Ahoy, matey! The nautical-clad “Titans of Soft Rock,” Yachtley Crew, will be dropping anchor in San Diego this July to launch ArtPower’s summer season.
For the uninitiated, Yacht Rock is a revival of the smooth soft rock and Top 40 hits from the late ’70s to early ’80s—now a nationwide sensation. Fans don captain’s hats and nautical attire, singing along to the era’s breezy, feel-good tunes.
Yachtley Crew first made waves in 2017, selling out countless Southern California venues before igniting a nationwide Yacht Rock craze. Their success caught the attention of the legendary Jimmy Buffett, who signed them to his Mailboat label before their recent deal with Earache/Universal Records.
The seven-piece SoCal band, known for their signature captain’s hats and seafaring style, features lead vocalist Phillip Daniel (Philly Ocean), drummer Rob Jones (Sailor Hawkins), bassist Chaz Ruiz (Baba Buoy), guitarist Thomas Gardner Jr. (Tommy Buoy), backing vocalist Curt Clendenin (Stoney Shores), saxophonist/flutist Paul Pate (Pauly Shores), and keyboardist Matt Grossman (Matthew McDonald).
With the 2014 formation of I’m With Her, singer/songwriters Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins introduced an essential new force into the world of folk music: a close-knit alliance of highly esteemed musicians, each graced with a deep understanding of folk tradition and unbridled passion for expanding its possibilities. Since delivering their critically lauded debut See You Around and standalone singles like “Call My Name” (winner of the 2020 Grammy for Best American Roots Song), the trio have routinely taken time out from their individual careers to dream up songs together—eventually arriving at a new album exploring themes of ancestry, lineage, and the collective human experience. On their long-awaited sophomore LP Wild and Clear and Blue, I’m With Her now bring their luminous harmonies to a soul-searching body of work about reaching into the past, navigating a chaotic present, and bravely moving forward into the unknown.
In a departure from the stripped-back intimacy of See You Around—a 2018 release that turned up on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of the New York Times—Wild and Clear and Blue centers on a far more elaborate sound informed by the trio’s intensified sense of musical kinship. All multi-Grammy-winners with deep roots in the folk scene, Watkins, Jarosz, and O’Donovan first discovered their near-telepathic chemistry during an impromptu performance at the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, then co-founded I’m With Her and began touring extensively and performing at acclaimed festivals across the globe.
Produced by Josh Kaufman—a member of Bonny Light Horseman and multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/arranger/producer who’s worked with Bob Weir and The National—Wild and Clear and Blue ultimately adds a bold new urgency to their delicate entangling of lived-in narrative, fable-like storytelling, and nuanced reflection on cycles of life.
In their almost two-decade history, the Grammy-nominated band Kneebody has created a genre
and style all its own. Their sound is explosive rock energy and high-level nuanced chamber
ensemble playing set within the frames of highly wrought compositions that are balanced with
adventurous no-holds-barred improvising.
Kneebody is keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist Ben Wendel and drummer/bassist Nate Wood. The band has no leader or rather, each member is the leader; they’ve developed their own musical language, inventing a unique cueing system that allows
them each to change the tempo, key, style, and more in an instant.
The group met in their late teens while at The Eastman School of Music and Cal Arts, became
fast friends, and converged together as Kneebody amid the vibrant and eclectic music scene of
Los Angeles in 2001. Since then, each band member has amassed an impressive list of credits
and accomplishments over the years all while the band has continued to thrive and grow in
reputation, solidifying a fan base around the world.
In 2005, Kneebody released their debut self-titled album Kneebody on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf
Music Label. Low Electrical Worker followed in 2007 on the Colortone Label. A collection of
13 original songs, Low Electrical Worker was hailed by saxophonist Joshua Redman as one of
his “favorite albums of 2007.”
In the spring of 2009, Kneebody and vocalist Theo Bleckmann released 12 Songs of Charles Ives
on the Winter & Winter label and received a GRAMMY nomination in the “classical crossover”
category. 2013 saw the release of The Line for Concord Records. In 2015, Kneebody’s
groundbreaking collaboration with electronic musician Daedelus on Kneedelus was released on
Flying Lotus’ imprint Brainfeeder records to praise from critics and audiences alike. In 2017,
Motéma Music released Kneebody’s Anti-Hero. 2019 brought back-to-back releases from
Kneebody on Edition Records. In the Spring, they released By Fire, an EP featuring an eclectic
selection of covers from John Legend to Soundgarden. Followed by the Fall release of Chapters,
the group’s first full-length album as a quartet, mixing deep grooves and deft melodies with a
wide range of guests including Becca Stevens, Gretchen Parlato, Michael Mayo, Gerald Clayton
and Josh Dion.
With Haley Reinhart
Corinne Bailey Rae first captured hearts worldwide in 2006 with her breakout hit Put Your Records On, a breezy, soulful anthem that became an instant classic. Her self-titled debut album cemented her as a standout voice in contemporary R&B and jazz-infused pop, earning her Grammy nominations and a devoted global fanbase. Known for her warm, honeyed vocals and deeply personal songwriting, Corinne’s music has always been a blend of elegance, emotion, and effortless cool.
Now, with Black Rainbows, Corinne Bailey Rae takes an electrifying leap into bold new territory. This is Corinne like you’ve never seen or heard before—raw, experimental, and unapologetically powerful. Inspired by the history and artwork of Chicago’s Stony Island Arts Bank, the album fuses punk energy, avant-garde textures, and soul-stirring storytelling, marking a dramatic evolution in her artistry. Black Rainbows is a fearless reinvention, proving that Corinne Bailey Rae is not just an artist of nostalgia, but one constantly pushing the boundaries of sound and expression.
7 pm: Haley Reinhart
8 pm: Corinne Bailey Rae
“Phil Cook is a lightning bolt. He is a teacher and captor of music. He carries it within him at all times. No one has taught me more about music in my life than him. He is one of the great performers of our age … as time passes more and more people will find that out. I’m excited every time someone gets to discover Phil’s genius—a thing I’ve had the good fortune of knowing all my life.”—Justin Vernon, Bon Iver
For Phil Cook, it all started with piano. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, solo artist, and in-demand musician whose collaborations have run the gamut of genre—as a founding member of beloved band Megafaun to work with The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bon Iver, Kanye West, and Hiss Golden Messenger, to name a few—Cook has always been a musician’s musician. A sweet and affable presence whose musical dexterity elevates every project he touches, Cook’s musical output and true sound has been hard to pin down.
Phil performs from his stunning new album, Appalachia Borealis—a deeply personal and profoundly poignant suite of compositions that captures the emotional range of a full and open existence—chronicling a path of endurance and a way forward. Largely inspired by bird songs, Appalachia Borealis features Phil on the piano, the “foremost love of his musical life”.
Nubya Garcia isn’t an artist you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist,
composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden
Music. But it isn’t until you listen to albums like 2020’s Source and 2024’s Odyssey that you hear
broader creativity shining through: It’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to
convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all
disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t fit.
Garcia’s sophomore album Odyssey, out in September 2024 via Concord Jazz, is a majestic feat on
which she blends orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, broken beat and dub, resulting in a grand,
nuanced record that feels airy and celestial without sacrificing the groove. It’s a deeply personal
offering about her trek to falling back in love with musical composition over the past four years.
Poems of Consumption turns Amazon customer reviews into “pop songs” written, composed, arranged, and produced by H.Sinno and their collaborators. The harsh electronica and lush string quartet are accompanied by video work by Sinno and Matteo Zamagni which further saturates the performance with a relentless barrage of phantasmagorical visuals.
Inspired by Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism, polymath H.Sinno searches for fugitive intimacies and poetic temporalities by jamming Amazon’s 5-star rating system with poetry about their own consumer behavior.
Commissioned by the Barbican Centre and Shubbak Festival in July 2023, Poems of Consumption is a multimedia anti-spectacle that marks H.Sinno’s first lyrical excursion into the English language, as well as the former pop-star’s first solo work since Mashrou Leila.
“breath-taking vitality” — Badische Zeitung
Founded in 2001, Meta4 is one of Finland’s most celebrated string quartets. Their Polarkr(e)is Drifting North program explores works from the sound worlds of the Arctic Circle, from the Inuit themes of American composer Amy Beach’s String Quartet, to works of their fellow Finns Kaija Saarhiaho and Jean Sibelius, paired with Italo-Indian composer Krishna Nagaraja’s Stringar, a piece that combines old and new through Nordic folk dance tunes.
In 2004, the ensemble won first prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of a Shostakovich work at the International Shostakovich String Quartets Competition in Moscow and, in 2007, first prize at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. The Finnish Ministry of Culture awarded the ensemble the Finland Prize in recognition of its international cultural influence and Meta4 was chosen for the “BBC New Generation Artist Scheme” (2008, 2010).
Program
Kaija Saariaho Fleurs de neige
Amy Beach String Quartet in One Movement
Krishna Nagarja Stringar
Jean Sibelius String Quartet “Voces Intimae”
The Harlem Gospel Travelers are not from Harlem. They came to Harlem, however, from far-flung corners of the five boroughs of New York City, and it was in Harlem, that legendary center of African-American culture, that they found their voices. Since its conception, they have focused on creating music that uplifts, inspires, and spreads the message of love.
“One of the greatest string quartets I have ever heard. They can play anything.”—Ted Nash
New York-based, GRAMMY-award winning Harlem Quartet has been praised for its “panache” by the New York Times and hailed in the Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.” Since its public debut at Carnegie Hall in 2006, the ensemble has thrilled audiences and students in 47 states as well as in the U.K., France, Belgium, Brazil, Panama, Canada, Venezuela, Japan, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
The GRAMMY award-winning quartet returns to San Diego with Echoes of Inspiration, an eclectic program that weaves together works from three different centuries. For this program, the ensemble has selected pieces that each composer wrote to celebrate the influence of their heroes and cultural traditions.
The program is anchored by an early Beethoven work, opus 18 no. 5 in A Major, which intentionally reflects the moods and ideas of Mozart’s quartet in the same key. The musical counterpoint the group has selected, Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 2, is a heartfelt tribute to Henry Purcell which Britten composed in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Purcell’s passing. Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte draws inspiration from the minuet of Haydn’s Quartet Opus 77/2, reflecting both innovation & respect for tradition. Guido Lopez-Gavilan’s Cuarteto en Guaguanco rounds out the program— this exhilarating work is inspired by Afro-Cuban Chant.
Through their meticulous selection of works, this ensemble demonstrates their dedication to combining traditional masterpieces performed at the highest level with complementary contemporary works that are writing the future for classical music. Their ability to seamlessly traverse various musical styles while maintaining a signature sound that also honors both the specific style and context of the work, but also the inspirations behind each piece is a testament to their exceptional musicianship and artistic vision.
Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in A Major, op.18 no.5
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel:String Quartet in E-flat Major
Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
Guido Lopez-Gavilan: Cuarteto en Guaguanco
