American Songbook Returns With Singer Outsiders
Curated in Collaboration with Kathleen Hanna and Tamar-kali
Cross-Genre Performances Celebrate
Trailblazing Women in American Music
February 11 – April 15, 2025
NEW YORK, NY – (February 10, 2025) – Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ long-running American Songbook, dedicated to the exploration and celebration of the American music canon, returns with a season co-curated by celebrated artists Kathleen Hanna and Tamar-kali.
Featuring a bold, interdisciplinary lineup of women and nonbinary artists who have reshaped music, performance, and culture, this season is entitled Singer Outsiders. Innovative artists across genres, from punk and Hip-Hop, to opera, jazz, and Broadway, together expand the definition of the American music canon.
"Lincoln Center is a place where all forms of artistic excellence belong, and this year’s American Songbook honors the voices that have expanded our shared musical language,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “With Singer Outsiders, we’re highlighting fearless singers who are not content playing by the rules. Kathleen Hanna and Tamar-kali embody this spirit, pushing boundaries and moving the center of culture ever forward. We’re thrilled to collaborate on this vision and to showcase these groundbreaking artists.”
Kicking off the series on Tuesday, February 11 is History’s Persistent Voice, a multimedia anthology envisioned by GRAMMY Award-winning operatic soprano Julia Bullock. This special concert performance centers Pre-Emancipation musical traditions, given new life by Bullock’s vocal renditions, and features newly commissioned compositions by Jessie Montgomery, Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Carolyn Yarnell, and Pamela Z.
Next in the series is Broadway phenom Shaina Taub, returning to American Songbook fresh off the run of her Tony Award-winning musical Suffs.
A spotlight on groundbreakers, punk, and the underground, envisioned by Kathleen Hanna and Tamar-kali, includes performances by Gossip and ESG honoring Fanny, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Joan as Police Woman. A special film screening honors punk icon Poly Styrene, while two tribute nights celebrate the legacies of both Poly Styrene and The Slits. A punk mixtape night reinterprets iconic tracks in new ways, with an incredible lineup of artists set to perform across these three shows: Annette Santiago, Ashley Kossakowski and Johanna Healy of Groupie, Cleo Reed, Erin Markey, Felice Rosser, Helen Holmes of Argument, Honeychild Coleman, Katharine Battistoni, Lenny Lynch, Lily Konigsberg, Lisa McQuade, Mary Jane Dunphe, Militia Vox, Privacy Issues, Rachel Dissident, Rahill Jamalifard, Shara Lunon, Simi Stone, Sophia Ramos, Tracy Bonham and more to be announced. In addition, the U.S. debut of 4132314 brings together Tarta Relena, Los Sara Fontan, and Cocanha for an award-winning theatrical concert. Rapper Ana Tijoux closes the series, celebrating her first new album in nearly a decade.
The American Songbook series has celebrated the ever-expanding boundaries of the American music canon for more than twenty years. Over this time, the series has featured legendary musicians of today and tomorrow, shaping music across pop, folk, jazz, musical theater, rap, Hip-Hop, and more. Past performers have included Ariana DeBose, Bernadette Peters, Deaf Broadway, Desmond Child, iLe, Kelli O’Hara, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nico Muhly, Patti Smith, Rhiannon Giddens, Rosanne Cash, Rostam, Rufus Wainwright, St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens, Talib Kweli, Taylor Mac and many more.
All events in American Songbook: Singer Outsiders are Choose-What-You-Pay or Free.
Tickets are available at AmericanSongbook.org.
Imagery may be accessed here.
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Lincoln Center Presents American Songbook: Singer Outsiders
February 11 – April 15, 2025
Tuesday, February 11 at 7:30 pm
Alice Tully Hall
History's Persistent Voice is a multimedia ethnographic anthology envisioned by curator and GRAMMY Award-winning singer Julia Bullock. The program’s focus is on the influence of pre-Emancipation voices across generations, emphasizing that era’s poetic musical traditions while centering the multifaceted identities of the Black American experience, realized through art. These works are given new life through Bullock's powerhouse vocal renditions, far-ranging connective research, and a quintet of newly commissioned compositions crafted by an esteemed roster of American women of color that features Jessie Montgomery, Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Carolyn Yarnell, and Pamela Z. Additional collaborators include the fellow GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Christian Reif and the Tony Award-winning designer and immersive visual artist Hana S. Kim. Previously seen at The Met Museum and the San Francisco Symphony, this evening represents the ever-evolving presentation's Lincoln Center debut.
Friday, March 21 at 8:30 pm
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Since her 2015 Lincoln Center American Songbook debut, the outstanding GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Shaina Taub has produced three original albums, original scores, and lyrics for two musical Shakespeare adaptations, and the multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Suffs, establishing herself as a powerful voice in the pop and theater worlds. Taub has also turned in bravura performances for numerous Off-Broadway hits—Old Hats; Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet; Hadestown; Ragtime—but she's perhaps most in her natural element singing behind a piano, as evidenced by a sold-out series of residency shows at Joe's Pub. Taub was recently named one of Time Magazine's 2024 TIME100 Next, placing her among the nation's creative leaders. Taub returns to Lincoln Center’s American Songbook backed by a full band for an evening of unforgettable music and special guests.
Saturday, March 22 at 8:30 pm
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
Hailed as “one of the 21st century’s best musicians” by The Economist, Joan Wasser, aka Joan as Police Woman, has established herself as both a leading voice of her generation’s songwriters and an elite performer whose unique sound and original vision heightens the art of her collaborators. A major contributor to key work for an eclectic cohort of artists including Antony and the Johnsons (now ANOHNI), Rufus Wainwright, Damon Albarn, and longtime Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen, Joan’s insatiable creative drive has spurred 12 razor-sharp solo albums over the past 18 years. On her latest, 2024’s Lemons, Limes and Orchids, Joan is working at the height of her powers, producing music that “turns doubt and anxiety into subtly burnished, soulful nocturnes” (Mojo). For her headlining debut set at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, Joan and her band comprised of Will Graefe on guitar and Jeremy Gustin on drums will offer songs from Lemons, Limes and Orchids, select jewels from her formidable catalog, and a few surprises.
Sunday, March 23 at 8:30 pm
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
The New Yorker calls Meshell Ndegeocello "the most significant bassist this country has produced since the advent of Charles Mingus and Flea," but even that's selling short her remarkable contribution to the American Songbook. The D.C. area native has always eschewed genre for originality, celebrity for longevity, and musical trends for musical truths. Fans have come to expect the unexpected on her sojourns into soul, R&B, jazz, Hip-Hop and rock, all bound by a search for love, justice, respect, and resolution. Those sonic investigations have defied and redefined the expectations for women, queer artists, and Black musicians for more than 30 years. Ndegeocello remains one of few women who write the music, sing the songs, lead the band, and produce the albums. Her latest album, No More Water, is a collaborative tribute to James Baldwin featuring the poet Staceyann Chin and the musical trio The HawtPlates. Don't miss this American original, bearing the fruit of a life's work still in progress.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Film Screening
David Rubenstein Atrium
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the Riot Grrrl and Afropunk movements.
But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy and her mother’s demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship.
Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother’s unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.
Friday, March 28 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
This year’s American Songbook celebrates the voices of women and nonbinary performers who have not only shaped the landscape of music, but have also driven important conversations on gender, identity, and empowerment. Galvanized by a Sex Pistols concert, the UK-born Marion Elliot adapted the sobriquet Poly Styrene, formed a band and then promptly changed the history of rock by recording the seminal punk anthem Oh Bondage! Up Yours! Poly Styrene would only release one album in the 1970s, but Germ Free Adolescents would prove to be one of the most influential LPs of its era. For this evening of music by and inspired by Poly Styrene and her band X-Ray Spex, the American Songbook band—featuring Keyanna Hutchinson (guitar), Barbara Duncan (percussion), Flora Lucini (bass), and Elenna Canlas (keyboards and vocals)—will be joined by an array of musical luminaries, all paying their respects to a true punk pioneer.
Friday, April 4 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
This year’s American Songbook series celebrates the voices of women and nonbinary performers who have not only shaped the landscape of music, but have also driven important conversations on gender, identity, and empowerment. Few artists fit that bill more precisely than The Slits, a riotous, pioneering, female-led UK experimental band that parlayed a love for dub, punk, and surf rock into an influential and durable DIY success story. Originally formed in 1976 by the legendary Ari Up and Palmolive, the group's notorious debut LP Cut spawned a genuine radio hit with their raucous cover of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." The many hits of The Slits will be presented by the American Songbook band—featuring Keyanna Hutchinson (guitar), Barbara Duncan (percussion), Flora Lucini (bass), and Elenna Canlas (keyboards and vocals)—joined by an array of musical luminaries, all paying their respects to one of the true pioneers of punk.
Sunday, April 6 at 7:30 pm
Gossip and ESG: Honoring Fanny
David Geffen Hall
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
Three generations of women at the forefront of rock and roll are celebrated in this earth-shaking evening. The brashly soulful voice of Beth Ditto powers the GLAAD Award-nominated power pop punk trio Gossip, whose 2009 single "Heavy Cross" skyrocketed their album Music for Men to Gold and Multi-Platinum certification across the EU. The legendary Bronx-based female funk rock collective ESG set the stage for whole genres of sound, including post punk and house music. Songs from the group's early EPs have been so heavily sampled by rap's A-listers (including by Wu-Tang Clan, The Beastie Boys and MF DOOM) that their sound has become nearly indivisible from Hip-Hop. ESG's seminal 1983 debut album Come Away with ESG was acknowledged by Pitchfork as one of the 50 Best Albums of the 1980s. Amidst sets by both Gossip and ESG, Lincoln Center will honor the surviving members of the pioneering 1970s-era LA band Fanny, the first all-female rock band to record a full album at a major label.
Friday, April 11 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium
Co-curated by Tamar-kali and Kathleen Hanna
The essence of punk music has always been impulsive, spontaneous, eclectic, audacious, and exciting. Those qualities also describe a great mixtape! Prepare yourself for an unpredictable evening inspired by the rich history of women and nonbinary artists in punk rock, including vanguard creators like Siouxsie Sioux, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, The Raincoats, X-Ray Spex, The Slits, Kathleen Hanna, Laura Jane Grace, Beth Ditto, and many more. Mixtape: Women in Punk features the ace lineup of the American Songbook band— Keyanna Hutchinson (guitar), Barbara Duncan (percussion), Flora Lucini (bass), and Elenna Canlas (keyboards and vocals)—joined by an array of musical luminaries TBA.
Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 pm
4132314: Tarta Relena, Los Sara Fontan, and Cocanha
Alice Tully Hall
Presented in association with Institut Ramon Llull
The varied traditions of Mediterranean folk music are reimagined through a modern, experimental lens in 4132314, an epic collaborative project from the acclaimed Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena, the genius compositional partners Los Sara Fontan, and the percussion and vocal Occitan duo Cocanha. Together, these three pairs of artists present a distinctly theatrical concert inspired by the visual repetition of dressmaking patterns from classical textile mills, the inherent musicality of cloth's production, and the until-now unsung effort of the countless women who wove their lives into the very fabric of history. Vivified by intoxicating polyphony, innovative instrumentation, Byzantine rhythmic construction, and an unmistakable sense of DIY creativity, 4132314 celebrates collective work, ingenuity, solidarity, sorority, and the common thread of connection that binds us all. Winner of the 2022 Ciutat de Barcelona Award, 4132314 makes its U.S. debut at Lincoln Center.
Tuesday, April 15 at 7:30 pm
David Geffen Hall
It has been nearly a decade since the GRAMMY-nominated and Latin GRAMMY Award-winning emcee Ana Tijoux dropped her critically acclaimed album Vengo, a "dazzling" (NPR) blend of Hip-Hop and Andean traditional sounds. In the years between, the French Chilean rapper and songwriter has released over 15 singles, coped with the sadness of profound personal loss, and grown significantly as an artist. Her long-awaited new LP, 2024's aptly-named Vida, featuring guest turns from Talib Kweli and iLe, displays Tijoux's development boldly with songs that "weave activism, emotional and spiritual growth... offered freely and generously" (AllMusic). In a concert that brings South America to the American Songbook, Tijoux and her live band spotlight the intricate arrangements laced throughout Vida alongside other hits from her catalog for a whirlwind trip through the worlds of rap, jazz, Latin folk, and funk, all tinted with unvarnished emotion and a sharp sense of humor.
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About Kathleen Hanna, co-curator
Kathleen Hanna is a punk singer, writer, artist, and the frontwoman of the influential bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. Her memoir Rebel Girl, published by Ecco/HarperCollins, was an instant New York Times bestseller. Hanna is a staple in feminist publications, from college curriculums to bestselling books, and a leading voice in the feminist movement. She has been named one of the best live performers of our time.
About Tamar-kali, co-curator
Tamar-kali is a vocalist, performer, award-winning and Oscar-shortlisted composer of Oscar nominated and Emmy award winning films. Brooklyn born and bred with roots in the coastal Sea Islands of South Carolina, she has defied boundaries to craft her own unique sound. As a performer, whether in her alt-rock power quintet or all femme string sextet and voice ensemble, she speaks her lyrical truth with a supreme passion and a voice that will shake your foundation and shatter your expectations with its soulful intensity. Her body of work includes commissions for the stage ranging from opera to multidisciplinary theatrical pieces as well as experimental film installations.
About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) is a cultural and civic cornerstone of New York City. The primary advocate for the entire Lincoln Center campus, our strategic priorities include: fostering collaboration and deepening impact across the Lincoln center resident organizations; championing inclusion and increasing accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; nurturing innovation on stage and off to help ensure the arts are at the center of civic life for all. LCPA presents hundreds of programs each year, offered primarily for free and choose-what-you-pay, including many specially designed for young audiences, families, and those with disabilities.
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