*** Currently sold out! We’ll update this information if more tickets become available. ***
KDFC Evening host and Resident artist Lara Downes is joined by author and cultural commentator John McWhorter for an intimate evening of music and conversation about Scott Joplin’s story and legacy, his opera Treemonisha, a century of progress, and the contradictions that shape our American life. Together, they revisit the lineage of Black music in America as Downes weaves the musical journey through Joplin’s powerful music.
John McWhorter | Photo by Columbia Eileen Barroso
John McWhorter teaches linguistics at Columbia University, as well as Western Civilization and music history. He specializes in language change and language contact, and is the author of The Missing Spanish Creoles, Language Simplicity and Complexity, and The Creole Debate. He has written extensively on issues related to linguistics, race, and other topics for Time, The New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and elsewhere, and has been a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. For the general public he is the author of The Power of Babel, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, The Language Hoax, Words on the Move, Talking Back, Talking Black, and other books, including Nine Nasty Words and Woke Racism, both of which were New York Times bestsellers. He hosts the Lexicon Valley language podcast, has authored six audiovisual sets on language for the Great Courses company, and has written a twice-weekly newsletter for the New York Times since August 2021.
Event Details:
Saturday, May 6th, 2023
Doors & Reception: 6:00 pm
Performance: 7:00 pm
Post-concert reception with Lara Downes: 8:00 pm
The Bowes Center for the Performing Arts
200 North Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102
Limited to 2 tickets per person.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.
Here are highlights from one of our last sold-out KDFC SKY Concert with Lara and violinist Amaryn Olmeda:
For more information on our series and the other concerts coming up, sign up for KDFC’s Newsletter and we’ll keep you informed.
For questions about tickets, please contact us during business hours at 415-655-8000.
