This annual Michigan Philharmonic Miniature Masterpieces program highlights works for the keyboard, including harpsichord and organ.

The program centers around a dramatic J. S. Bach concerto and two pieces from Shruthi Rajasekar, a contemporary Indian American composer and vocalist who explores music that draws from both Carnatic (South Indian classical) and Western classical traditions.

Along with Bach and Rajesekar, Miniature Masterpieces will feature works by Gioachino Rossini and Wilhelmina von Bayreuth, performed by Michigan Philharmonic soloists Angie Zhang (harpsichord and organ), Dennis Carter II (flute) and Yuri Popowycz (violin).

For the last decade, Tres Souls—Rocio Mendoza, Roberto Carlos, and Jesus Martinez—have serenaded Los Angeles audiences with their interpretation of bolero, a musical genre that draws from the 1940s “golden era” of Mexican cinema as well as popular recordings from the 1950s and 1960s.

Each member of the trio is an accomplished musician, and each inherited the knowledge and importance of Mexican heritage music through their family and the generations before them.

In their own way, Tres Souls are following in the footsteps of other “Trio Romanticos," such as Eydie Gorme Y Los Panchos, Los Tres Reyes and Los Tres Ases, while interspersing musical influences that can be heard throughout the Los Angeles diaspora.
 

The DFT welcomes back Little Bang Theory to perform a new score for Victor Sjostrom’s great silent film The Wind, made in 1928 and starring the incredible Lillian Gish as Letty Mason, a young woman who travels to a barren West Texas town and becomes enmeshed with rival lovers and jealous friends; all the while haunted by the never-ending wind that blows through the town.

Little Bang Theory is the brainchild of Detroit avant-garde music legend Frank Pahl, who with Terry Sarris and Doug Shimmin, form a mini-orchestra of bells, whistles and toy musical instruments that bring to life the timeless art of silent cinema. 
 

Odu Afrobeat Orchestra, led by saxophonist Baba BG, is comprised of Detroit’s best world music artists who deliver nothing short of a spiritual experience with every performance.

Odu is one of 256 divinatory principals In Yoruba spirituality associated with a traditional ancient verse; the term “Afrobeat” refers to the rhythms pioneered by late Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti, who used them as a means of expressing political and social messages through his music. 

Composer/singer Sunitha Anathaswamy studied music in Bangalore and specializes in the vocal art of traditional Kannada Bhavageete and Ghazals, songs based on romantic poetry.

Multi-instrumentalist Xiao Dong Wei became a ‘Master of the Erhu’ (a two-string violin) at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and also plays the pipa (a four-string lute) and guzheng (a 21-string zither).

Both artists settled in metro Detroit and became influential performers, educators, and now collaborators. This joyous performance will fuse music from both their cultures and include guest appearances by their friends and family.
 

Blending the warm, rich energy of piano and clarinet, the Australian-born duo CRUX present Finding Home — a new program that is a meditation on questions of voice, place, environment, and landscape.

Multifaceted keyboardist and vocalist Lisa Moore and woodwind virtuoso Lloyd Van’t Hoff perform solos and duos that include works with text, electronic backing tracks, and acoustic chamber instrumentation.

These include world premieres of works by Meadow Bridgham, Steve Reich, Randy Newman, Frederic Rzewski, and Detroit-born composer Harriet Steinke. 
 

The internationally acclaimed Sirius Quartet brings its genre-defying approach to contemporary music to the DIA. These conservatory-trained performer-composers shine with precision, soul and raw energy.

Sirius continues its commitment to innovation with original works by its own members, incorporating popular song forms, extended techniques, gripping improvisations, and contemporary grooves. 

Okaidja Afroso was born into a family of musicians and storytellers in the town of Kokrobite on the west coast of Ghana. He began his career as a dancer with the celebrated Ghana Dance Ensemble. As he toured internationally Afroso expanded his artistic reach, becoming a master multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and arranger.

His genre-defying songs, often performed in his native language, convey a range of experiences—joy, tragedy, and hope—and embrace what he calls “the rich complexity of the integrated world we inhabit.”

Through his distinctive style, which combines percussion instruments, vocals, guitar, and dance, Afroso explores ancestral traditions and creates a new, contemporary African oral tradition. This performance is in conjunction with the exhibition James Barnor: Accra/London—A Retrospective. 

Don’t miss the amazing talents of William Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian American pianist, solo recitalist, and chamber musician. Nyaho has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean, and has developed a repertoire focused on composers of African descent.

He is a guest artist at colleges and universities around the US, and is in high demand as a judge for national and international piano competitions. 

The Firewalkers are a hot new R&B, blues and rock band from Detroit, specializing in the pre-Motown sounds of the late 1950s and early '60s.

The band includes some of the city's finest musicians and is fronted by the fiery vocals of Laura Mendoza, (White Shag, The Ricky Rat Pack, Mark Farner’s American Band) featuring David James (Jon Rice Band) on guitar, Rudy Varner (Chris Casello Trio, JC and the Royal Keys) on upright bass, and Loney Charles (Jack Scott) on drums.