Ruckus makes its Pittsburgh debut, joining forces with bass-baritone Davóne Tines, “one of the most powerful voices of our time” (Los Angeles Times).

As we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and reflect on our shared history, how can the American traditions of artistic expression and cultural evolution guide our interconnected future? Traveling through four centuries of reimagined songs, hymns, and ballads, early music band Ruckus and path breaking vocalist Davóne Tines offer a meditation on and interrogation of the American legacy through its revolutionary musics.

Ruckus makes its Pittsburgh debut in this remarkable program, bringing an utterly unique approach to early music that is “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (The New York Times). The band joins forces with Tines to ask: how can our fragile American experiment hold?

The Ruckus early music band features Doug Balliett on violone and electric bass, Elliot Figg on harpsichord and synthesizer, Keir GoGwilt on violin, Manami Mizumoto on violin and viola, Paul Holmes Morton on banjo and theorbo, and Clay Zeller-Townson on reeds & percussion.

DOUG BALLIETT Steps to Compassion

TRADITIONAL (arr. Tines) Jesus Lover of My Soul

GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL Convey Me to Some Peaceful Shore (1748)

TRADITIONAL Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

ANONYMOUS What Mean Ye (1720/1837)

JULIUS EASTMAN Buddha (1983)

JOHN DICKINSON (arr. Balliett) The Liberty Song (1768)

JOSHUA McCARTER SIMPSON (arr. Tines & Ruckus) To The White People of America (1854)

BENJAMIN CARR (arr. Balliett) The Federal Overture (1793)

GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL Why Do the Nations (1741)

CLYDE OTIS This Bitter Earth (1960)

DOUG BALLIETT Knowledge

EARL ROBINSON/LEWIS ALLEN The House I Live In (1942)

DAVÓNE TINES/DOUG BALLIETT What is My Hand in This?

Presented in partnership with the August Wilson African American Cultural Center