I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

5 days ago | icareifyoulisten.com | Amanda Cook

Theresa May’s multifaceted work as an artist, performer, educator, and advocate illustrates the abundant possibility of a career centered on fully embracing your interests. A classically-trained trumpeter, May maintains a robust teaching schedule at Cuyahoga Community College where she serves as a professor of applied trumpet and world music. Outside of the classroom, however, May transforms into a conduit for the fullness of Black art and advocacy.

1 week ago | icareifyoulisten.com | Amanda Cook

The story of Rosa Parks – tired after a long day at work, refusing to move to the back of the bus to make room for a white passenger – is a foundational act of defiance in the history of the Civil Right Movement. But it was also part of a carefully crafted plan to desegregate buses in Montgomery, Alabama that was carried to fruition by a group of women whose names have not been spoken nearly enough.

1 week ago | icareifyoulisten.com | Amanda Cook

Money Matters is a NewMusicBox x I CARE IF YOU LISTEN collaboration, supported by New Music USA. By 2012, Eighth Blackbird had been together for 16 years. We had two Grammys, ongoing residencies at the University of Richmond and University of Chicago, and were about to start a three-year residency at Curtis. We were touring the world, playing big houses like Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall. We had commissioned Steve Reich a few years back, and he won a Pulitzer for the piece.

2 weeks ago | icareifyoulisten.com | Amanda Cook

Sharon Udoh is a Nigerian-American pianist, composer, arranger, curator, and vocalist based in Chicago. Her collaborators have included clipping., Tune-Yards, Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus, Mabel Kwan, Ben LaMar Gay, Angel Bat Dawid, and Allen Moore; her performances have been described as a warm bowl of soup, a tornado, a jalapeño pepper, a Jackson Pollock painting, a bulldozer, magnetic, dangerous, and kind.

2 weeks ago | icareifyoulisten.com | Amanda Cook

Once described as “multilingual” for their captivating performances of music from around the world, the Carpe Diem String Quartet (CDSQ) is committed to redefining what it means to be a modern string quartet. CDSQ is known for pushing boundaries and removing barriers to engaging in music through their community projects.