Symphony Space Hosts BLACK OPRY IN RESIDENCE Concert Series in November

Symphony Space has announced that, for its fall 2023 music residency, which gives artists the opportunity to showcase new work and nurture emerging talent, the institution has joined forces with Black Opry, the rapidly growing organization created to provide a home for Black artists in country, Americana, blues, and folk music—genres pioneered by Black artists, and in which Black artists have also been overlooked and disregarded.

The series of concerts, November 9-11, brings three exceptional, rising-star singer-songwriters to Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia stage to share their music and tell their stories: Chris Pierce, whom American Songwriter has called “one of America’s most talented, gifted, and affecting artists”; Kaia Kater, recently called “a star in the making” by Folk Alley; and Elizabeth Lubin, a beloved figure in the folk scene in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Symphony Space residency is a milestone for the Black Opry collective and represents the first time each of the curated artists headlines their own show under the Black Opry banner.

Launched in 2021 as a website where Black country music artists and audiences could find community and support one another, Black Opry has grown into a celebrated national advocacy organization. Rolling Stone recently wrote, “Black Opry has grown beyond its blog origins to be a force of change and a leader in the movement to bring racial equity to country music.”

Founder Holly G says, “Black Opry is proud to partner with Symphony Space on our first multi-artist, multi-day residency in New York. Chris, Kaia, and Elizabeth are all incredible talents who have been working at the craft for a long time, and I can’t wait for Symphony Space audiences to get to know them. When people realize that there are people from all backgrounds making this kind of music, it opens doors to everyone.”

Chris Pierce, who performs November 9, was recently handpicked to be the special guest opener for Neil Young’s 2023 Coastal Tour and had a worldwide breakthrough with his hit song “We Can Always Come Back to This,” which aired in three episodes of the NBC primetime series This is Us and went on to reach the #1 spot on the Billboard Blues Chart. Pierce’s new album, Let All Who Will (September 2023), has garnered acclaim from NPR, No Depression, American Songwriter, and others.

Montreal-born, Grenadian-Canadian artist Kaia Kater, who performs November 10, has won vast praise for her jazz-inflected singing, virtuosic banjo playing, and deft songcraft. Rolling Stone has called her music “mesmerizing” and said that she “writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran.” She draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean, and Appalachia—reflecting the diversity of her background: her family’s deep ties to the Canadian folk music scene, her college years spent soaking up Appalachian music in West Virginia, and her father’s experience growing up in Grenada and then Canada. Kater released her first EP, Old Soul, in 2013, when she was just out of high school, and has since released several critically lauded full albums, including Grenades (2018), which was nominated for a Juno Award and was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize.

Songwriter Elizabeth Lubin’s gorgeous voice and melodies weave together blues, folk, and roots music, evoking the ancestral and paying homage to the past. A songwriter, performer, and recording artist, she first picked up an instrument at the age of five. Having been a leading light in the Bay Area folk scene for years, Lubin reached wider attention with her 2019 EP Live at Santo. Her residency show November 11 at Symphony Space will be her New York City debut concert.

These Black Opry musicians join an illustrious list of prior artists in residence at Symphony Space, including Ravi Coltrane, Rhiannon Giddens, Sunny Jain of Red Baraat, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, and Toshi Reagon.

Tickets to the Black Opry in Residence concerts start at $20 and can be purchased at symphonyspace.org.