ANQWENIQUE and Reson8 Headline Two Summer Programs

 

Chamber Music Pittsburgh Announces Voices of Pittsburgh: Two Summer Programs Featuring Pittsburgh Artists Singer ANQWENIQUE, Vocal Octet Reson8 Headline Four Pittsburgh Performs Concerts

PITTSBURGH, PA—Chamber Music Pittsburgh (CMP) is thrilled to announce its 2025 Pittsburgh Performs series, which brings innovative local musicians into unexpected neighborhood venues. “Voices of Pittsburgh” will open with two concerts featuring multitalented vocalist ANQWENIQUE in a program celebrating Juneteenth, followed by the vocal octet Reson8 presenting “Singing Out Loud,” a celebration of LGBTQ+ composers in July. These concerts will take place across the city, bringing the valuable experience of live music to Pittsburgh’s many neighborhoods. “Pittsburgh Performs has been a core part of our mission for many seasons—it provides a platform for us to showcase the diverse talents of musicians here in our region,” says Martha Bonta, Executive and Artistic Director of Chamber Music Pittsburgh. “In this year’s series, ‘Voices of Pittsburgh,’ audiences can look forward to artist-curated programs that shine a light on brilliant yet under-celebrated composers in venues throughout Pittsburgh that are not typical concert halls. We look forward to amplifying the voices of our amazing local artists and sharing their uplifting performances with our community.”

ANQWENIQUE - Photo by sarah huny young

ANQWENIQUE and Friends Celebrate Juneteenth Saturday, June 14 • 2:00PM • East Liberty Presbyterian Church, East Liberty Thursday, June 19 • 7:30PM • Emerald City PGH, Downtown Tickets: Pay what you wish Presented in partnership with the Madame Mary Caldwell Dawson Branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM) and Hope Academy of Music and the Arts, these concerts feature longtime CMP collaborator ANQWENIQUE. With a love for jazz, opera, classical, and soul music, ANQWENIQUE bridges genre and era to craft unforgettable musical experiences that embody her passion for performance. The program includes works by influential Black American composers, including Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Nicole Mitchell, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and more. These concerts feature soprano ANQWENIQUE; violinist Omari Abdul-Alim; violist Gloria Wide; pianist Irene Monteverde, and more.

Reson8 Vocal Octet, from left to right: Charlene Canty, Graham Fandrei, Andrew Bloomgarden, Zanna Fredland, Amelia D'Arcy, Daniel Teadt, Timothi Williams, Robert Frankenberry - Photo by Alisa Innocenti

Reson8: Singing Out Loud Saturday, July 12 • 7:30PM • Attack Theatre, Lawrenceville Sunday, July 13 • 3:00PM • Crafton United Presbyterian Church, Crafton Tickets: Pay what you wish Presented in partnership with Resonance Works, the Reson8 Vocal Octet celebrates the vibrant voices of LGBTQ+ creators in a soul-stirring concert of beauty and belonging. The program will  include works by Jennifer Higdon, Conrad Susa, Mari Esobel Valverde, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Franz Schubert, Caroline Shaw, Leonard Bernstein, Ricky Ian Gordon, Stephen Sondheim, and more. Reson8 features sopranos Charlene Canty and Amelia D’Arcy; mezzo-sopranos Timothi Williams and Zanna Fredland; tenors George Milosh and Andrew Bloomgarden; and baritones Daniel Teadt and Graham Fandrei.

About the Artists

ANQWENIQUE Pittsburgh native ANQWENIQUE is an extremely versatile vocalist and educator specializing in opera, classical music, jazz and soul. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Voice Performance from Indiana University of PA. She has performed and collaborated with Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Attack Theater, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, BOOM Concepts, composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, Luna Loba Collective/Shey Rivera-Rios, Roger Humphries, Nicole Mitchell, Kenny Peagler, and many others. ANQWENIQUE has been recognized with many awards and opportunities for her creative work. In 2017 she was named “Best Singer” by the Pittsburgh Magazine readers poll and listed among Who's Next in Music by The Incline and 40 Under 40 by Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP. Alongside her husband, visual artist DS Kinsel, she became the first artist in residence at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, PA as part of a collaboration with BOOM Concepts. She most recently was a recipient of the 2023 Aggie Award by the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation for her creative community work, and she completed the 3rd SCALE Fellowship cohort, a program of the Equity Impact Center for Black women in music.  She was a 2024 UNISOUND Black Teaching Artist in Residence and participated in the Yoga Roots on Location teacher training cohort 6. Anqwenique has a history of working in collaboration across disciplines in visual art, photography, performance art and immersive theater. Reson8 Launched in Fall 2024, Reson8 brings together “some of the best singing talent available, right here in the Pittsburgh area” (OnStage Pittsburgh) to form a vocal octet. Under the direction of Resonance Works Artistic and General Director Maria Sensi Sellner, Reson8 performs a wide range of repertoire, from J.S. Bach to Aaron Copland to Gilda Lyons.

ANQWENIQUE and Friends Celebrate Juneteenth Saturday, June 14 • 2:00PM • East Liberty Presbyterian Church, East Liberty Thursday, June 19 • 7:30PM • Emerald City PGH, Downtown Reson8: Singing Out Loud Saturday, July 12 • 7:30PM • Attack Theatre, Lawrenceville Sunday, July 13 • 3:00PM • Crafton United Presbyterian Church, Crafton Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and can be purchased online here for the June concerts and here for the July concerts.

About Pittsburgh Performs Pittsburgh Performs is a four-concert series that highlights innovative local and regional musicians. This program is a central part of Chamber Music Pittsburgh’s mission to celebrate the diverse range of genres, instrumentation, and eras that chamber music represents. Each pay-what-you-wish performance takes place at a community-centric venue, many in underserved neighborhoods. Past concerts include Hugo Crúz and the Caminos at the Mattress Factory museum, Imani Winds at City of Asylum, and Italian folk band Alla Boara at Istituto Mondo Italiano in Point Breeze. About Chamber Music Pittsburgh Since 1961, Chamber Music Pittsburgh (CMP) has provided Pittsburgh audiences with the opportunity to hear the world’s finest chamber music artists. CMP serves Pittsburgh’s diverse communities via its various series and programs, including its MainStage Live subscription series, its Pittsburgh Performs series that features local Pittsburgh artists in unusual venues outside of the traditional concert hall setting, and its free, need based musical instrument lending library, administered in partnership with East Liberty's Hope Academy of Music and the Arts. Each CMP season features a carefully balanced menu of acclaimed chamber ensembles and brilliant emerging groups, performing a balance of traditional musical masterpieces as well as contemporary, intercultural, and crossover compositions. Chamber Music Pittsburgh remains a vital element of the cultural life in Pittsburgh and is recognized throughout the classical music world. ###