Sparks & Wiry Cries has announced its 2023 songSLAM Festival from January 10 to 13, 2023, in New York with events at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, DiMenna Center for the Arts, and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The Festival opens with a preview of Freedom on the Move: Songs in Flight at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s Langston Hughes Auditorium. The free event includes excerpts from the new song cycle world premiere, followed by a panel discussion with the entire creative team behind the work.

Performance Date: Jan. 10, 2023

The festival will present the world premiere of Shawn Okpebholo’s new 55-minute song cycle “Songs in Flight.” The event will take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium as part of the MetLiveArts series. Conceived and commissioned by Sparks & Wiry Cries, the new song cycle features singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, soprano Karen Slack, countertenor Reginald Mobley, baritone Will Liverman, and pianist Howard Watkins.

Performance Date: Jan. 12, 2023

Sparks will host the 7th annual songSLAM at DiMenna Center for the Arts.

Performance Date: Jan. 13, 2023