Driftwood Quintet’s new Classical Underground Series continues with a performance of chamber music paired with poetry both old and new. Music to be performed includes works by Jeff Scott, Duke Ellington, and Valerie Coleman with a premiere of new works by local composer Kevin E. Kerr. Featured poet Sean Avery Medlin will be reading from their internationally published poetry collection “808’s and Otherworlds” as well as works by Langston Hughes and Marsha Music. This program will have two performances: one at Tempe’s Farmer’s Markert turned speakeasy, The Dark Side, and another at Eastlake Park's own black & worker-owned bookstore, Grassrootz Bookstore and Juice Bar.

The Classical Underground Series is a new chamber music series that brings chamber music performances to intimate, laidback venues in the Metro Phoenix area. This series aims to promote chamber music as an inviting and social community-building experience for both old and new fans of classical music. We invite you to bring a friend, order a drink, and enjoy discovering what the Classical Underground Series has in store!

All events related to this series are public, and participants may be photographed by the media and/or City staff for future print and/or online publication.

This series is supported in part by the Phoenix City Council through the Arts and Culture Department and by the City of Tempe – Community Arts Grant.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this performance has been CANCELED. It is being rescheduled for a later date at a different venue. Please follow our social channels for the announcement of the new performance details. Thank you for your patience and patronage, and our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused. The April 14th Classical Underground Series performance will continue as planned.

Driftwood Quintet’s new Classical Underground Series continues with a performance of chamber music paired with poetry both old and new. Music to be performed includes works by Jeff Scott, Duke Ellington, and Valerie Coleman with a premiere of new works by local composer Kevin E. Kerr. Featured poet Sean Avery Medlin will be reading from their internationally published poetry collection “808’s and Otherworlds” as well as works by Langston Hughes and Marsha Music. This program will have two performances: one at Tempe’s Farmer’s Markert turned speakeasy, The Dark Side, and another at Eastlake Park's own black & worker-owned bookstore, Grassrootz Bookstore and Juice Bar.

The Classical Underground Series is a new chamber music series that brings chamber music performances to intimate, laidback venues in the Metro Phoenix area. This series aims to promote chamber music as an inviting and social community-building experience for both old and new fans of classical music. We invite you to bring a friend, order a drink, and enjoy discovering what the Classical Underground Series has in store!

All events related to this series are public, and participants may be photographed by the media and/or City staff for future print and/or online publication.

This series is supported in part by the Phoenix City Council through the Arts and Culture Department and by the City of Tempe – Community Arts Grant.

Stay tuned for more info

Stay tuned for more info

This Black History Month, Driftwood Quintet will take you on a tour of the contributions black musicians have made in history to the world of vocal music, starring vocalists Rodney Sharp, Baritone, and Yophi Bost, Lyric Soprano. Both vocalists are star pupils of ASU professor Nathan De’Shon Myers, world-renowned baritone and former collaborator. Explore opera by one of the earliest records of black excellence from Joseph Bologne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, enjoy the best in black musical theatre with top selections from "The Wiz," and inventive jazz and pop arrangements of the works of black female artists. On the day before Valentine's, you can expect themes of love to weave through the entire program, in a FREE and unique show that only Driftwood Quintet could present.

This concert is funded by a City of Glendale Performing Arts Grant.

¡La Vida Latina!: A Celebration of Latin Song - Driftwood Quintet takes you on a journey through Central and South America with a concert of music as diverse as the people who live there. You won’t need your passport for this fun trip as we visit destinations from the lively dance halls of Veracruz to the intimate nightclubs of Buenos Aires and more! This engaging concert will feature works for reed quintet as well as smaller ensemble pieces for solos, duos, trios, and quartets. Meet the band in a Q&A session after the show.

Free, fun, and family friendly. Seating will be limited. 

Award-winning accordionist Gabe Hall-Rodrigues joins Driftwood Quintet to present Astor Piazzolla’s hauntingly beautiful Suite Del Ángel, depicting an angel’s journey to save a small town in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Additional works from some of Latin America’s most influential composers will fill out the program, including Mexican Arturo Marquez’s thrilling Danzón No. 2 and Venezuelan Teresa Carreño’s lush String Quartet in B minor.

This concert is funded by a City of Glendale Performing Arts Grant.

This partnership between the Glendale Public Library and Driftwood Quintet will highlight the diversity within American music in one flashy program. This concert will feature the emotional work "Jigsaw" from Phoenix-born composer Kincaid Rabb, Alfred Reed's Latin-infused "El Camino Real," Jeff Scott's jazzy "Homage to Paradise Valley," "Ritmo Indio" by Native American Louis Ballard, and a soulful new arrangement from Florence Price's spiritual string quartet, Five Folksongs in Counterpoint. Enjoy the safe return to in-person shows while supporting your local reed quintet, local library, and local music.

Travel around the world (virtually) with the Driftwood Quintet! Experience works from a diverse selection of women composers in a virtual watch party. These overlooked composers and their unique musical heritages, from the Americas to Europe and Africa to Asia, will be explored through original reed quintet arrangements. Featured composers on this concert include Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger, Stacy Garrop, Karen Tanaka, and more. Driftwood will be joined by special guest violinist Patricia Cole, performing a flashy arrangement of the traditional African-American spiritual Wade in the Water as reimagined by Margaret Bonds. Members of the Driftwood Quintet will be live during the event to discuss the composers and their works, in addition to answering audience questions.

Please register HERE with an email address so the event host can contact you with a Zoom link. Zoom links will be emailed 30 minutes prior to the program start time.

This virtual "watch party" will feature a prerecorded concert, with the performers on hand via Zoom to introduce and discuss their pieces, as well as answer your questions. Celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance with Driftwood Quintet as they present a vivid musical portrait of this influential part of America’s artistic history. The music featured in this virtual performance will paint a picture of the rich lives and artistic output of many famous figures of the Harlem Renaissance such as Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, and many others.

Please register HERE with an email address so the event host can contact you with a Zoom link. Zoom links will be emailed 30 minutes prior to the program start time.

Enjoy a virtual concert experience, in collaboration with Drawn to Comics, featuring the Driftwood Quintet performing music from your favorite movies, TV shows, and video games. This performance is funded by the City of Glendale’s Downtown Arts & Cultural Initiative grant.

This concert is available for viewing here!

Driftwood Quintet brings music by some of the greatest composers and songwriters from the video game world. Viewers at home can expect to hear some of the imaginative melodies from Toby Fox’s hit indie game Undertale, fun and nostalgic tunes of the original Pokemon series and many more!

View the livestream here!

With Lift Every Voice, Driftwood Quintet explores the influences and compositional styles of a variety of black composers throughout classical music history. Experience works from 18th-century Afro-French composer Le Chevalier de Saint Georges to Romantic American composer, Florence Price. Enjoy hidden gems from composers Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, and José Maurício Nunes Garcia, then trace their legacy up to modern-day with the music of Anthony Davis. Special guests include violinist Patricia Cole and a collaboration with world-renowned vocalist Nathan De’Shon Myers performing an aria from Anthony Davis’ opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

Free admission. This performance is funded by the City of Glendale's Performing Arts Partnership Program.

In their fifth year at the OME New Music Festival, Driftwood Quintet returns with SPEAK, an exploration of how contemporary black composers experiment with the relationship between music and text. Featured guest artists include local poet Rashaad Thomas, and ASU vocal professor Nathan De’Shon Myers, performing “Malcolm’s Aria” from Anthony Davis’ opera X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X. SPEAK will open with a pre-concert reception with complimentary wine to experience the Onyx Art Gallery; the featured gallery artist will be Phalen Booker and other local black artists. 

Tickets $15. Age 21+. This performance is presented by Oh My Ears. Onyx has its own free on-site parking.

Kick-off the Christmas season with Driftwood Quintet as they enlist the help of a rhythm section to bring to life favorite arrangements of swinging holiday hits by popular jazz artists Ellington, Strayhorn, and Stan Kenton. The night features Ellington and Strayhorn's jazz-fueled re-imagining of The Nutcracker Suite. Be there or be square!

This event is free as part of Tempe Center for the Arts’ EDGE Happy Hour.

Experience the swingin’ hits of two jazz greats - Driftwood Quintet collaborates with a jazz trio to examine the works of influential composer Duke Ellington and his lesser-known, but equally influential, friend and collaborator Billy Strayhorn. The concert showcases original works by both of these composers and also sheds light on their jazz-fueled reimaginings of two widely popular classical standards: Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite (widely known for the movement In the Hall of the Mountain King) and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.   

Don't miss a beat... grab your seat! Tickets are $12 in advance/$15 at the door.

Experience the swingin’ hits of two jazz greats - Driftwood Quintet collaborates with a jazz trio to examine the works of influential composer Duke Ellington and his lesser-known, but equally influential, friend and collaborator Billy Strayhorn. The concert showcases original works by both of these composers and also sheds light on their jazz-fueled reimaginings of two widely popular classical standards: Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite (widely known for the movement In the Hall of the Mountain King) and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.   

Free admission. This performance is funded by the City of Glendale's Performing Arts Partnership Program.

In a Downtown Phoenix First Friday event, Driftwood Quintet will join the students of Professor Myers on their first studio recital of the season in the first performance of a season-long collaboration. Driftwood will perform with sophomore musical theatre major Ellie Barrett on Leonard Bernstein’s “I Hate Music!” and with Myers and full studio on Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel. The quintet will also perform their own arrangement of the Overture to Treemonisha by Scott Joplin, credited with being the first opera by an African-American.

Free admission. Visit here for more information.

Driftwood will present a program called Once Upon a Time, focusing on engaging the audience with storytelling. This event is combined with a family-friendly fall festival including a petting zoo, face painting, balloon art and games.

Children are free. Adults $20 (comp tickets available for parents).
11:15-12pm Fall Festival and FREE PIZZA LUNCH!
12pm Concert

For more information visit http://artsatnativity.org/

Oh My Ears (OME) presents a sampling of new music projects currently going on in the Valley. This event will feature Driftwood Quintet, artists from show at Lost Leaf, as well as the Composers/Improvisers Big Band. All artists will be performing music by living composers, and playing their classical instruments in re-imagined ways.

Price: FREE

Join us at Tempe’s hottest gathering spot, featuring FREE live music, great food and cocktails in a laid-back atmosphere overlooking Tempe Town Lake.

Fridays and Saturdays | 6 - 8 pm
Free Live Music | Food | Drinks | No Cover

Bar opens at 5 pm. Music starts at 6 pm.

More info and updates available here.