Friday Music Series

The Friday Music Concert Series offers free performances each semester in McNeir Hall (New North Building) on Friday afternoons (12:30–1:45 pm) for the university community of students, staff, faculty, and neighbors in the city. Register for tickets below.

Fall 2025

September 12- The U.S. Army Strings, “Pershing’s Own”

Gonda Theatre (*All other performances held in McNeir Hall)

The U.S. Army Strings, a premier ensemble of the U.S. Armed Forces, provide a musical backdrop for many of the country’s most notable events. Their mission is to serve as musical ambassadors for high-level military and government events at home and abroad, as well as in concert for public audiences. The Soldiers who comprise this ensemble have been trained at the most prestigious music conservatories and universities in the country. This versatile ensemble performs as The U.S. Army Strolling Strings, in mixed chamber ensembles, and as The U.S. Army Orchestra.

The U.S. Army Strolling Strings are one of the most requested musical ensembles by our nation’s military leadership. Since its inception during the Eisenhower administration, the group has provided musical entertainment at the White House for every president. Missions include performing for the Department of Defense, the U.S. Capitol, the Supreme Court, kings, queens, and heads of state from countries worldwide. The Strolling Strings offer audiences the unique perspective of being within the ensemble as Soldiers elegantly move about the venue playing their instruments. The Strolling Strings offer a wide array of memorized repertoire, including patriotic, classical, international, jazz, Broadway, bluegrass, and exclusive music arrangements for special guests and events.

Chamber music is a core element of The U.S. Army Strings’ mission. String quartets provide a backdrop for significant official functions as well as public performances. Duos, trios, quartets, and mixed chamber ensembles perform in venues throughout the National Capital Region.

The U.S. Army Strings join with Soldiers from other elements of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” to form The U.S. Army Orchestra. This group performs musical works from a diverse repertoire at some of the nation’s finest venues, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, Lincoln Center in New York City, the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland, College Park, and the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center in Alexandria, Virginia.

GET TICKETS HERE.

September 19- Dorothy Chan

Dorothy is a (toy) pianist, improviser, and sound artist. A new-music advocate, she enjoys exploring experimental repertoire and new sounds on the piano, prepared piano and toy piano. Dorothy is part of the creative studio Chromic Duo (Concert Artist Guild), blending toy piano, electronics, storytelling and creative technology into genre-fluid performances, immersive installation and Augmented Reality soundwalks, and reimagining public spaces as interactive soundscapes. As a founding member of chamber collective ensemble mise-en, she has premiered, performed and recorded new works by composers worldwide. Past appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall (New York, USA), Lincoln Center (New York, USA), Celebrity Series (Boston, USA), Bösendorfer Saal (Vienna, Austria), BEXCO (Busan, Korea), Kapellet Produktion (Stockholm, Sweden).

Dorothy values promoting and collaborating with multidisciplinary artists and composers for new projects and premieres, to create programs that are responsive yet intimately reflective. Recent collaborators include the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, the MIT Museum, National Gallery of Art, Purdue University and the New York Philharmonic, with the support from NYSCA, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Chamber Music America, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and the Barlow Endowment.

GET TICKETS HERE.

September 26- Peter Yates

In venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the art clubs of Salzburg and the botanical gardens of Los Angeles, Peter Yates has produced over a thousand events as composer, guitarist, writer and multimedia artist. He will perform his puppet opera; Radio Rodia at Georgetown.

RADIO RODIA, is a 75-minute puppet opera about two celebrated Southern California folk monuments: Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers (99-foot towers of beautiful junk); and Tressa Prisbrey’s Bottle Village (houses of glass, glowing in the sun). Yates’s obsessive solo performance uses satire, poetry, masks, puppets, sets and music to resurrect the two visionary folk artists. The Eiffel Tower … Rodin’s Balzac… the Golden Gate Bridge — yesterday’s eyesores become today’s monuments. Radio Rodia illuminates and celebrates that mysterious process.

His interest in things not done has led to a puppet opera about the Watts Towers, a DVD ghost-town opera, and a graphic-novel oratorio. His writing includes plays, librettos, satire, philosophy and instruction manuals on musical interpretation and prepared guitar.Yates’ work has been featured on Italian National Radio (RAI), microfest, Reference Recordings, Innova, Centaur, Bridge and TR Records. Further forms of it can be found at peterfyates/youtube and calguitar.com. His teaching includes many years at UCLA and Cal Poly Pomona (where he began as a lecturer sleeping in the parking lot in his van, and retired as Department Chair).

GET TICKETS HERE.

October 3- Appalachian Chamber Music Players: In Search of Cassadó’s Legacy

Cellist Katie Tertell is the founder and Artistic Director of the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival. A former member of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, she enjoys a rich and varied experience as a freelance artist in the UK, Europe and America, and teaches cello at Durham University.

Acclaimed a “marvelous violinist” by the Washington Post, violinist, composer, and arranger Domenic Salerni is a member of the two-time Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet.

Chris Jusell is a member of the North Carolina Symphony. He is also Principal Second Violin of the Philadelphia Ballet Orchestra and Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Central City Opera Orchestra in Colorado.

Mexican-Canadian violist Danielle Wiebe Burke is a distinguished chamber musician. A prizewinning finalist in the Sphinx Competition and Yale Concerto Competition, she has performed as a soloist throughout Europe and North America, including as a quarterfinalist in the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition. She is Principal Viola Chair in the Williamsburg Symphony.

H. Rosi Song holds a Chair in Hispanic Studies at Durham University and is a specialist in 20th and 21st century Spanish culture and literature.

GET TICKETS HERE.

October 17- Jim McCormick

Jim McCormick is a Grammy and CMA nominated, multi-platinum selling songwriter who has scored three #1 songs atop Billboard’s Country Radio Airplay chart: Gabby Barrett’s “The Good Ones”; Jason Aldean’s “Take A Little Ride”; and Brantley Gilbert’s “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do.” “The Good Ones” received the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year nomination and won Favorite Country Song at the American Music Awards that year.

McCormick’s songs have been recorded by Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Cody Johnson, Jon Pardi, Jamey Johnson, Keith Urban, Harry Connick Jr., Kelly Clarkson, Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood, Charlie Pride, Ronnie Milsap, Trace Adkins, and many others.

He has served as a board governor and vice-president for the Recording Academy and on the board of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. He is also an alumnus of Nashville’s Leadership Music. For over a decade McCormick served on the faculty of Loyola University New Orleans where he taught “The Craft and Business of Songwriting.” He’s been a guest lecturer at Berkelee College of Music, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Belmont, Tulane, and other universities as well as GrammyPro and NSAI events.

GET TICKETS HERE.

October 24- Donald Harrison Jr.

2022 NEA Jazz Master Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. is a musician/composer dedicated to mastering every era of jazz, soul, and funk and composing orchestral classical music. He has been called a “One man music festival” because his performances cover the history of music and show his knowledge of many styles is the basis for his innovations. According to geniuses Eddie Palmieri, Nicholas Payton, Carl Allen, and Mike Clark, he is a genius.

Donald Harrison Jr. will bring his innovative artistry to the Friday Music Series, following his appearance on the Katrina@20 Symposium panel, “The Wild, Wild Creation: New Orleans Living Culture as Recovery and Resistance” (HFSC Social Room, 10–11:30 AM). His performance is part of Katrina@20 – Recoveries, Resistances, and Revolutions, a national symposium examining the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans. Taking place at Georgetown University from October 22–24, 2025, the symposium will explore themes of memory, culture, history, environment, and social justice.

Hosted by a steering committee of Georgetown faculty and featuring artists, scholars, and activists—including Dr. Beverly Wright, Cherice Harrison-Nelson, and Donald Harrison Jr.—Katrina@20 builds on the legacy of 2015’s Katrina@10 event. Learn more about Katrina@20.

GET FRIDAY MUSIC SERIES TICKETS HERE.

RSVP TO SYMPOSIUM HERE.

October 31- Dogo du Togo & the Alagaa Beat Band

Combining Togolese festive and ritual rhythms, hypnotic voodoo melodies, and provocative lyrics that speak to a new generation of young Africans, Dogo du Togo & the Alagaa Beat Band embodies the heart and soul of modern Togo in his music. Led by Massama Dogo, the psychedelic and infectious dance floor groove that makes the “alagaa beat” is a brand new sound that puts Togo’s roots and culture on the musical map. “Alagaa means ‘trance’ in Ewe, one of the languages spoken in Togo…. The alagaa beat brings the energy right away…. It just feels different, it takes you somewhere else” (KLOFmag.com). “Dogo du Togo’s music bursts with brilliant shades of funk, rock, and older West African traditions, familiar elements that come together in fresh sounds” (popmatters.com)

Learn more about Dogo du Togo here.

GET TICKETS HERE.

November 7- Simone Baron and Arco Belo

ARCO BELO is a group of high-energy improvisers dedicated to redefining the concert form. Drawing its name from the words bow and bellow, the ensemble captures an irreverent sound melding reeds, strings, and percussive timbres. Led by pianist, accordionist, and composer Simone Baron, their adventurous compositions reimagine a sound at the junction of avant-garde chamber music, creative jazz, Brazilian music, and diasporic music. Together, they skip effortlessly from long-form neo-baroque string counterpoint to sludgy hip-hop pads. Post-romantic cadenzas collide in moments of spontaneous noise with reedy prepared piano; guttural bow noises and cascading plectrum bring color to plush hypnotic grooves and sharply angled linear phrases.

Since 2016, the ensemble has performed for audiences across the US, including at the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, and Brevard Music Center. Arco Belo has toured the West Coast and Southeast to critical acclaim, and won grants from South Arts / Jazz Roads, the Maryland State Arts Council and Chamber Music America’s inaugural Performance Plus grant. Their debut album, The Space Between Disguises was released in November 2019 and lauded as editor’s pick in both Downbeat and JazzTimes magazines.

“Music that truly synthesizes traditions rather than simply flirting with them… ego-less, genre-agnostic and without expectations; it’s the sound of the future, today.” (JazzTimes)

“Listeners who seek to explore far-flung musical vistas might want to stamp their passport for a border-hopping trip with Arco Belo.” (Downbeat)

“Not a crossover between “classical” and “jazz”, but fully in both, all at once…complex and compelling string arrangements… yet there is a spark in their playing that guarantees each performance will be different from the next” (Capital Bop)

This performance is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

GET TICKETS HERE.

November 14- Ben Capps and GU Chamber Music Students: Three Stages of Life: Beethoven.

Cellist Ben Capps enjoys a versatile performing career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral principal, collaborator, and creator. Capps currently serves as Director of Chamber Music at Georgetown University, and is principal cellist with the innovative DC based chamber orchestra Post Classical Ensemble. Mr. Capps is also an avid composer, having written dozens of chamber music pieces for chamber recitals.

Capps’ artistry has been praised as “virtuosic and impassioned” by the Barre Montpelier Times. Most recently Capps has appeared as solo and chamber music recitalist at the National Gallery of Art, the Washington National Cathedral, and Rockport Music Festival where the Boston Musical Intelligencer reported that “this fearless soloist…left us in staggered disbelief”. With “dazzling technique and a fearsomely meaty tone” he has performed at the American University, Manchester Music Festival, Strathmore, universities and concert spaces throughout the US, Greece, Spain, Italy and more. Past highlights also include unaccompanied and accompanied solo cello tours in the Midwest, Westcoast, Vermont, NYC and surrounding areas, Chicago, Athens, Fujian in China, and throughout South Africa – to name a few.

The Georgetown University Chamber Music Ensembles Program presents thematic concerts featuring instrumental groups composed of string, woodwind, brass, percussion, and keyboard instrumentalists.

GET TICKETS HERE.

Spring 2026

January 23- Dave Ragland

Dave Ragland is a four-time EMMY nominated composer, vocalist, and conductor. Hailed as “über-talented” by The Nashville Scene, Ragland is a composer for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. The Atlanta Opera premiered Ragland’s opera STEELE ROOTS as First Place Winner of The 96-Hour Opera Composition Competition. He has received the Adams-Owens Composition Award by the African-American Art Song Alliance, the American Prize in Composition, and two Telly Awards. Dave Ragland was the 2020 GRADY-RAYAM Negro Spirituals Foundation Composer-in Residence. Ragland collaborated with Damon Davis and Ted Hearne, on the podcast opera LIGEIA MARE. Ragland collaborated with librettist Mary McCallum to create ONE VOTE WON (Nashville Opera), CHARLIE AND THE WOLF (Cedar Rapids Opera), and BEATRICE (Portland Opera). Ragland’s compositions are featured in Karen Slack’s “African Queens” -featuring the Blacknificent 7 composer collective. Dave debuted his opera “STEAL AWAY” as Artist-in-Residence for OZ Arts. Additional composition performance credits include Ravinia, Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, LA Opera, Chautauqua, LyricFest, Nashville Symphony, Nashville Ballet, Resonance Ensemble (Portland, OR).

Learn more about Dave here.

GET TICKETS HERE.

January 30- Dessa

Dessa is a singer, rapper, and writer whose style is defined by rigor, wit, and tenderness. She’s recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective, released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra, co-composed for a 100-voice choir, and contributed a track to the #1 record The Hamilton Mixtape. She’s written essays for the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler and published short fiction in literary journals like The Iowa Review. Her TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience has notched more than 4 million views. Her memoir in essays, My Own Devicew, was published by Dutton (Penguin Random House). She lives in Minneapolis and Manhattan and still tours in a rented van full of snacks and friends. Dessa serves as Georgetown’s Music Sustainability Initiative Artist in Residence.

Learn more about Dessa here.

GET TICKETS HERE.

February 6- Mak Grgić

Mak Grgić is a three-time Grammy®-nominated classical guitarist celebrated for his adventurous artistry and genre-spanning repertoire—from Balkan folk to avant-garde and microtonal music. Called “a gifted young guitarist” by The New York Times, he has performed globally at venues like Vienna’s Musikverein, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall. As a passionate advocate for new music, he has commissioned works by Michael Abels, Julia Adolphe, Nina Senk, and others.

Mak averages over 85 performances annually and collaborates with top artists and ensembles including the Assad Brothers, JACK Quartet, and violinist Augustin Hadelich. He is co-founder of Duo Deloro, FretX Duo, and the Virtual Guitar Orchestra—uniting 5,000+ players globally and earning recognition from the Library of Congress.

An avid recording artist, his acclaimed albums include Mak|Bach, MAKrotonal, Balkanisms, and the Grammy-nominated Entourer. He is also the founder and CEO of Notey Inc., an AI-powered music education gaming platform. Originally from Slovenia, Mak studied in Zagreb, Vienna, and USC, where he was the first guitarist admitted to the elite Artist Diploma program.

Learn more about Mak here.

GET TICKETS HERE.

February 20- Nicole Mitchell

Nicole M. Mitchell is an award-winning creative flutist, composer, bandleader and educator. She is perhaps best known for her work as a flutist, having developed a unique improvisational language and having been repeatedly awarded “Top Flutist of the Year” by Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll and the Jazz Journalists Association (2010-2022). Mitchell initially emerged from Chicago’s innovative music scene in the late 90s. She started with Maia and Shanta Nurullah in Samana (the AACM’s first all-woman ensemble) and as a member of the David Boykin EXPANSE. Her music celebrates contemporary African American culture.

She is the founder of Black Earth Ensemble, Black Earth Strings, Sonic Projections and Ice Crystal, and she composes for contemporary ensembles of varied instrumentation and size, while incorporating improvisation and a wide aesthetic expression. The former first woman president of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Mitchell celebrates endless possibility by “creating visionary worlds through music that bridge the familiar with the unknown.” Some of her newest work with Black Earth Ensemble explores intercultural collaborations; Bamako*Chicago, featuring Malian kora master, Ballake Sissoko and Mandorla Awakening with Kojiro Umezaki (shakuhachi) and Tatsu Aoki (taiko, bass, shamisen).

As a composer, Mitchell has been commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago, the Stone, the French American Jazz Exchange, Chamber Music America (New Works), the Chicago Jazz Festival, ICE, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Mitchell has performed with creative music luminaries including Craig Taborn, Roscoe Mitchell, Joelle Leandre, Anthony Braxton, Geri Allen, George Lewis, Mark Dresser, Steve Coleman, Anthony Davis, Myra Melford, Bill Dixon, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ed Wilkerson, Rob Mazurek, and Billy Childs, and Hamid Drake. She is a recipient of the Herb Alpert Award (2011), the Chicago 3Arts Award (2011) , the Doris Duke Artist Award (2012) and the United States Artist Award (2020). Mitchell is a Professor of Music at the University of Virginia, and previously taught at University of California Irvine and the University of Pittsburgh.

Learn more about Nicole here.

CHECK BACK SOON FOR TICKETS.

March 13- Paul Bratcher

Paul Bratcher, a native of Harrisburg Pennsylvania began playing piano at age 11. He began his study of jazz at Bishop McDevitt High School where he played in the Jazz Band under the direction of David Knott. After high school Paul continued his education at Messiah College where he pursued a Bachelors of Science in Music Education. While attending Messiah he had the pleasure of playing with and learning from such jazz masters as, Tim Warfield, Kirk Reese, Cyrus Chestnut and Bruce Barth.

After Paul graduated from Messiah he continued his education at Michigan State University studying Jazz Studies under world-renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker. During The time at Michigan State Paul had a plethora of both teaching and playing opportunities.

As a teacher Paul worked with the jazz program at MSU Community Music School in Detroit as well a clinician for a variety of high schools in the mid Michigan area. As a player Paul has shared the stage with Rodney Whitaker, Diego Rivera, Etienne Charles, Michael Dease, and Wes “ Warm Daddy” Anderson.

After graduating with a M.M. in Jazz Studies Paul has been busy playing and teaching in the D.C. area. He has toured South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Canada, and Uruguay, Egypt, Indonesia and more. Currently Paul is Associate Chair of Piano at the Levine School of Music in Washington D.C. and Director of Jazz Studies at Georgetown University.

Learn more about Paul here.

GET TICKETS HERE.

March 20- Snehesh Nag (Co-Presented by District of Raga)

Snehesh Nag is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator who primarily plays the sitar, exploring Hindustani classical music, and produces music incorporating other genres such as western classical and electronic music. He has performed extensively in India, the US, and Canada garnering wide acclaim, and is the recipient of multiple accolades such as the National Scholarship, Government of India and the Acharya Allauddin Khan Memorial Award.

As a sitarist, he has trained with his father Pandit Sugato Nag and legend of sarod Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, and plays a unique blend of two gharanas (school of music), namely the Senia Shahjahanpore and Enayatkhani gharana. As a composer and improvisor, he collaborates with a variety of musicians where he enjoys discovering and improvising based on the common musical language shared between them. Known for his versatility, Snehesh’s collaborations range from playing with Indian classical tabla legends such as Pandit Anindo Chatterjee to The Princeton Symphony, Grammy winning and nominated musicians such as singer-songwriter Cathy Fink, Hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon, and violinist William Harvey. Snehesh holds a master’s degree in music technology and is a music producer and sound designer. He was an artist-in-residence at Strathmore, class of 2024.

As an educator, Snehesh has been teaching privately for many years and frequently conducts workshops. He has worked with Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program and conducted workshops at places such as Strathmore and Silkroad’s Global Musicians Workshop, where he has expanded upon both Indian classical repertoire, as well as tools to converse with other musical traditions.

GET TICKETS HERE.

Learn more about Snehesh here.

Learn more about District of Raga here.

March 27- PostClassical Ensemble

Under the leadership of Music Director Ángel Gil-Ordóñez, Washington’s PostClassical Ensemble (PCE) breathes new life into the orchestral experience through imaginative programming performed by the most talented musicians in the nation’s capital. Founded in 2003, PCE is a pioneer in transforming the concert experience through original story telling. Our performances include collaborations across artistic mediums that showcase how film, literature, and art enhance and inspire a new way to experience the musical repertoire. For more, visit www.postclassical.com

Netanel Draiblate (violin) PostClassical Ensemble violinist and concertmaster Netanel Draiblate has concertized across four continents. He currently also serves as concertmaster for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. A sought-after teacher, Draiblate currently is the Founder and Director of the Annapolis Symphony Academy. He has held faculty positions and led master classes at Georgetown University and other prestigious institutions. When not concertizing, Mr. Draiblate is a First Officer on the CRJ-900 for Endeavor Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines.

David Jones (clarinet) David Jones joined the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra as Principal Clarinet in 1998. Comfortable in many different musical situations, Jones has worked with Tony Bennett, Jose Carreras, Rosemary Clooney, Placido Domingo, Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, The Manhattan Transfer, Jesse Norman, Luciano Pavarotti, David Sanborn, Rod Stewart, and The Temptations.

Audrey Andrist (piano) Canadian pianist Audrey Andrist is the principal pianist of PostClassical Ensemble and of ROCO (Houston, TX). A graduate of the Juilliard School, she won first prizes in numerous competitions, including the Mozart International and the Eckhardt-Gramatté. She has recorded on over a dozen record labels and has performed in world premieres of over 75 works.

GET TICKETS HERE.

April 10- Gigi MacLaughlin and Vitor Gonçalves

Vitor Gonçalves: Vitor Gonçalves is a pianist, accordionist, composer and arranger from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After an illustrious career as an in demand musician in Brazil, playing with such icons as Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Bethânia, Itiberê Zwarg, and many others, he made the move to New York City, where he currently resides.

He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards 2020, for Best Latin Jazz album with Thalma de Freitas and for Best Large Jazz Ensemble with Anat Cohen Tentet.

Gigi MacLaughlin is the linchpin of Washington DC’s Brazilian music scene. She has sung and played percussion with dozens of major Brazilian musicians traveling to DC, including Rogério Souza, Pablo Fagundes, and many others. Gigi performs regularly around DC with a wide variety of collaborates. When it comes to Brazilian music in DC, Gigi makes it all happen.

GET TICKETS HERE.

Learn more about Vitor here.

Past Performances