Stave Sessions

Get ready for four nights of eclectic, outstanding, fascinating contemporary music when Stave Sessions returns to Davis Square's Crystal Ballroom. 

Every night offers something new: premieres, debuts, the return of a band we've only presented virtually. Electronics, effects, and sampled sound sit side by side with in-the-moment virtuosity. Explore identity with Nathalie Joachim, take an acoustic-electric tour of four centuries of guitar music with JIJI, hear toy pianos and real pianos played by Chromic Duo, and get ready for some heavy fusion grooves when Mark Lettieri Group closes the festival. 

Nathalie Joachim

Flutist, composer, and vocalist Nathalie Joachim performs Ki moun ou ye, an intimately staged song cycle that ponders the title question: who are you? 

Wednesday, March 20 at 7pm

JIJI

“One of the 21 composers / performers who sound like tomorrow” (The Washington Post), JIJI is a must-hear artist. 

Thursday, March 21 at 7pm

Chromic Duo

Chromic Duos use toy pianos, “real” pianos, electronics, and multimedia to uncover truths and reimagine human connection. 

Friday, March 22 at 7pm

Mark Lettieri Group

Guitar-driven funk, jazz, and more from multi-Grammy-winning Lettieri and his versatile band.

Saturday, March 23 at 7pm

Crystal Ballroom - Somerville Theatre

55 Davis Square, Somerville

“Stave Sessions, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, is dedicated to sharing a diverse array of top-level musicians in a relaxed concert format.”

ANNE GOLDBERG-BALDWIN I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

Previous Stave Sessions artists on the 2022/23 Season

Musicians from A Far Cry (Stave 2019)

A Far Cry appears on February 5, 2023, with Rob Kapilow in What Makes it Great? Copland's "Appalachian Spring"

Melissa Aldana(Stave 2017)

Performing with her Quartet March 8, 2023 at Artists For Humanity EpiCenter at the Jazz Festival

Sō Percussion (Stave 2016)

Sō Percussion returns to Stave Sessions this season with Shodekeh on March 29, 2023

Stave Sessions Artists

2021 (Digital)

Cristina Pato

Kinan Azmeh

Mark Lettieri Group

Meklit

Sid Sriram

Spektral Quartet

Sybarite5 with special guest Ehsan Matoori

 

2020
Canceled

2019
Anna & Elizabeth
Edmar Castañeda
LADAMA
Oracle Hysterical and musicians from A Far Cry
Tigue and Arooj Aftab

2018
Jazzmeia Horn
House of Waters
Ensemble Mik Nawooj
Claire Chase and My Brightest Diamond
Bent Knee with Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Percussion Ensemble

2017
yMusic
Melissa Aldana
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society
TIGUE and Innov Gnawa

2016
3 Sudacas / Mixcla
Sybarite5
Kneebody + Daedelus = Kneedelus
My Brightest Diamond
Sam Amidon and Glenn Kotche
Sō Percussion with Buke and Gase

2015
Banda Magda (Opening: Chorobop)
Gabriel Kahane (Opening: Kate Davis)
Roomful of Teeth
Ben Sollee and Becca Stevens Band
Brooklyn Rider
Third Coast Percussion

Stave Sessions is sponsored by:
Susan & Michael Thonis and the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative.

Additional support provided by Kathleen & Chris Gaffney, Michael & Debra Raizman, Yukiko Ueno & Eran Egozy, Randolph Hawthorne & Carliss Baldwin, and Marylen Sternweiler.

Stave Sessions is made possible in part by support from Celebrity Series' LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Innovation Funds.