African American Composers: An Evening of Jazz, Spirituals and More
Saturday, February 28, 2026 at 7pm
Tickets
Members of the Metropolitan Opera and Jazz at Lincoln Center visit Queens for an evening of jazz, opera, spirituals and more. A peaceful and enlightening evening of music, stories and friendship for the mind and soul featuring Denisha Ballew (vocals), Alphonse Horne (trumpet) and Jon Thomas (piano).
Artists:
Denisha Ballew, vocals
Alphonso Horne, trumpet
Jon Thomas, piano
Denisha Ballew is an expressive, deeply moving and accomplished vocalist. Denisha was a part of the historic and Grammy award winning production of FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES written by Terence Blanchard singing Verna. She also sang in the 1st National Broadway Tour of Porgy and Bess as Serena, directed by Diane Paulus. Denisha enjoys singing multiple genres including: spirituals, art songs, musical theater and gospel. Recently she was in the workshop of WATCH NIGHT directed by Bill T Jones and written by Tamar-kali Brown. The Harlem Opera Theater afforded her the opportunity to sing with the Glenn Gould Foundation and Toronto Library in the program entitled, "Black Opera: Uncovering Music History" where Jessye Norman was honored as a legendary artist of our time. Other accolades include: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - production of River of Time (Eliza), Cabin in the Sky with City Encores(featured soloist), Pleiades Project short film OPHELIE (a production created by all women). Upcoming performances; Stage Aurora conphoto of his jumping is nice on cert entitled JUKEBOX: A Celebration of Black Music History and X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Ballew has also embarked upon the journey of teaching individual voice lessons and workshops for children K-12. She has been a motivational speaker for the Governor's School for the Arts and The Educational Talent Search programs. She feels it is important to go back and use your voice throughout the programs that helped you reach your career goals.
Trumpeter Alphonso Horne is a trumpeter named by Wynton Marsalis as one of the rising stars of the next generation. Horne has performed with many renowned jazz artists including Marcus Roberts, Michael Feinstein, Rhiannon Giddens, Marilyn Maye and Rihanna. Alphonso has won many awards including the National Trumpet Competition (2010). In the August 2011 issue of JET Magazine, world-renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis included Horne in a list of 16 young jazz musicians entitled, “Wynton’s Picks: Who’s Got Next.”
Horne has subbed for and toured with Wynton Marsalis in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Count Basie Orchestra, Cab Calloway Orchestra and many more. He has performed in venues and festivals around the world including Monterey, Montreal, and Umbria Jazz Festivals. Horne has also performed in several Tony- Award winning Broadway shows including “After Midnight” and “Shuffle Along” featuring guest artists Fantasia Barrino, Dulé Hill, Toni Braxton, Audra McDonald, Savion Glover and many more. Alphonso can also be seen on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and in the jazz biopic, “BOLDEN”.
Alphonso, along with his many musical accolades, has always centered justice in his music making as a band leader and collaborator. He first connected with MOTI through our “Musicians for Justice'' benefit concert hosted by Wynton Marsalis and Elizabeth Gaynes back in November 2022. We are truly grateful to Alphonso for his contributions to MOTI. He, like our other MOTI musicians, believe in the freeing role music can play for those incarcerated and seeing more eyes brightened by music’s light.
Deemed as “stunningly good” by The New York Times, Jon Thomas is a graduate of The Juilliard School’s Jazz Department helmed by Winton Marsalis. He has performed with Samara Joy, Marquis Hill, Dominick Farrinacci, Walter Blanding, Robin Mckelle and Jazzmeia Horn among other leading voices in jazz today. Thomas is lauded as one of the most ardent and gifted rising forces in jazz and continues to make regular appearances at The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club, Smalls Jazz Club, and Minton’s Playhouse in addition to annual appearances at a host of international jazz festivals.
Thomas, a student of pianists Benny Green, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s Dan Nimmer, Aaron Parks, and Taylor Eigsti is also a graduate of The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Jon is a member of Form Roots and together they paint, with ardent and skillful strokes, a celebration of the storied art form that is American music. Firm Roots pulls from the murky and hallowed depths of traditional American folk songs, swing music, the avant-garde, the most novel and infectious of backbeats, and back again. They connect hundreds of years of musical and oral traditions through two qualities which their leader considers to be the most soulful storytelling and deeply personal interpretation.