The 2025 version of Lincoln Center鈥檚 long-running American Songbook, titled Singer Outsiders, will bring the musical achievements of women and non-binary artists into focus, showing that their remarkable creations鈥攐ften relegated to a separate silo鈥攈ave been innovative and singular in their own right.
鈥淎merica as a concept is so elastic,鈥� says Shanta Thake, Lincoln Center鈥檚 Executive Vice President, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer, 鈥渟o to continue expanding what that means for all of us and embracing the idea of what we listen to is very important.鈥� Discussing this season鈥檚 Songbook curators, Brooklyn-born and bred composer and performer Tamar-kali and the frontwoman of legendary bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre Kathleen Hanna, Thake notes that 鈥渢hey are really interested in building community that matches what we are trying to do. It鈥檚 all about the connections to what came before and what might be ahead, something that both women do in many beautiful ways.鈥�
Singer Outsiders opens February 11 with History鈥檚 Persistent Voice, a multimedia evening at Alice Tully Hall that鈥檚 devised and sung by Grammy-winning soprano Julia Bullock, who will sing Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera in John Adams鈥� Antony and Cleopatra later this spring. Bullock鈥檚 performance will include new vocal commissions by composers Jessie Montgomery, Tania Le贸n, Allison Loggins-Hull, Carolyn Yarnell, and Pamela Z.
鈥淚n this piece, Julia is presenting a part of our history that we need to remind ourselves of, along with highlighting several female composers, celebrating their work in a new way,鈥� Thake explains.
Other highlights include the return of singer-songwriter Shaina Taub a decade after her memorable American Songbook debut and fresh off her Tony-winning score and book for the musical Suffs (March 21, Jazz at Lincoln Center鈥檚 The Appel Room); eclectic artist Meshell Ndegeocello, whose latest album, No More Water, is a musical tribute to James Baldwin (March 23, The Appel Room); and tribute events at the David Rubenstein Atrium: a screening of Poly Styrene: I Am A Clich茅, a new documentary about the first woman of color to front a UK rock band (March 26), a Tribute to Poly Styrene (March 28), and a
Tribute to the Slits, another pioneering UK group (April 4).
If there鈥檚 one event that Thake is looking forward to, it鈥檚 another tribute concert, this one at David Geffen Hall on April 6, as two seminal groups in their own right, Gossip and ESG, come together to honor the unsung trailblazing rock group, Fanny, which was the first all-female rock band to record a full album for a major record label, in the mid-鈥�70s.
鈥淚 am very excited for this one because the artists themselves are so excited to be sharing a stage on a bill that hasn鈥檛 happened before,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat to me is a beautiful articulation of not only celebrating the legacy of artists who have been champions of empowerment for themselves and the community but also being fans and enjoying watch their heroes perform.鈥�
Closing this season鈥檚 series, on April 15 at David Geffen Hall, is Latin Grammy winner Ana Tijoux, the French Chilean rapper and songwriter who just released her latest album Vida, which features songs that AllMusic says 鈥渨eave activism, emotional and spiritual growth ... offered freely and generously.鈥� Tijoux and her band will bring South America to American Songbook.
Each Songbook season is unique, as Singer Outsiders demonstrates, according to Thake. 鈥淚t feels like this is the time to be elevating female and nonbinary voices, highlighting them as part of who we are as Americans, as people sharing this country together,鈥� she explains. 鈥淎rtists are always 10 steps ahead of the rest of us鈥攖hey鈥檙e constantly holding up a mirror to what鈥檚 happening in our society, through their own lived experience. Artists often lead the conversation since their job is to have their finger on the pulse of what is swirling around us. It鈥檚 not surprising that these incredible artists have projects centered around what鈥檚 happening in our own time.
"This is what鈥檚 happening鈥攚e need to pay attention."
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