OZ Arts/Photo by Tiffany Bessire
Artists from Africa, Europe, Australia and Canada will take the stage alongside national and local acts in 2022-23
Nashville, Tenn. – Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville announced its highly anticipated 10th season of groundbreaking performances featuring some of the world’s most influential artists at the forefront of dance, music, theater, and multimedia. The 2022-23 season features more international artists than any season before, with critically acclaimed performers and ensembles from South Africa, Algeria, Australia, Ukraine, Guinea, France, and Canada, alongside accomplished US artists from New York, Los Angeles, Kentucky and, of course, Tennessee.
In addition to introducing Nashville audiences to renowned artists who are coming to the city for the first time, the 10th season also highlights the return of influential artists who have played an important role in shaping the organization’s rich history, including choreographer Kyle Abraham (first at OZ in 2015), Kid Koala and his multi-media team (first at OZ in 2016), legendary performer and writer Patti Smith (first at OZ in 2015), the Nashville dance artists of New Dialect and Windship Boyd, and the ghoulish, macabre rock ensemble Fable Cry, in a special Halloween celebration.
Live music plays a prominent role in this season’s diverse offerings. Audiences will experience the soaring vocals of a South African chorus in Gregory Maqoma’s acclaimed CION: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero, the protest folk-punk of Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha, the soulful blues-meets-Cherokee mashup style of Martha Redbone, a fanciful mix of beats by DJ Kid Koala and a string trio in a unique multimedia collaboration, and striking contemporary chamber compositions in a new collaboration between Nashville’s New Dialect and the American Modern Opera Company.
“We’re proud to expand the scope of our programming this season with more international visiting artists than ever before, while also deepening relationships with national and local artists that have been an important part of OZ’s first decade,” said Mark Murphy, OZ Arts Executive and Artistic Director. “This season brings a range of powerful programs to the OZ Arts stage that represent new developments in contemporary culture and address important topics. I can’t wait to share these unique experiences with Nashville audiences.”
Returning to OZ Arts for the first time since his stunning 2015 Nashville debut, Kyle Abraham and his celebrated dance company Abraham In Motion (A.I.M.) kicks off the 10th season on October 20 with a sensual, sophisticated, and breathtakingly visual new production called An Untitled Love set to the R&B music of Grammy-winning artist D’Angelo. The following week, OZ and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) are partnering to present post-post-modern chanteuse Meow Meow for a lively and unforgettable one-night-only performance on October 28 at the historic War Memorial Auditorium. The first month of this incredible season rounds out with the return of theatrical noir rockers Fable Cry and their annual Festival of Ghouls celebration, an immersive Halloween party and over-the-top cabaret.
In November, celebrated Nashville dance collective New Dialect joins forces with the acclaimed American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) to present Broken Theater, a compelling new dance and music work described by The New York Times as “a wry, sometimes uproarious and poignant metatheatrical riff on the process of creation.” The powerful collaboration includes choreography by AMOC member Bobbi Jene Smith and also features New Dialect founder Banning Bouldin in her triumphant return to the stage. Then, in partnership and co-presented with Parnassus Books, legendary singer-songwriter and National Book Award-winning author Patti Smith makes a special one-night-only appearance at OZ Arts Nashville to celebrate her newest title A Book of Days, through musical performances by Smith and her son and a special Q&A with audience members.
Before the holiday season is in full swing, revered blues and soul singer Martha Redbone takes audiences on a thought-provoking, uniquely American journey inspired by her multicultural upbringing and Cherokee legacy in the Appalachian Mountains in Bone Hill: The Concert, a theatrical event with a cast of eight performers, December 2-3.
With the new year comes new international artists, several of whom are visiting Nashville for the first time. In February, 12 high-velocity performers from France and Algeria astound audiences in a lyrical, explosive marriage of traditional Sufi dance and contemporary hip-hop in one of Compagnie Hervé Koubi’s signature works, What the Day Owes to the Night. Later in the month, Kyiv’s DakhaBrakha, a folk-punk quartet, weaves ancient Ukrainian melodies into a subversive musical tapestry that embraces indie rock, pop, Hip-hop, the avant-garde, and traditional instrumentation from around the world.
In March, the new tale The Storyville Mosquito is created by an innovative mix of miniature sets, live puppetry, cinematography, and live music by Kid Koala and a string trio. Balancing creative storytelling techniques and live cinema, the live theatrical experience proves to be a funny, emotive, Chaplin-esque romp that’s fun for the entire family. Celebrating the tradition of the West African jeli or griot, the talented Yeli Ensemble of artists from Guinea presents a powerful evening of dance and drumming in collaboration with dynamic local artists led by Windship Boyd, Christophe Konkobo, Karen Roberts, and Saul Rodriguez in Timbuktu Within in mid-April.
As the dynamic season closes in May, Gregory Maqoma, one of South Africa’s most celebrated artists, is thrilling critics around the world with his newest music/theater/dance production CION: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro, which weaves a narrative of greed, power, and the pain of mourning with a moving live score interrogating Ravel’s music through South African vocal traditions. In mid-May, OZ’s Brave New Works Lab returns for a second year, inviting daring Nashville artists to transform OZ Arts into a laboratory for the creation and premiere of new works and works-in-progress, encouraging multimedia experimentation and collaboration across disciplines.
Many of the artists presenting work throughout the season will also participate in a variety of community events, including free workshops and community engagement activities.
Full details and photos for all 2022-23 programming can be found here. OZ Arts remains committed to ensuring its programming is accessible to all audiences. Individual tickets for performances start at $20, and season ticket packages are available for as low as $120.
The 2022-23 season at OZ Arts Nashville is made possible, in part, by funding from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the HCA Foundation, The Hays Foundation and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the upcoming season, visit www.ozartsnashville.org.
- October 20-22, 2022: A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham’s An Untitled Love
- October 28, 2022: Meow Meow (in partnership with TPAC)
- October 29, 2022: Fable Cry’s Festival of Ghouls
- November 17-19, 2022: New Dialect & American Modern Opera Company’s Broken Theater
- November 21, 2022: Patti Smith’s Songs & Stories (in partnership with Parnassus Books)
- December 2-3, 2022: Martha Redbone’s Bone Hill
- February 2-4, 2023: Compagnie Hervé Koubi’s What the Day Owes to the Night (France/Algeria)
- February 25, 2023: DakhaBrakha (Ukraine)
- March 23-25, 2023: Kid Koala’s The Storyville Mosquito – A Theatrical Cinema Experience (Montreal)
- April 14-15, 2023: The Yeli Ensemble, Windship Boyd & Christophe Konkobo’s Timbuktu Within (Guinea)
- May 4-6, 2023: Gregory Maqoma’s CION: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro (South Africa)
- May 18-20, 2023: Brave New Works Lab
About OZ Arts Nashville
Founded in 2013 by the Ozgener family, OZ Arts Nashville has quickly established itself as one of the Southeast’s most influential and respected producers and presenters focused on the creation and presentation of significant performing and visual artworks by diverse cultural visionaries who are making vital contributions to the evolution of contemporary culture. Through performances, exhibitions, and community events, OZ Arts focuses on producing and presenting the work of local and visiting artists who reflect our diverse society, utilize new artistic forms and technology in creative ways, and provide opportunities for meaningful engagement with audiences, students and cultural and civic leaders. OZ Arts’ unique creative warehouse has developed a reputation as a major national and regional laboratory for experimentation and a home for contemporary dance and performance. More than 50,000 audience members have been introduced to adventurous artists from around the world since the organization opened, and hundreds of local and regional artists have used OZ’s 10,000-square-foot warehouse theater to develop new works. For more information, please visit ozartsnashville.org.
