and beer. Philip Dukes and his chamber musician friends present some of Dvořák’s best-loved chamber works, which include the evergreen “American” String Quartet and the beguiling Piano Quartet in E-Flat. This is a classic and pure chamber music program delivered by world-renowned artists.
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
String Quartet No. 12, Opus 96, “American” Four Romantic Pieces, Opus 75 INTERMISSION
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Opus 87
Noon30: Ablaye Cissoko & Cyrille Brotto
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $39
GLOBAL ROOTS
Senegalese griot Ablaye Cissoko is part of a new generation of artists from his home country and is one of the most famous kora players in the world. Also a gifted singer, he brings Mandinka traditions into various global roots music, jazz and even classical and Baroque music universes. This collaboration with the well-known French diatonic accordion player Cyrille Brotto is both a waltz between two cultures and a graceful conversation between two master instrumentalists.
“...masterful collaborations of kora and accordion.”
–SONGLINES (UK)
FULL EVENING PERFORMANCE
Ablaye Cissoko & Cyrille Brotto
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 7 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $47
GLOBAL ROOTS
Noon30: Lakecia Benjamin
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission
$39
JAZZ
To witness a live performance by the alto saxophonist, emcee, and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin is to never forget it. The success of her most recent releases has positioned Benjamin among jazz music’s most celebrated recording artists. In addition to absolute raves in outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian and DownBeat, she received three Grammy nominations for Phoenix, as well as an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Jazz Album. Earlier this year, she was named Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. And yet the everrising star from Washington Heights remains, at her core, an improviser best experienced in her soul-stirring concerts. Each and every time she hits the bandstand, she takes her repertoire and her wide-ranging audience to sublime new planes. And her message of spiritual uplift, and social and political liberation soars higher still.
FULL EVENING PERFORMANCE
Lakecia Benjamin
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
General Admission
$47
JAZZ
Danish String Quartet
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 | 6 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
General Admission $58
CLASSICAL
The Grammy-nominated Danish String Quartet continues to assert their preeminence among the world’s finest string quartets. Celebrated for their “intense blend, extreme dynamic variation (in which they seem glued together), perfect intonation even on harmonics, and constant vitality and flow” (Gramophone) and renowned for the palpable joy they exude in music-making, the Danish String Quartet has become one of today’s most in-demand classical quartets, performing to soldout concert halls around the world.
CAROLINE SHAW
Entr’acte (2011)
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Opus 77: III, Andante
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
String Quartet No. 4 in D Major, Opus 83
INTERMISSION
FRANZ SCHUBERT
String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D. 887
Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martínez
Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 5:30 PM and 8 PM
District Live at Plant Riverside General Admission $47 JAZZ
Grammy-nominated artists Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martínez first worked together on Rodriguez’s 2012 release The Invasion Parade. Since that initial recording session, they have had the rare occasion to perform together as a duo, leaving audiences completely mesmerized by their fearless and virtuosic playing. Each artist brings a different approach to the collaboration. A protégé of Quincy Jones, who took him under his wing when he defected to the US in 2009, Rodriguez was schooled in the rigorous classical conservatories of Havana. His riveting artistry is informed as much by Bach and Stravinsky as it is by his Afro-Cuban and jazz roots. Martínez’s musical training came directly from the streets of the Cayo Hueso neighborhood of Old Havana in which he was raised, and he has subsequently performed with artists such as Sting, Paul Simon, and Wynton Marsalis.
Danish String Quartet: Keel Road
Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 7:30PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $45
GLOBAL ROOTS
The Danish String Quartet’s inventive and intriguing programming and repertoire choices have produced criticallyacclaimed original projects, commissions and sophisticated arrangements of Scandinavian folk tunes. In August 2024, the Quartet released their long-awaited third album of folk-inspired traditional and original tunes, Keel Road, on ECM. Comprising 14 tracks, all arranged by the Danish String Quartet, Keel Road is a retracing of musical pathways across the North Sea, from Denmark and Norway to the Faroe Islands, England and Ireland. The release of Keel Road marks the Quartet’s tenth anniversary of exploring Scandinavian folk traditions, beginning with their 2014 album Wood Works (performed at Savannah Music Festival in 2016) and followed by Last Leaf
Junior Brown
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 5:30 PM and 8 PM
Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden General Admission $47
AMERICAN ROOTS
Junior Brown’s inimitable brand of country music fuses western swing with the blues, rockabilly, bluegrass and rock n’ roll. A guitarist and lap steel player of the highest order, he and his luthier Michael Stevens developed his signature double-necked instrument, the guit-steel, in the mid-80s, when switching cables between his lap steel and guitar on stage while singing had become too cumbersome. Brown’s list of collaborators spans nearly five decades and includes time spent playing with Asleep at the Wheel, on duets with Ralph Stanley and Hank Thompson, as well as collaborations with George Jones, Doc Watson, Leona Williams, Ray Price, and many others. Don’t miss what will be a hard-hitting return to Savannah Music Festival, Junior Brown’s first since his 2011 debut alongside The Flatlanders.
Allison Miller presents “Rivers in Our Veins”
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 7 PM
Trustees’ Theater
General Admission $47
JAZZ
Acclaimed drummer and composer Allison Miller invites you to embark on a riveting journey through her commissioned jazz suite, Rivers In Our Veins, exploring cultural, environmental, and ecological conditions surrounding American rivers. Rivers In Our Veins is an immersive live performance that seamlessly blends original music, captivating river imagery, and the expressive artistry of contemporary and tap dance. The suite mirrors the diversity of America through folk, jazz, blues, rock, classical, and funk, as Miller leads her ensemble of longtime collaborators, including violinist Jenny Scheinman, Ben Goldberg on contra-alto and Bb clarinets, pianist Carmen Staaf, trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Todd Sickafoose, contemporary dancer Maleek Washington, and tap dancers Claudia Rahardjanoto and Lukey Hickey.
“Extraordinary composing, orchestrating, band-leading, and a sophisticated, engaged and playful ensemble characterize Rivers in Our Veins.”
An Evening with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Saturday, April 12, 2025 | 8 PM
Johnny Mercer Theater Tickets start at $57
AMERICAN ROOTS
Close out the 2025 festival with a full-length evening show featuring the return of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, touring in support of his new album Weathervanes. A Jason Isbell record always lands like a decoder ring in the ears and hearts of his audience, a soundtrack to his world and magically to theirs, too. Weathervanes carries the same revelatory power. This is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes. Weathervanes is a collection of grown-up songs: songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogatIon of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive. The record features the rolling thunder of Isbell’s fearsome 400 Unit, who have earned a place in the rock ‘n’ roll cosmos alongside the greatest backing ensembles, as powerful and essential to the storytelling as The E Street Band or the Wailers.
DID YOU KNOW?
Nearly 60,000 Savannah students have been Musical Explorers since 2014-15!
Community Impact
Savannah Music Festival’s Community Impact initiatives are provided at no cost to participants through the support of grants, sponsorships and donations.
Lead support is provided by SavannahChatham County Public School System, the Wall Lynch Family and Ron and Susan Whitaker.
Major support is provided by City of Savannah, Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and Robert M. & Diane vS. Levy Family Foundation.
Musical Explorers is presented in partnership with
SMF Jazz Academy is supported in part by
Musical Explorers
Discovery. Imagination. Joy.
A singular educational program, Musical Explorers opens doors to worlds of learning and delight for elementary students in the coastal region. Over the course of the year, teachers guide students on a multicultural journey through music traditions from around the globe. Cross-disciplinary content, along with musical and social-emotional concepts, are woven into a curriculum that sparks curiosity, and is all brought to life in an unforgettable concert experience.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching this curriculum to my students and watching them fully immerse themselves in the concert experience. Thank you again for enriching my classroom and my musical experience!”
- SAVANNAH MUSIC TEACHER
DID YOU KNOW?
More than 60 students from 27 schools represent Savannah in SMF Jazz Academy!
SMF Jazz Academy
RON & SUSAN WHITAKER, FOUNDING SPONSORS
SMF Jazz Academy is a FREE after-school jazz program for Savannah-Chatham County Public School students in grades 5-12 with the vision of creating an inclusive jazz community in Savannah. All students receive private lessons, weekly ensemble rehearsals and instrument rentals at no cost. Students get to participate in jam sessions, workshops and public performances throughout the year and all across Savannah–including at the 2025 Savannah Music Festival!
“They are truly inspired to play, create, and lead.”
–SMFJA PARENT
Explorer Pass
Students can explore all that Savannah Music Festival has to offer with the Explorer Pass! All Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools students can attend general admission festival shows absolutely FREE—along with one adult family member. Whether you are interested in jazz, classical, zydeco, bluegrass or all of the above, there’s something for everyone at Savannah Music Festival!
For student groups, call Savannah Music Festival at 912.234.3378 ext. 108.
Ambassadors Program
High schoolers interested in the music industry are invited to explore a variety of opportunities within the Savannah Music Festival year-round, including volunteering, masterclasses, behindthe-scenes access and more!
Join the Savannah Music Festival Ambassadors or learn more at savannahmusicfestival.org/ ambassadors.
Artist in Residence
Acclaimed singer, songwriter and banjo player Kaia Kater serves as Savannah Music Festival’s 2024-2025 Artist in Residence. Her year-long residency includes serving as the lead mentor for a year-long songwriting workshop for a hand-selected group of local musicians and songwriters. The residency will include personal mentoring, coaching and professional guidance, culminating in a performance of new works in September 2025.
Encounters Series
Delve deeper into Savannah Music Festival 2025 with a slate of free events that will expand your knowledge of the music you love. The Encounters series offers fresh perspectives to the 2025 festival with intimate artist conversations, music documentaries, and even a cooking demonstration. Look for the full series to be announced in early 2025.
Inspire. Create. Experience.
For more than 30 years, Savannah Music Festival has been creating adventurous and awe-inspiring live music experiences for music lovers of all ages.
Savannah Music Festival is a cultural leader in the Southeast and has become known for its unique cross-genre programming, artistic collaborations, and new musical commissions.
Since ticket sales only cover 50% of the cost of producing the festival, Savannah Music Festival relies on community support to have the resources to plan and present year-round programs and community outreach initiatives.
This year the organization has a fundraising goal of $3 million to produce its programs and further its mission.
Your gift ensures…
◼ Unforgettable Performances by World-Class Musicians totaling more than 100 performances presented yearly
◼ High-Quality Concert-Going Experiences through the use of state-of-the-art equipment, intimate venues, and a talented team of staff and contractors who plan and produce the festival
◼ Enriching Year-Round Music Education Programs for more than 10,000 local K-12 students
◼ Meaningful Community Impact to further connect artists and audiences through initiatives like Savannah Music Festival’s free ticket program for K-12 students, free artist talks and residencies
Donate Now
Mail a check to the Savannah Music Festival office at 200 East Saint Julian Street, Suite 601, Savannah, GA 31401
Donate online at savannahmusicfestival.org or scan the QR code below
Donate by phone at 912.234.3378 x101
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Recommend a grant from your Donor Advised Fund2
Make a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA1
Contact your employer for corporate matching gifts1
Contact us for more information on in-kind sponsorships
Donate Later
Pledge to support the festival. Pledges can be split into equal monthly payments with your credit card.1 Fulfillment is appreciated by March 1, 2025.
Consider naming Savannah Music Festival as a beneficiary in your estate plans1
SCAN QR CODE AND DONATE NOW!
FOR ASSISTANCE OR MORE
INFORMATION:
Scarlett Brissie, Development & Special Events
Associate 912.234.3378 x101
scarlett@savannahmusicfestival.org
1) We respectfully request that you notify us if you plan to give one of these types of gifts so we can identify them and give you proper recognition
2) Due to the nature of Donor Advised Funds (DAF), donors who give through a DAF are ineligible to receive any tangible benefits
A PARTY & CONCERT TO BENEFIT
SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL
Saturday, January 25, 2025
5:30 to 10 PM
Plant Riverside District
PRESENTING SPONSOR
Step into a winter wonderland at Plant Riverside District to enjoy a fabulous evening of delectable sips and supper followed by a private concert with jazz pianist superstar Matthew Whitaker.
Proceeds from this annual benefit support Savannah Music Festival’s artistic and educational programs.
Tickets on sale now!
▼ Scan QR code to purchase. Sponsorships still available!
▼ Scan QR code for details
For more information about Winter Bash tickets or sponsorships, contact Kat Clark at 912.234.3378 x106 or kat@savannahmusicfestival.org.
“This young man is a genius!”
JON BATISTE
Get your tickets!
Purchasing tickets to the Savannah Music Festival is easy. Browse the lineup online and buy tickets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Make sure to take advantage of available ticket deals and discounts.
ONLINE
savannahmusicfestival.org
Choose performances and seats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Print-at-home and mobile ticket options are available.
BY PHONE
Call SCAD Box Office at 912.525.5050
Monday to Friday, 10 AM–5 PM
IN PERSON
SCAD Box Office located at 216 East Broughton Street
Monday to Friday, 10 AM–5 PM
Tickets are also available one hour before showtime at the performance venue.
All tickets are subject to availability. By purchasing tickets to the Savannah Music Festival, patrons agree to the SCAD Box Office and Savannah Music Festival ticket policies.
Discounts
Pick 3, 5, or 10 and Save!
Purchase tickets to three or more performances at once and receive a discount! Pick 3 for 5% off, pick 5 for 10% off, or pick 10 for 15% off.
For assistance with this discount, please call the box office at 912.525.5050. Pick 3, 5, 10 offers expire January 31, 2025.
General Admission Festival Pass
Purchase the General Admission Festival Pass and get a ticket to each General Admission show during the 2025 festival. That’s 44 tickets for a flat price of $1800 with no additional fees—an almost 20% discount! When a performance has two showtimes, the ticket included in the pass has been pre-selected to make it possible to enjoy as much of the festival schedule as possible. However, exchanges are possible. Please call the box office at 912.525.5050 for assistance.
Discounts Specific to Classical Concerts
Every patron age 40 and under can purchase tickets to classical 2025 season concerts for just $20! This includes Savannah Music Festival’s chamber music series, classical recitals and other classical concerts. Tickets are available the day of show at the mobile box office at the concert venue (1 hour before showtime) or in advance by calling the box office at 912.525.5050.
Classical Ticket Bundle
Purchase tickets to all nine classical concerts (plus a bonus ticket to Danish String Quartet’s Keel Road performance) for the discounted flat price of $475 with no additional fees.
Explorer Pass
Explore all Savannah Music Festival has to offer with the Explorer Pass! All SavannahChatham County Public Schools students can attend general admission shows for free— and bring an adult family member along! Tickets are available with a valid student ID or proof of SCCPSS enrollment at the performance venue on the day of show. Explorer Pass tickets are subject to availability.
Educator, Student, Senior, Military Discounts
Educators, students, military personnel and patrons age 65 and over are eligible to receive a 10% discount on all single ticket purchases with valid ID in person at the Savannah Box Office. Limited to one ticket per person per performance.
Group Discounts
Savannah Music Festival offers special rates for groups of 10 or more. Group discounts depend on the size of the group. Please call us at 912.234.3378 or e-mail tickets@savannahmusicfestival.org to personalize your group experience.
Join The Adventure.
Savannah Music Festival’s ENCORE invites music lovers to discover a unique festival experience, tailored for concertgoers who enjoy laid-back, club-style performances. Become a member to connect with like-minded music enthusiasts while supporting Savannah Music Festival’s mission to uplift artists and provide impactful music education programs. Member benefits include a 20% ticket discount to The Wood Brothers performance on February 13 at Victory North! ENCORE IS PRESENTED BY
Ticket Policies
CANCELLATIONS & REFUNDS: Tickets are non-refundable unless a performance is canceled or postponed. Exchanges may be possible (subject to availability and fees). Tickets may be donated for resale. Donated tickets must be submitted 24 hours before the performance for a tax receipt.
HOUSE RULES: Full-sized backpacks are not allowed; all bags are subject to search. No outside food or drinks. In-house food and drink options are available at select concerts. Smoking is prohibited. Only ADA-recognized service animals are permitted; emotional support animals are not allowed.
DANCING / STANDING: Patrons are advised to note that certain shows within the lineup (see pages 6–7) are marked as performances in which patrons are likely to be on their feet and/or dancing . In theaters, those sensitive to this activity are encouraged to purchase early and select balcony/mezzanine seats closer to the front.
ACCESSIBILITY: All venues are accessible. However, Lucas and Trustees theaters and Trinity United Methodist Church do not have elevators for balcony access. For wheelchair seating, contact the SCAD Box Office at 912.525.5050.
PHOTO / VIDEO / RECORDING: Recording, photographing, or videotaping is not allowed. Please silence your devices during the performance.
LATE SEATING: Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of house management during a suitable break.
PATRON CODE OF CONDUCT: We are committed to providing an inclusive environment that celebrates exceptional live music, highlights diverse voices and genres, and unites our community. We are dedicated to cultivating a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable experience for everyone who interacts with the Savannah Music Festival. Patrons are expected to contribute to our mutually respectful and welcoming community, supporting the richness of
music from around the world and its transformative power. Please refrain from behavior that could disturb other patrons and performers. Patrons may be asked to relocate or leave if their behavior is disruptive to other audience members or if they are violating any safety protocols.
CHILDREN: We strive to provide a welcoming environment for everyone. Several concerts within the lineup are family-friendly. Children 12 years of age and younger receive free admission to family-friendly concerts. Look for shows marked family-friendly in the lineup (pages 6–7). Children 5 years of age or younger receive free admission to all Savannah Music Festival concerts when accompanied by paying adult ticket holders (limit two children per one paying adult). All Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools students qualify for the Savannah Music Festival Explorer Pass and can attend Savannah Music Festival general admission shows for free. Free or reduced-price tickets for children are only available in person at the SCAD Box Office at 216 East Broughton Street or at the on-site box office on the day of the show. Children and all patrons age 40 and under are invited to take advantage of Savannah Music Festival’s special discounts specific to classical concerts at Trinity United Methodist Church. Classical performances are not recommended for children under the age of 5 years. All patrons, regardless of age, must have a valid ticket to enter the venue. This includes infants and children who may normally sit on the lap of a parent. Savannah Music Festival staff reserves the right to ask children and adults who become disruptive to leave the venue. For questions about the suitability of a performance or venue for your child, please call 912.234.3378.
FEES: Each ticket incurs a $5.25 facility fee. Additional fees may apply depending on the delivery option selected.
ALL PROGRAMS, ARTISTS AND VENUES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
Cohen by Gabriela Gabrielaa; Page 9 DakhaBrakha by Andriy Petryna; Page 10 BalletCollective by Erin Baiano, Leftover Salmon by Tobin
11 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino by Vincent de Pinto; Page 12 BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet courtesy of the artist, Michelle Cann by Titilayo Ayangade; Page 13 Shovels & Rope courtesy of the artist, Langhorne Slim by Savannah Lauren; Page 14 East Nash Grass by Kaitlyn Raitz, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes by Alexa King Stone; Page 15 Catherine Russell & Sean Mason by Sandrine Lee, Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano courtesy of the artist; Page 16 Angélique Kidjo by Erwan Blaszka; Page 17 Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: public domain, Jenny Scheinman by Erika Kapin; Page 18 Taj Mahal Quintet by William Coupon; Page 19 Simon Mulligan courtesy of the artist, Edmar Castañeda Quintet by Adrien H Tillman; Page 20 Edmar Castañeda & Andrea Tierra by Diana Bejarano, Cillian Vallely, David Doocey & Alan Murray courtesy of the artist; Page 21 Philip Dukes by Bailey Davidson, Michael Cleveland and Jason Carter courtesy of the artist; Page 22 Step Afrika! by Keith Major; Page 23 Bruce Milsky & Darol Anger by Jeppe Blomgren, Sherrill Milnes courtesy of the artist; Page 24 Väsen + Hawktail and Bruce Molsky & Darol Anger courtesy of the artist; The Wooten Brothers courtesy of the artist; Page 25 Marcus King courtesy of the artist; Page 26 Philip Dukes and Friends courtesy of Savannah Music Festival, Endea Owens by Lauren Desberg; Page 27 Della Mae by Laura Schneider, Laurie Lewis courtesy of the artist, Alice Gerrard by Libby Rodenbough; Page 28 Anda Union courtesy of the artist; Page 29 Warren Haynes by Shervin Lainez; Page 30 Sebastian Knauer by Martin-Förster, Winifred Horan by Richard Brooker, Nuala Kennedy by Eamon Ward, Seamus Egan by Fiona Small, John Williams courtesy of the artist, Alan Murray courtesy of the artist; Page 31 Ladysmith Black Mambazo courtesy of the artist; Page 32 Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas courtesy of the artist, John Moreland courtesy of the artist; Page 33 Branford Marsalis by Eric Ryan Anderson; Page 34 Portrait of Antonín Dvořák public domain, Ablaye Cissoko & Cyrille Brotto by Cedrick Nöt; Page 35 Lakecia Benjamin photo courtesy of the artist, Danish String Quartet by Caroline Bittencourt; Page 36 Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martínez; Page 37 Danish String Quartet by Jessie Dinen, Junior Brown photo courtesy of the artist; Page 38 Allison Miller by Erika Kapin; Page 39 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit by Catherine Powell; Page 40 and 41 photos by Shot by Somi, Kasia Idzkowska, Elizabeth Leitzell; Page 44 The Wood Brothers courtesy of the artist; Page 45 Lucas Theatre audience by Elizabeth Leitzell; back cover Endea Owens by Lauren Desberg.
Photo Credits: Cover illustration by Matt Hebermehl; Page 2 Lakecia Benjamin by Elizabeth Leitzell, Taj Mahal by Adam Kissik, Philip Dukes by Bailey Davidson, Angélique Kids by Erwan Blaszka; Page 3 Anda Union courtesy of the artist; Page 8 Julia Fischer courtesy of the artist, Jan Lisiecki by Christoph Köstlin, Emmet
Voggesser; Page
Festival Hotel Partners
PREMIER PARTNER
JW Marriott
Savannah Plant Riverside District
400 West River St. | 912.373.9100
Iconic Moments Await. At JW Marriott Savannah Plant Riverside District, explore over a quarter mile of downtown Savannah riverfront. Located in the historic district, this luxury hotel on the Savannah River offers a full spa, three rooftop bars, and a variety of restaurants.
Scan the QR code and receive 20% off stays during the 2025 Savannah Music Festival
B Perry Lane Hotel
256 E. Perry St. | 912.425.9000
Perry Lane, is on a mission to offer our guests a refreshed take on luxury and a genuine taste of Southern warmth. The luxury hotel boasts 167 elegant guest rooms, including 12 luxurious suites. In addition to stylish accommodations and an ideal location, Perry Lane features three lively food and beverage venues, an expansive art collection, versatile event space, and more!
C Staybridge Suites
Savannah Historic District
301 East Bay Street | 912.721.9000
The Staybridge Suites Savannah Historic District is a traveler’s preferred home away from home. Flanked by the scenic Savannah River and the verdant, storied squares of downtown, this location is a traveler’s dream. Guests can unwind in spacious suites with a wealth of amenities, including on-site self-parking—ideal for both extended stays and short visits. Whether the purpose is work or leisure, this newly refreshed stay offers comfort and convenience. With its historic district locale, endless adventure awaits!
D Residence Inn
Savannah Downtown / Historic District
500 West Charlton Street | 912.233.9996
Located in the Savannah Historic District, the Residence Inn is just steps away from the State Railroad Museum and Battlefield Memorial Park. Guests can enjoy modern comforts, including high-definition LCD TVs and free high-speed wireless Internet.
Venues
1 District Live at Plant Riverside District
400 West River St.
One of Savannah’s newest performing arts venues, opened in 2020 within Plant Riverside District. Enjoy beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic beverages in space exclusively designed with the concert experience in mind. Convenient on-site parking is available in a city-owned garage or via valet, with additional limited parking in nearby street spaces.
2 Johnny Mercer Theatre
301 W Oglethorpe St.
Located at the Savannah Civic Center, the Johnny Mercer Theatre has a capacity of just over 2,500, making it Savannah Music Festival’s largest reserved-seating venue. Beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages are available in the lobby. On-site parking is available.
3 Lucas Theatre for the Arts
32 Abercorn St.
This beautifully restored 1920s theatre is one of Savannah Music Festival’s primary performance halls with seating for over 1,200 patrons. Beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages as well as snacks are available in the lobby. Parking is limited to city-operated garages and on-street spaces.
4 Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden
660 East Broughton St.
Initially built for use as an industrial iron foundry, Kehoe Iron Works was rehabilitated and opened in 2018. Beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic beverages are available. Flexible seating accommodates dance parties and seated concerts alike. Parking is limited to on-street spaces and the city-operated parking garage located across General McIntosh Blvd. at Eastern Wharf.
5 North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
41 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.
Wear layers to prepare for Savannah’s spring weather at this unique outdoor covered space. Craft beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic beverages are available at this venue. Parking is available at city-operated garages, on-street spaces and limited paid on-site parking.
6 Trinity United Methodist Church
127 Barnard St.
Located on Telfair Square, Trinity United Methodist Church is Savannah Music Festival’s primary classical music venue. The sanctuary provides wonderful acoustics and plentiful sight lines. Parking is limited to nearby city-operated garages and on-street spaces.
7 Trustees Theater
216 E Broughton St.
A renovated movie theater, SCAD’s Trustees Theater offers seating for over 1,100 patrons and houses the SCAD Box Office under its iconic marquee. Non-alcoholic beverages and snacks are available in the lobby. Parking is limited to city-operated garages and on-street spaces.
8 Victory North Savannah
2603 Whitaker St.
Starland District’s premier music venues, Victory North Savannah offers a two-story, high-quality concert experience. All concerts at this venue are General Admission with standing room only. Beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic beverages are available, and food can be enjoyed at the restaurant next door. Parking is limited to on-street spaces.
Board of Directors
Chair: Mary Armstrong Dugas
Treasurer: Bill Keightley
Vice Chair: Ron Whitaker
Secretary: Harold Yellin
Melissa Bouchillon
Dr. Jessica Carter
Tim Coy
Steve Eagle
John Haslam
Holden Hayes
Mario Hilliard
Bill Jaques
David Johnson
Monty Jones, Jr.
Farina Wong Kingsley
Jeff Kole
Dr. Ann Levett
B.H. Levy
Joe Marinelli (Ex-Officio)
Vicki McElreath (Immediate Past Chairman)
Olivia Parker
Larry Pike
Kacey Kennickell Ray
Thomas V. Reilly
Joyce Roché
Shelby G. Schavoir
David Sneed
Zachary H. Thomas
Trip Tollison (Ex-Officio)
Charles R. Virginia III
Dr. Christopher Walls
Rhegan White-Clemm
Chairman Emeritus: Bob Faircloth (Ex-Officio)
Savannah Music Festival Staff
Executive & Administration
Gene Dobbs Bradford, Executive Director
Steve Birrell, Controller
Judi Szenes, Finance Assistant
Artistic & Production
Ryan McMaken, Artistic Director
Philip Dukes, Thomas V. & Susan G. Reilly Associate Artistic Director
Abbey M. Matye, Associate Director of Programming
Bryan Bailey, Technical Director
Kat Mann, Programming Coordinator
Community Impact
Jenny Woodruff, Senior Director of Community Impact
Benje Daneman, Music Director, SMF Jazz Academy
Justice von Maur, Education Manager, Musical Explorers
Marisa Webster, Assistant Director, SMF Jazz Academy
Aubrie Racies, Community Impact Associate Development
Kat Clark, Associate Director of Development
Scarlett Brissie, Development & Special Events Associate
