2026/27 NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS SEASON
WELCOME
Dear friends,
Welcome to the 2026/27 Neighborhood Arts season! As always, we’re proud to present Boston-based and Boston-affiliated artists at beautiful community venues in neighborhoods across the city and beyond.
We’re offering more events than ever in Boston and Cambridge, with Cathedral Church of St. Paul, First Church Boston and Twelfth Baptist Church joining joining our family of partners, in a stunning variety of music and dance styles from around the world.
This year, the Vivo Performing Arts Artist-in-Residence program debuts. Renowned young saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins performs on our subscription series’ Jazz Festival and on the Neighborhood Arts slate. Don’t miss him with the Jason Palmer Quintet with the premiere of a new commission inspired by Boston history and culture.
We are thrilled to welcome Vivo Performing Arts’ new President and Chief Executive Officer, Thor Steingraber. If you see Thor at a Neighborhood Arts performance this year, be sure to say hello and join us in celebrating his arrival in Boston.
Whatever form of live performance moves you—from thrilling international percussion music, to heartfelt and uplifting dance, to an all-cello orchestra—you’ll find something to love!
All are welcome, at no cost for most events! Please sign up for a reminder for any concert you’d like to learn more about. There’s so much to look forward to at Neighborhood Arts this season!
Warm wishes,
Robin Lee Baker
Carmen Hernandez
Aneesh Kumar
Robin Lee Baker Associate Director of Community Engagement
Kumar Manager of Community Concerts
Aneesh
Carmen Hernandez Community Partnerships Liaison
2026/27 NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS CALENDAR
Tríptico
SAT SEP 12 3PM CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL
BALA-BILA: Balla Kouyaté & Matchume Zango
SAT SEP 19 3PM BETHEL AME CHURCH
Let’s Dance Boston
SEP 23-27 DEWEY SQUARE PARK ON THE ROSE KENNEDY GREENWAY
Jonathan Gramling & Friends
SAT OCT 03 3PM TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH
Castle of Our Skins
SAT OCT 17 3PM TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH
Stringfest: Borromeo Quartet featuring Boston String Academy
SUN OCT 25 3PM MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER
All-Cello Orchestra - Pablo Casals 150TH Birthday Celebration
SUN NOV 08 3PM ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER
PerpetuARTE - Triana Maciel & Nino de los Reyes
SAT NOV 21 3PM ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Nadia Washington Quartet
SAT DEC 05 3PM FIRST CHURCH ROXBURY
Stringfest: Jorge Santiago Arce featuring Boston Music Project, City Strings United, and Project STEP
SAT DEC 12 3PM SALVATION ARMY KROC CENTER
Amanda Shea & Tim Hall Trio
SAT FEB 20 3PM FIRST CHURCH ROXBURY
The Débo Ray Experience
SAT FEB 27 3PM BETHEL AME CHURCH
Yoko Miwa Trio
SUN FEB 28 3PM MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER
Modern Connections Collective
SAT MAR 06 3PM ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Rakish & Rasa String Quartet
SAT MAR 20 3PM MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER
Fernando Brandão Quartet
SUN MAR 21 3PM MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER
Gregory Groover Quintet
SAT APR 03 3PM TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH
Zambra Collective
SUN APR 11 3PM FIRST CHURCH ROXBURY
Immanuel Wilkins saxophone, featuring Jason Palmer Quintet
SAT APR 24 3PM ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Veronica Robles Female Mariachi
SAT MAY 01 3PM FIRST CHURCH BOSTON UU
Alisa Amador & Friends
THU MAY 06 7:30PM FIRST CHURCH BOSTON UU
TRÍPTICO
CLAUDIO RAGAZZI guitar
GEORGIE RODRIGUEZ guitar
MANOLO MAIRENA vocals/percussion
SAT SEP 12 3PM
CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL, DOWNTOWN
BALA-BILA
BALLA KOUYATÉ balafon
MATCHUME ZANGO timbila
SAT SEP 19 3PM
BETHEL AME CHURCH,
This seasoned and stirring acoustic trio, hailing from Argentina, Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica, bring their long careers and rich, diverse musical backgrounds to this afternoon of gorgeous covers and originals.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
Presented in Association with Ágora Cultural Architects
JAMAICA PLAIN
Malian culture bearer and virtuoso of the balafon Balla Kouyaté teams with Mozambican timbila star, percussionist, and educator Matchume Zango for an afternoon of high-energy music showcasing time-honored xylophone traditions with a contemporary twist.
This performance is recommended for ages 4 and up.
LET’S DANCE BOSTON
SEP 23-27
DEWEY SQUARE PARK ON THE ROSE KENNEDY GREENWAY
Your Let’s Dance Boston experience will begin with a lesson from top local dance instructors, then you’ll dance the night away to music by a live band.
This season’s Let’s Dance Boston events will feature Lindy Hop, Ballroom, Line Dancing, Salsa, and Latin & Afro-Caribbean. Band and instructor information will be coming soon, so save the date and visit vivoarts.org/letsdance to sign up for updates throughout the summer.
This event is suitable for all ages and abilities
JONATHAN GRAMLING & FRIENDS
SAT OCT 03 3PM
TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH, ROXBURY
With a lineup of remixes, mashups, originals, and genre-bending covers, velvet-voiced singer Jonathan Gramling, along with some talented friends, weaves a story of soul music’s evolution across styles, time, and culture.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
CASTLE OF OUR SKINS
SACRED TRANSCENDENCE
SAT OCT 17 3PM
TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH, ROXBURY
Artists from Boston’s acclaimed Castle of our Skins— “champions of Black artistry,” (The Strad)—highlight important spirituals from the past as well as re-interpretations by modern and contemporary composers.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
STRINGFEST BORROMEO QUARTET
featuring BOSTON STRING ACADEMY
SUN OCT 25 3PM
MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER, CAMBRIDGE
STRINGFEST:
Stringfest concerts, an important part of our Neighborhood Arts program, give string students a chance to learn from and perform alongside acclaimed professional musicians. The guest artists perform, then the young players join them for unforgettable side-by-side selections for the whole group.
This fall, the internationally renowned Borromeo Quartet returns to Stringfest to lead an all-Beethoven program, mentoring young players from Boston String Academy. Hear fledgling virtuosos join with distinguished musicians as Beethoven’s immortal music reaches across cultures and generations in this powerful Stringfest concert.
This performance is recommended for all ages.
ALL-CELLO ORCHESTRA
PABLO CASALS 150TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Eugene Friesen conductor
SUN NOV 08 3PM
ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MEDIA ARTS CENTER
A stage full of 48 outstanding Boston-based musicians, from advanced students to members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, highlight the cello’s expressive power and range.
The orchestra honors the 150TH birthday of cellist and humanitarian Pablo Casals with arrangements of works by Casals, Dejardin, Villa-Lobos, and other beloved favorites. There will be a pre-concert talk by Casals scholar Pedro Reinas Lopez.
This performance is recommended for ages 4 and up.
TRIANA MACIEL & NINO de los REYES
FLAMENCO ARTISTS
PerpetuARTE
SAT NOV 21 3PM
ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Flamenco duo Triana Maciel and Nino de los Reyes, along with live musicians to be announced, bring us PerpetuARTE, an all-new program offering a big-hearted endorsement of creativity, humanity, authenticity, passion, and interdependence.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
NADIA WASHINGTON QUARTET
SAT DEC 05 3PM FIRST CHURCH ROXBURY
Powerhouse vocalist Nadia Washington and her longstanding Quartet share an afternoon of jazzy holiday favorites. Warm up your December with their reimagined Christmas classics and other wintery tunes.
This performance is recommended for ages 4 and up.
STRINGFEST
JORGE SANTIAGO ARCE
featuring Boston Music Project, City Strings United, and Project STEP
SAT DEC 12 3PM
SALVATION ARMY KROC CENTER, DORCHESTER
Musician, dancer, and cultural historian Jorge Santiago Arce teams with young musicians from across Boston to perform Puerto Rican and other Latin American folk songs arranged for strings and percussion. Don’t miss this joyful day of discovery, connection, and cultural exchange.
This performance is recommended for all ages.
AMANDA SHEA & TIM HALL TRIO
SAT FEB 20 3PM
FIRST CHURCH ROXBURY
When two artists who have built their careers on connection come together, when spoken word and jazz unite, when voice and saxophone speak in dialogue and as one: what happens? With spoken word artist Amanda Shea and saxophonist Tim Hall with his Trio, it means an afternoon of alchemical artistry.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
THE DÉBO RAY EXPERIENCE
SAT FEB 27 3PM
BETHEL AME CHURCH, JAMAICA PLAIN
Singer/songwriter Débo Ray creates contemporary R&B music that takes inspiration from soul, jazz, gospel, Latin, and hip hop. This versatile vocalist infuses covers and originals with storytelling, nuance, and fearless originality.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
YOKO MIWA TRIO
SUN FEB 28 3PM
MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER, CAMBRIDGE
In a Vivo Performing Arts debut not to be missed, Boston-based pianist Yoko Miwa arrives at Neighborhood Arts with her celebrated trio bringing their signature clarity, strength, and poetry.
From luminous joy to notes that fall and shimmer like rain or teardrops, Miwa is renowned around the world for giving each piece its own indelible landscape of emotion.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
MODERN CONNECTIONS
FOUR HERE OR TO GO
JENNY OLIVER choreographer
SAT MAR 06 3PM
ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Boston’s Modern Connections Collective presents excerpts from four powerful works by founder Jenny Oliver. Rooted in moments of empowerment and guided by themes of connection, these pieces invite audiences to come together as stories of relationship and resilience unfold through the language of movement.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
RAKISH
MAURA SHAWN SCANLON fiddle CONOR HEARN guitar
& RASA STRING QUARTET
SAT MAR 20 3PM
MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER, CAMBRIDGE
Refresh your spirit and feel the brisk, gleeful embrace of Celtic and American folk music with fiddler Maura Shawn Scanlon and guitarist Conor Hearn, as the duo Rakish, and Rasa String Quartet.
Rasa programs often include chamber music, pop covers, originals, and traditional music, performed with elegance, spontaneity, and style.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
COLLECTIVE
FERNANDO BRANDÃO QUARTET
SUN MAR 21 3PM
MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER, CAMBRIDGE
Experience the alchemy that unfolds when traditional and contemporary Brazilian music styles meet jazz in this must-see performance by flutist Fernando Brandão and his Quartet. Choros, bossas, sambas, and more are the canvas for Brandão’s vibrant improvisations in this exhilarating afternoon of global connections.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
GREGORY GROOVER QUINTET
NORTH TO BOSTON
SAT APR 03 3PM
TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH, ROXBURY
Gregory Groover’s music is rooted in the idea of community, connectedness, and, as he put it in an interview, “the idea that sound could move people closer to something greater than themselves.” In North to Boston, he’s inspired by the stories of members of his home church who migrated to Boston between World War II and the 1980s.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
ZAMBRA COLLECTIVE
SUN APR 11 3PM
FIRST CHURCH ROXBURY
The award-winning quintet draws its creativity from expansive musical practices rooted in flamenco, Romani, Persian classical, Indian, Catalan, and jazz traditions. Winners of the 2025 Detroit Jazz Festival Call for New Works Award, Zambra’s performances invite listeners into intimate sonic spaces of connection, curiosity, trust, discovery, and sisterhood.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
IMMANUEL WILKINS & JASON PALMER QUINTET
SAT APR 24 3PM
ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Vivo Performing Art’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence Immanuel Wilkins will premiere a new composition inspired by Roxbury’s history, culture, and people. A celebrated saxophonist, composer, and one of the most compelling voices in contemporary jazz, Wilkins joins trumpeter Jason Palmer for a free neighborhood performance, drawing on his acclaimed work exploring themes of place, legacy, and community.
This performance is recommended for ages 8 and up.
Support for the Roxbury Artist-in-Residence Program is provided by the Lubin Family Foundation.
VERONICA ROBLES FEMALE MARIACHI
SAT MAY 01 3PM
FIRST CHURCH, BOSTON UU
With her all-female mariachi ensemble, Veronica Robles fills an uplifting afternoon with rhythm, color and celebration, giving audiences from all backgrounds a chance to experience the spirit and energy of mariachi.
This performance is recommended for ages 4 and up.
Presented in Association with Ágora Cultural Architects
ALISA AMADOR &
FRIENDS
Special time: evening concert!
THU MAY 06 7:30PM
FIRST CHURCH, BOSTON UU
In a spellbinding set that bridges English and Spanish, Alisa Amador creates beautiful, lush, and layered compositions that showcase her pure, crystalline voice. Her music is infused with discovery, hope, and affirmation, offering a revelatory meditation on triumph and loss, endings and beginnings, identity and belonging.
This special evening performance is recommended for ages 12 and up.
Presented in Association with Ágora Cultural Architects
MISSION HILL ARTS FESTIVAL
SUMMER 2026
This year’s Mission Hill Arts Festival celebrates the theme “A Rhythm Within,” offering three concerts on Saturday evenings in August in a shady, welcoming outdoor venue: THE YARD at the Tobin Community Center in partnership with Vivo Performing Arts.
More information and tickets at mhartsfest.org
Shane Sager harmonica
SAT AUG 01 5PM
Berklee-trained in blues, country, and jazz harmonica, Shane Sager spent six years in Sting’s touring band and is about to release his debut album.
Hyde Square Task Force: Batey Comunitario
SAT AUG 15 5PM
Professional musicians and dancers, and young performers in training celebrate Puerto Rican culture through Bomba percussion and expressive dance.
DADA
SAT AUG 29 5PM
The DADA quartet reimagines Venezuelan roots music through a contemporary, global lens, blending vocal virtuosity, compositional sensitivity, and sonic exploration.
Mission Hill Arts Festival
(THE YARD at Tobin Community Center 1481 Tremont St, Mission Hill)
OUR
VENUES
Bethel AME Church (100 Wachusett St, Jamaica Plain)
Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont St, Boston)
First Church, Boston UU (65 Marlborough St, Boston)
First Church, Roxbury (8 John Eliot Square, Roxbury)
Multicultural Arts Center (41 Second St, East Cambridge)
Roxbury Community College (1234 Columbus Ave, Roxbury)
Salvation Army Kroc Center (650 Dudley St, Dorchester)
Twelfth Baptist Church (160 Warren St, Roxbury)
Join us in Roxbury! Through a growing slate of performances and partnerships, Vivo Performing Arts expands its presence in Roxbury with over 15 performances and activations this season.
ROXBURY CONCERT SERIES
Don’t miss free performances at the Shaw-Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library, presented by Roxbury Concert Series, in partnership with Vivo Performing Arts.
Hemenway Strings & Lynn Chang
SAT OCT 10 12PM
Pelin Su Yavuz piano
SAT NOV 14 12PM
Ahmed Alom Trio
SAT FEB 06 12PM
Manuela Sánchez Goubert Ensemble
SAT APR 10 12PM
Carlos Vargas with Rasa String Quartet
SAT JUN 05 12PM
Made possible by Lizbeth and George Krupp
Shaw-Roxbury Branch, Boston Public Library
149 Dudley St, Roxbury, MA 02119
RSVP requested on Roxbury Concert Series’ website: roxburyconcertseries.org
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS EXPERIENCE
WHAT TO EXPECT
Sign up for updates
Tickets are not required for most events, but we invite you to sign up for email reminders on our website.
Getting in
Doors open 30 minutes before each event and seating is first come, first served. Signing up for reminders doesn’t guarantee your spot.
Food, drinks, and conversation
Stay afterward for refreshments from neighborhood restaurants and vendors!
Help us improve
Take a survey at every event to let us know what you enjoyed, and what we can do better!
ALL ARE WELCOME
Neighborhood Arts events are family-friendly.
We’ve provided age estimates, but for specific questions about content or age guidelines, please reach out: boxoffice@vivoperformingarts.org
We’ll save you an accessible seat.
To request accessible seating, or another accommodation for a performance, please complete an Accessibility in Advance request on your performance’s web page at least two weeks before the event or contact vivoarts.org/access
A sensory environment that works for you.
Most events are amplified, but you can sit as far as you wish from the speakers. If you need to stand up, leave the hall, or take any kind of break from the performance, you’ll be able to return at a break in the action.
Follow us on YouTube for video highlights from select shows!
2026/27 SEASON SPONSORS
Crescendo Donor Advised Fund and The Thonis Family
Roxbury programs are presented with thanks to Lizbeth & George Krupp for their leadership of Vivo Performing Arts’ programming in Roxbury.