Opener: Kyshona
Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo—named “Africa’s premier diva” and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for 2021—brings with her a striking vocal performance and stage presence, as well as a fluency in multiple cultures and languages.
Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz—as well as influences from Europe and Latin America—in her remarkable sound. One of the greatest artists in international music today, Kidjo is a creative force with 16 albums to her name. The BBC has included her in its list of the continent's 50 most iconic figures, and in 2011 The Guardian listed her as one of their Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World. Forbes Magazine has ranked Kidjo as the first woman in their list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2015 Crystal Award given by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the 2016 Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the 2018 German Sustainability Award, the 2023 Vilcek Prize in Music, and the 2023 Polar Music Prize.
Kidjo has performed her genre-bending work with several international orchestras and symphonies, including the Bruckner Orchestra, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Philharmonie de Paris. Her collaboration with Philip Glass, IFÉ: Three Yorùbá Songs, made its US debut to a sold-out concert with the San Francisco Symphony in June 2015. In 2019, Kidjo helped Glass premiere his latest work, Symphony #12 “Lodger,” a symphonic re-imaging of the David Bowie album of the same name, at a sold-out performance at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Kidjo also travels the world advocating on behalf of children in her capacity as a UNICEF and OXFAM goodwill Ambassador. At the G7 Summit in 2019, President Macron of France named Kidjo as the spokesperson for the AFAWA initiative (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa) to help close the financing gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa. She has also created her own charitable foundation, Batonga, dedicated to support the education of young girls in Africa.
More about Kyshona
Kyshona lends her voice and music to those who feel silenced, forgotten, or alone. She began her career as a music therapist, writing her first songs with patients—students and inmates under her care. She became compelled to write independently and find her own voice, an endeavor which led her to the Nashville creative community and songwriting culture. Since then, she balances her music career with her passion to heal in community through her organization Your Song.
Over the last few years, in addition to three new original singles and multiple music videos, she released a collection of recordings and videos in collaboration with Centennial Park Conservancy, recorded at Nashville’s Parthenon. A song she wrote with ZG Smith called Nighttime Animal was named to American Songwriter’s Top 25 Songs of 2022 and enjoyed spins on AAA radio. She is featured on a 2023 PBS show Ear to the Common Ground, gathering fans around a dining table to discuss voting rights in America, and she will be featured in an upcoming video series featuring Americana artists performing in the prestigious Schermerhorn Symphony Center Theater in Nashville.
Kyshona’s new project LEGACY focuses on family. Through stories, photos, film, ancestry and genealogy research, and travels in the power of place, Kyshona shares her story while inviting listeners and concert goers to join her in exploration of self, healing, and growth.