Violinist

Bass-baritone Davóne Tines isn’t just a powerhouse vocalist—he’s a force of nature. Hailed as “a singer of immense power and fervor,” and “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” (Los Angeles Times), he brings more than just breathtaking sound to the stage. With boundless curiosity and razor-sharp intellect, Tines delves into the stories that connect us, exploring themes of perseverance, identity, and the connections that shape our lives.

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Ruckus and Davóne Tines

Harvard University

Matthew Aucoin’s Music for New Bodies (2024) is an uncategorizable work of music-theater: part opera, part song cycle, part vocal symphony. Based on poetry by Jorie Graham, the piece is a portrait of our moment in history as seen through the eyes of a cancer patient undergoing a drastic medical procedure. As the patient experiences the transformation of her own body, she meditates on questions that range from the personal to the cosmic: in a time when life is more and more virtual, what does it mean to have a body? And above all, after our species has poisoned the planet with uncountable toxins, can we still listen to what the earth has to tell us?

“Music for New Bodies” at Tanglewood

Tanglewood Music Center

This is your chance to hear Ruckus “the world’s only period instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice) as they join forces with up-and-coming violinist, Keir GoGwilt. Together they offer a folk-Baroque feast of dance music: classic trio sonatas by Corelli and Geminiani paired with 18th – century fiddle tunes by Scottish folk master Neil Gow, known as “the Scottish Corelli.” Vocalist Fiona Gillespie joins with a selection of Gaelic songs. Hear the energy and emotion of Baroque music come to life with “a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” (New York Times).

Opening Night: Folk Meets Baroque

First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles

AMOC* presents the New York premiere of Rome is Falling, conceived and composed by AMOC* bassist Doug Balliett. Rome is a zany lesson on the absurdity of what can happen when influential people lose power. In his ever-prescient, ever-joyful way, Balliett brings audiences of all ages on a musical journey through a world that includes lollipops, an absurd number of characters, and an emperor with a chicken fetish. Rome was one of the world’s great civilizations, yet, like all empires, it fell. Why and how? The story is a mixture of politics, betrayal, immigration, religion, climate, pandemic, natural disaster, xenophobia, and bad luck–so much of what makes us human and that we continue to face today.

“Rome Is Falling” – Run AMOC

Lincoln Center

Early music band Ruckus and AMOC* member Keir GoGwilt celebrate the legacy of Niel Gow (b. Perthshire, 1727-1807), one of Scotland’s most important musicians, with the New York premiere of a dynamic folk-baroque feast of Scottish dance music. Weaving together these jubilant, hard-driving and nostalgic tunes into large-scale dramatic forms, Ruckus and GoGwilt bring the 18th-century tradition of blending folk and art music to the present day. The evening is presented in collaboration with Nadia Sirota’s Living Music Underground.

“Edinburgh Rollick” – Run AMOC

Jaffe Drive

Conceived by performer, composer, and American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) member Keir GoGwilt, Zarabanda Variations brings together a group of visionary composers, performers, and poets in a surprising and vibrant synthesis of Baroque, folkloric, and contemporary music of the American hemisphere. The members of the ensemble work across genres including traditional Mariachi and Baroque music, improvisation collectives in Mexico City and New York, and contemporary composition, creating new songs and dances inspired by the eclecticism of the zarabanda: a dance with Spanish, pre-Columbian American, and African origin stories. Woven in with the music is the poetry of Edgar Garcia, whose work maps the emergence of the Baroque through scenes of colonial and contemporary translation, emergency, and migration. Zarabanda Variations celebrates its New York debut at Lincoln Center.

“Zarabanda Variations” – Run AMOC

AMOC* opens our milestone Run AMOC* Festival with the New York premiere of The Comet / Poppea. This production fuses Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea (1642) with W.E.B. Du Bois’s short story The Comet (1920). Directed by Yuval Sharon, it explores power, survival, and race through the lens of cosmic disaster. George Lewis’s evocative new score—a 2025 Pulitzer finalist—links these narratives in a visionary operatic landscape. The stellar cast features AMOC* members Davóne Tines and Anthony Roth Costanzo. Tony Award-winner and Lincoln Center Artist-in-Residence (2022–24) Mimi Lien’s rotating set merges ancient Rome with comet-ravaged New York, creating an apocalyptic, immersive experience.

“The Comet / Poppea” – Run AMOC* Festival at Lincoln Center

Conceived by AMOC* violinist Keir GoGwilt, Zarabanda Variations brings together a group of visionary composers, improvisers, and performers to draw inspiration from the musical histories of 16th- and 17th-century New Spain/Mexico. The zarabanda is a dance with supposed Spanish, American, and Arab origins, plausibly named from the Bantu “nsala-banda,” which eventually transformed into a courtly dance of the European baroque. Zarabanda Variations explores the archival gaps of early American music, creating a surprising and vibrant synthesis of European and LatinBaroque, folk, and contemporary musical traditions.

AMOC* presentation at Peabody Essex Museum of “Zarabanda Variations”

East India Square

From Mickey Mouse to Michael Jackson, and traditional Hawaiian song to Kabuki, the falsetto sound is deeply ingrained within our global consciousness. But what does it evoke, and what does it express? This synesthetic concert experience blends the intangibility of the countertenor voice with the invisibility of smell molecules.

Countertenor

National Sawdust

Experience a preview of Dark Music Days, a contemporary music festival held annually during the darkest days of winter in Reykjavik, Iceland. Multi-instrumentalists Ensemble Adapter, Keir GoGwilt, and Celeste Oram will perform their live radio play, Yunge Eylands Varpcast Netwerkið, which weaves together multilingual songs, stories, music, and historical archives. The quartet uses quirky DIY radios to create a vibe of joyful collective music-making and playful conversation between listeners and radio, past and present.

Civic Alliances Series: Dark Music Days

World Trade Center

From pleasing to provocative, intellectual to insouciant, this program sheds light on the many facets of 20th-century Mexican and Argentinian classical compositions. Feel the passion and intensity of the tango in Piazzola’s renowned “Seasons”, juxtaposed with the exhilarating and profound string quartet “Música de Feria” by Revueltas. The program also features the graceful compositions of Manuel Ponce, offering a glimpse into the elegant charm of his musical creations. Works by 20th-century composers Alberto Ginastera (Argentina) and Mario Lavista (Mexico) top off an exciting and varied program.

Mexico and Argentina

Hanna Boys Center

Aaron Copland made four highly publicized government-sponsored trips to Latin America between 1941 and 1963. During these visits, he shared contemporary American concert music with Latin American audiences, including his own violin sonata, heard on tonight’s program. Back home, he drew US attention to the composers and musicians he met in Latin America, such as Heitor Villa-Lobos of Brazil and Silvestre Revueltas and Manuel Ponce of Mexico, all whom Copland knew personally and whose works are also featured. Another contemporary of Copland was the Black American composer William Grant Still, whose Panamanian Dances were inspired by a collection of Latin American folk songs. The history of Pan-American musical exchange predates Copland.

The Americas

Discover a harmonious fusion of serenity and exuberance come together at Buena Vista Winery. Our stage will be the enchanting Fountain Courtyard, framed by the historic backdrop of the 1864 Champagne Cellar. Savor the exquisite selection of Buena Vista’s wines as they complement the sultry notes of Villa-Lobos’ ‘Bachianas Brasileiras No.5’ and the fiery passion of Pablo de Sarasate’s ‘Carmen Fantasy’. Immerse yourself in the grand finale of our Alfresco series, where the blend of music, high-quality wines, and the breathtaking sunset creates an unforgettable evening.

Alfresco 3

Buena Vista Winery

Immerse yourself in the vibrant sounds of Brazil as we bring to life the musical genius of GRAMMY-award winning Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger Sergio Assad (b. 1953). Renowned for his captivating duo performances with his brother Odair Assad and frequent collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and other luminaries, Assad stands as one of today’s most prolific composers for the guitar. The program presents Assad’s music alongside that of his Brazilian forebears, Antonio Carlos Gomes and Heitor Villa-Lobos, as well as his European influences, Chopin and Maurice Ravel. Bay Area guitarist—and friend of Assad’s—Marc Teicholz makes his Festival debut for this Brazilian panorama. 

Sergio Assad and His World

After a successful first collaboration last season, VMMF returns to the gorgeous patio of the La Luz Center in Sonoma for another Alfresco evening. Get together with two striking string quartets by early 20th Century Mexican composers Silvestre Revueltas and Miguel Bernal Jiménez. To close this concert, the vibrant and colorful sounds of local favorite and sibling trio Raiz del Real will bring the essence of Son Huasteco to life.

Alfresco 2

La Luz Center

To ensure the comfort and safety of our audience (and instruments!), we decided to move this Alfresco concert inside of Bartholomew Park’s historic Haraszthy’s Villa.

Alfresco 1

Haraszthy Villa

José Silvestre de los Dolores White (1835-1918), also known as José White and Joseph White, was born in Matanzas, Cuba, during colonial times. He began playing the violin and composing at a young age. His professional debut occurred in 1854 alongside the American pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869), who inspired him to study at the Paris Conservatoire. There, he won the Premier Prix after less than one year of study. White gained global recognition as a soloist, composer, and pedagogue and, in the United States, he notably became the first soloist of African descent to perform with the New York Philharmonic Society, during his 1875-1876 tour. 

José White's Circle

American Modern Opera Company’s (AMOC) production of contemporary composer John Adams’ El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered with libretto by Peter Sellars and concept by Julia Bullock is a chamber music arrangement created and conducted by Christian Reif and was first performed at The Met Cloisters in 2018 in the beautiful San Martín at Fuentidueña chapel. The New York Times calls it “intimate, affecting and quietly rich with activism.” This rarely performed work celebrates Latin American poets and voices of women. Says Julia Bullock, “one of opera’s fastest-rising stars” (Vanity Fair), who curated the selections being performed and will sing in the performance, “El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered ruminates on the notion that with the promise of new life, there is the equal threat of inexplicable violence and sacrifice.”

El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered

Stanford University

Mozart’s Piano Quartets are written like concertos: the piano is featured, accompanied by a sort of “mini orchestra” of 3 string players. We are thrilled to feature Laureate Axel Trolese as the “soloist” with three generations of early music experts in the accompanying roles. True to this year’s theme, the program ends with an arrangement of Beethoven’s 2nd Symphony for Piano Trio by the composer himself. On an 18th-century fortepiano you can really hear the trumpets and drums!

Violinist

Keir GoGwilt

Events

Past events

Jan 31, 2026

Ruckus and Davóne Tines · Celebrity Series of Boston

Aug 7, 2025

“Music for New Bodies” at Tanglewood · AMOC / American Modern Opera Company

Future and recently performed repertoire

Violin in Violin Sonata in D minor by Corelli

Skaneateles Festival

Violin in Violin Sonata in A major by Corelli

Skaneateles Festival

Violin in Violin Sonata in G minor by Corelli

Skaneateles Festival

About

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