On April 26, MUSE proudly welcomes Los Angeles-based artist, educator, and composer Ayo Awosika for a powerful collaboration to close our 42nd season. Ayo, whose music blends jazz, R&B, and soul, brings a dynamic presence to our spring concert, How We Start Again. Together, we will premiere her new choral work, written for MUSE and inspired by bell hooks’ Love as the Practice of Freedom. This performance will also feature Ayo as a soloist, alongside MUSE and our community, in a shared musical experience of renewal and collective strength.

How We Start Again is the culmination of Lifting as We Climb, a season inspired by the words of African American activist Mary Church Terrell. A leader in both the suffrage and civil rights movements, Terrell championed the intersectionality of gender and race at the turn of the 20th century. Her legacy reminds us that progress is not solitary—we rise by lifting others.

As we reflect on our past work in Still Ain’t Satisfied and look toward what’s ahead, we ask: How do we define ourselves as a community committed to musical excellence, unity, social justice, and empowerment? How We Start Again is more than a performance—it is a call to rise together.

Autographed Holly Near Album