Born for showbusiness-NPR One of the best-known musicians of his generation, virtuoso pianist, singer, bandleader, educator, and television personality Jon Batiste has spent his career bringing music back to where it started —with the people. Born into Louisiana’s legendarily musical Batiste family, Jon studied at Juilliard, where he established his Stay Human band by playing around New York City’s subways and in street performances he called “love riots.” He developed a fluency in jazz and popular music of all stripes, collaborating with legends from Wynton Marsalis to Prince. In 2015, Jon was named bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Batiste’s latest studio album, WE ARE, was released in March 2021 to overwhelming critical acclaim including praise from New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and Forbes. 

…their expressiveness was as moving as it was breathtaking-The Wall Street Journal Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring has inspired dances and ballets for over 100 years, but never circus – until now. See the bodies of 10 fearless acrobats – highlighted by a technically and artistically stunning lighting design – hurl, twist, and collide in an electrifying explosion of physicality and power. These performances also feature a stirring new composition by Phillipe Bachman that pairs with Stravinsky’s classical music masterpiece. In this first-ever circus setting of The Rite of Spring, CIRCA weaves together powerful acrobatics with poetic tenderness and raw emotion – penetrating the senses and stirring the soul. Seen by over one million people in 40 countries, the Australia-based performance troupe, CIRCA, is at the forefront of contemporary circus, leading the way with a diverse range of thrilling creations. Under the direction of circus visionary Yaron Lifschitz, CIRCA features an ensemble of exceptional, multi-skilled circus artists.  CIRCA is a regular fixture at leading festivals and venues in New York, London, Berlin, and Montreal with seasons at Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Barbican Centre, Les Nuits de Fourvière, Chamäleon Theatre as well as major Australian Festivals.

The most heartfelt and evocative sounds imaginable.-Roots World Small Island Big Song celebrates 5,000 years of Pacific Islander culture.  From Taiwan to Aotearoa/New Zealand – Madagascar to Rapa Nui/Easter Island. Islanders who share an ancient seafaring ancestry and language. Over three years, Small Island Big Song evolved from visits to 16 Island Nations, and work with over 100 artists, solo artists, elders, community groups, and grassroots musicians, all recorded in their homelands in nature using traditional instruments and languages, with each contributing to each other’s songs. The result is a surprising and stunning musical collaboration reuniting the distant yet interconnected musical traditions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.