In our 9th year celebrating Juneteenth at Joe’s Pub, Juneteenth LP continues to reimagine a classical music that is so expansive in its reach and scope that it grazes the edges of jazz, funk and soul, those genres that often influenced the music of Black classical composers old and new. This exploration of music by Black composers is set against a backdrop of arrangements of Afrobeats, hip-hop, R&B, gospel and blues. Come join us as we celebrate the intoxicating sonic cultural wealth of the African Diaspora. Come sing and dance with us.

Enjoy a performance by pianist Nnenna Ogwo as she plays the 1903/1904 Erard La Mort du Cygne Grand Piano from The Met collection. Ogwo's music is rooted in the belief that we can't be what we can't see or hear. Through exploring the music of underrepresented composers, Ogwo brings to life sounds and histories we might not otherwise experience. Join us for a deep dive into the musical instrument galleries as we hear new insights and untold stories from Ogwo and take a closer look at the connections to Juneteenth. You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions. 

Free with Museum admission, though advance registration is recommended.

Note: Space is limited; first come, first served. Priority will be given to those who register.

Photo credit jelani a. thompson

Juneteenth originated in 1865 in Galveston, Texas. Battery Park City’s 8th annual Emancipation Day celebration offers fun, history, art and a performance by Juneteenth Legacy Project, whose mission is to share music of the African Diaspora through the lens of Black classically trained musicians. The Federation of Black Cowboys share history and horseback rides (ages 3 and up). Enjoy readings by Sana Butler from Sugar of the Crop, her award-winning book based on interviews with African-Americans whose parents were born before 1865, and hear dreams and determination of the first families raised in freedom.  Browse in the book tent and art exhibit tent, paint your own Juneteenth flag, and relax on the lawn. Books and art available to purchase. Juneteenth dress is welcome! Bring a picnic!

This concert at the historic Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church located at 15 Mt Morris Park West will feature soprano Angela Owens, cellist Eric Cooper and pianist Nnenna Ogwo performing works by Steven Allen, Coleridge-Taylor, Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de St. George.  The centerpiece of the concert will be 4 songs for soprano and cello, written as part of the 2023 Black Composers Miniature Challenge 3.0. 

Friday, June 7, 2024 at 6:00pm we collaborated with Reservoir Studios in presenting Portrait of An Artist and invited Mikael Darmanie to share a piece of repertoire that he has lived with and revisited throughout his diverse career.  For this event, Mikael Darmanie could not decide on just one piece. Instead he chose two very different works separated by a century, a continent, an ocean and a cultural aesthetic; the Schubert Op. 90 #3 Impromptu in Gb Major and the Duke Ellington Black and Tan Fantasy. Bring your ears and your curiosity as Darmanie and pianist/interviewer Nnenna Ogwo explore these very different sonic terrains, how they found such solid purchase in Darmanie's musical spirit, and how each return to the work revealed another layer of his creative self. This event is made possible by a generous Creative Arts Engagement grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

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Juneteenth LP presents Fresh Perspectives:  Delightful and Underperformed works by Glière, Scarlatti, and  Kodály.

Featuring performances by,

Frédérique Gnaman, Violin

Eric Cooper, Cello

Now in its seventh year, Juneteenth LP’s annual celebration at Joe’s Pub has become a staple in New York City. This event was born out of the desire to not only celebrate my birthday doing the thing that I love most, playing concerts, but also to introduce audiences to the often under-represented repertoire of the African Diaspora. Juneteenth is first and foremost a celebration of freedom and in the case of our particular Juneteenth concert, it is a celebration of what black musicians did and continue to do with that freedom. This year we will not only perform our regular blend of recognizable popular tunes and classical music, but we will also present a few newer works that will introduce our audiences to composers from the Diaspora that defy classification and blur the lines of musical genres altogether.

🎟️Tickets: $25; there is a 2 drink or $12 food minimum per person at Joe’s Pub

Juneteenth LP in collaboration with Make Music New York presents this free, outdoor concert featuring a multi-artist line up at Astor Place Plaza between Lafayette Street and Broadway. Performances by Juneteenth LP, Carmen Rodgers, and Nikara Warren Presents Black Wall Street.

🎟️ Free & Open to the Public; no registration required.

This concert features Juneteenth LP members Erika Banks-Alvarez (soprano), Nnenna Ogwo (piano) and guest artist Amos Gabia (percussion).

The Juneteenth Legacy Project (Juneteenth LP) is a musical collaborative whose mission is to share the music of the African Diaspora through the unique lens of black classically trained musicians with a focus on access, outreach and community building through music. Dr. Nnenna Ogwo, pianist, Founder and Artistic Director of Juneteenth LP, is known for bringing her exquisite tone color and expressivity to an unusual breadth of the piano repertoire. Dr. Ogwo has performed in Europe, the Middle East, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Erika Banks-Alvarez, soprano and Communications Director for Juneteenth LP, is a charismatic soprano whose diverse vocal training in classical, jazz and musical theater has kept her busy as an active musician in New York City. Her voice has been describe as "bright yet hazy like late Summer."

Nnenna and Erika will be presenting a recital program featuring a variety of songs by Black composers, songwriters and poets from multiple eras and styles.

This will be a broadcast of our Juneteenth Concert.

As part of Make Music New York, a live, FREE musical celebration happening on the streets of New York City every year, Joe’s Pub presents A Juneteenth Celebration. The event features live performances by Celisse, Ché Buford and mal sounds, and the Juneteenth Legacy Project.

Click here to watch!

As part of Make Music New York, a live, FREE musical celebration happening on the streets of New York City every year, Joe’s Pub presents A Juneteenth Celebration. The event features live performances by Celisse, Ché Buford and mal sounds, and the Juneteenth Legacy Project.

Join by Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82120631785?pwd=aWxMeUF5OUZqS2ljTlFtckloZTlEQT09

Meeting ID: 821 2063 1785

Passcode: 724892

Join by Phone: +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 821 2063 1785

Passcode: 724892

A Message from The Juneteenth Legacy Project about this Performance:

On the 19th of June, 1865, Texas became the final state to officially recognize the freedom of enslaved Africans on American soil, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.  Juneteenth is thus the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in America.  As a musical collective, we at The Juneteenth Legacy Project have chosen to celebrate this day of freedom by performing the works of black composers and illuminating the dazzling musical gems created by members of the African Diaspora.  

This Juneteenth program celebrates the African-American experience in its brilliant fullness; from the grim history of public lynching (past and present) to the rage of the protest song that helped shape and define the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s, to the voices of the Deep South raised in spiritual song.  It’s hard to hear the beauty of the lullaby in William Grant Still’s Mother and Child (arranged for cello and piano by Timothy Holley) and not experience that as a violent contrast to Strange Fruit.  Each black man or woman that is felled today is someone’s child, someone’s beloved, a fact made painfully clear when we perform the two works side by side.  

Hale Smith, in his work for voice and piano, Beyond the Rim of Day, set three Langston Hughes poems that bring a haunting lyricism to the everyday lives of African-Americans.  These three poems speak of black women, so often disparaged and neglected, but here treated tenderly and lovingly regardless of their social station.  When we place these songs next to Smith’s jauntily irreverent and delightful jazz piano pieces, we get to experience the stunning range of his compositional language.  

Please join us for an evening of song: songs of strife, pain, loss, death, but also, songs that invite us to joy, that invite us to dance, to move our feet and to move our hearts. 

Abstract:  Musical Programming as Transformative Resistance

Being a classically trained artist of color is in and of itself, an act of resistance.  Creating an organization dedicated to illuminating the vast repertoire of composers of the African Diaspora, even more so.  At Juneteenth LP, our work of the past 6 years has been shaped by a desire to give voice to the great Black composers of our collective past as well as introduce audiences to the work being created right now.  

Our workshop, with pianist Nnenna Ogwo and soprano Erika Banks-Alvarez will take the form of a small recital and will ask the question of the nature of transformative resistance as an act of being and creation for the black artist in higher education institutions and into the concert world beyond. We will also offer resources to participants to help find the music that speaks more directly to their cultural experience in the framework of Classical music.