On Jan. 13, 2025, Mvskoke soprano Kirsten C. Kunkle and Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate performed at the Kennedy Center, making debuts for their respective Tribe.

Kunkle and her five-year-old daughter Stephanie opened the concert, curated by Tate, with “Mvskoke Lullaby.” The PostClassical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez performed Tate’s “Lowak Shoppala,” “Chokfi’,” and selection from “Standing Bear: A Ponca Indian Cantata,” as well as Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” Prokofiev’s “Larghetto from Symphony no. 1,” and the traditional hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Kunkle and daughter, as well as Tate and his eleven-year-old son Heloha, also sang in the “Lowak Shoppala” performance.

This event marked a historic moment of intertribal and multigenerational Indigenous musical collaboration at the national level.

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