MUSE/IQUE And Special Guest Nikka Costa Explore LAUREL CANYON

MUSE/IQUE continues its adventurous yearlong concert series, L.A. Composed: A Festival of Los Angeles Music, with "Laurel Canyon," a musical journey into one of rock-n-roll's most mythical neighborhoods, home to artists such as The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Carole King, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, all of whom shaped a generation with their timeless music.

"Laurel Canyon" takes place April 6 & 7, 2022, at 7:30 p.m., at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, and April 10, 2022, at 7:30 p.m., at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Joining MUSE/IQUE's stellar roster of musicians is singer-songwriter Nikka Costa, making her MUSE/IQUE debut, and returning favorite, tenor Ashley Faatoalia.

As the daughter of legendary producer and arranger Don Costa, Nikka was born with music encoded in her DNA. Growing up around the likes of Frank Sinatra (her godfather), Paul Anka, and Sammy Davis Jr. (among many other musical luminaries), she was already a child star in Europe and had sung on the White House lawn with Sinatra before she was old enough to enroll in middle school. She recorded her first single, a Christmas duet with famed Hawaiian singer Don Ho, when she was just five years old. With the encouragement of her parents, she cut her eponymous debut album at eight, and her childhood in Los Angeles was punctuated by world travel and performances before enormous crowds. By just about any measure, it was an extraordinary way to come of age as both a woman and a musician. After graduating from high school, Nikka's maturation as an artist truly began. She sought in earnest to discover her own voice and her own style, to find what made her authentically Nikka. After a string of critically acclaimed and commercially successful LPs that began with her 2001 Virgin debut Everybody Got Their Something, Nikka, along with artists like Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone, became a bright star in the "nu-soul" firmament, renowned the world over for her unique style - a seductive alchemy that recombines the tropes of American soul and funk music into something wholly her own. In the years since her debut, she has toured with Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, and Beck, has recorded with superstar DJ and producer Mark Ronson, was nominated for an MTV Music Award, and had multiple hit singles in Europe. Known for the raw allure and energy of her kinetic live performances, Nikka's voice and stage presence have been compared favorably to everyone from Janis Joplin to Chaka Khan to Sly Stone.

MUSE/IQUE mainstay Ashley Faatoalia is a versatile artist born and raised in Los Angeles. Opera News calls his singing "hauntingly beautiful" crediting him with "a voice of winning purity and variety of expression" and the San Francisco Chronicle calls him "sweet-toned." Ashley's recent engagements include performances as Bobby McCray in the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera The Central Park Five with Long Beach Opera, The Crab Man in Porgy & Bess with Seattle Opera, Lyric Tenor in EUROPERAS with the LA Phil, and his debut as Marco Polo in the Emmy-Award-winning, Pulitzer Prize-nominated Invisible Cities with The Industry. Ashley has also had the fortune of working with LA Opera Connects going into the community and sharing music with all who wish to enjoy.

"Laurel Canyon" also welcomes to the MUSE/IQUE stage LAVA (Los Angeles Vocal Artists), Jeffrey Bernstein, Music Director; a youth choir from the California School for the Arts - San Gabriel Valley; Caroline Buckman, viola; Marisa Kuney, violin; Timothy Loo, cello; Kaveh Rastegar, bass; Justin Smith, guitar; Alan Steinberger, piano/keyboards; Jamey Tate, drums; and Tim Young, guitar

Curated and led by Founder and Artistic Director Rachael Worby, L.A. Composed features renowned musicians and dancers from stage and screen performing at cornerstone cultural institutions throughout the city, including Avalon Hollywood, Caltech, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Skirball Cultural Center, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. L.A. Composed runs until November, 2022; tickets are on sale now.

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