Terence Blanchard: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

He’s told riveting stories in music time and time again, from the Spike Lee film classics Malcolm X and Blackkklansman to epics like The Woman King. He made history with his powerfully moving opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones, the first opera written by a Black composer to be staged at the Metropolitan Opera. This “opera in jazz,” as Blanchard describes it, tells the true coming-of-age story of a young boy growing up in the face of great adversity and forging his personal identity—and won the 2023 GRAMMY^R Award for best opera recording.

Now, Terence Blanchard brings us a new suite of music from his opera, performed by the celebrated trumpeter and his E-Collective, the Grammy Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet and vocalists Justin Austin and Adrienne Danrich. Terence Blanchard, the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet open and close the evening with sets of their grooving, funk-inflected jazz. Don’t miss your chance to hear this extraordinarily gifted performer and composer live on stage—get your tickets now!

“Startling power and unfailing deftness. What Blanchard possesses, above all, is a gift for musical storytelling…” -The New Yorker

“Blanchard deftly blends elements of jazz, blues, hints of big band and gospel into a compositional voice dominated by lushly chromatic and modal harmonic writing...” -The New York Times

"Terence Blanchard is a brass-wielding force of nature.” -Los Angeles Times

Free at the Kimmel

Join us in Commonwealth Plaza at 3:30PM and enjoy Philly’s favorite New Orleans R&B band, Philly Gumbo.

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This free pre-concert activity is brought to you by Independence Blue Cross, PNC Bank Arts Alive, Casamigos and Stateside Vodka.