Brooklyn Philharmonic Presents Erykah Badu at BAM Tonight

The Brooklyn Philharmonic presents its concert Erykah Badu at BAM tonight June 8th and tomorrow, June 9th.

Ms. Badu's performance with the Orchestra of works by Brooklyn composer TEd Hearne-based on her album New Amerykah, Part I-remains the centerpiece of the program. She will be joined by surprise guest artists who collaborated with her on the album.

Singer Yasiin Bey, who had been scheduled to open the concert, has withdrawn. In his place, the Orchestra is excited to announce that the program will feature the following:

The emcee Wordisbon, also known as Kevin J. Estwick, will appear inBlues for Black Hoodies, a collaboration with Brooklyn composer, Randall Woolf. Wordisbon's original rap is spread out over a bed of adagio strings and turntable scratching of gospel and renaissance choral music. The text is a meditation on African American life in America, on both the personal and social level. Written 'for my soldiers, fighting in this cold war,' the piece marries hiphop and blues into a song of Mahlerian resignation. The work is being premiered in an expanded orchestration for string orchestra and drums.

Brooklyn DJ Ringo Rashad Smith, also known as Tumblin' Dice, will introduce Erykah Badu's set with recordings that were part of the inspiration for the New Amerikah, Part I album and that offer insights into Badu's creative process.

This collaboration with Ms. Badu was originally scheduled for tonight, June 8 only. When that event sold out nearly two months before the show, Ms. Badu agreed to add a second performance on June 9. Tickets for that performance are also selling rapidly, and another sell-out is expected.