Sep 29 Monday
Hamilton College is thrilled to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hamilton by welcoming Lin-Manuel Miranda as the next guest in the Sacerdote Great Names series. The composer, creator, and original star of the Tony Award-winning musical will give a talk on Monday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m., in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House.
The event will be free and open to the public, but tickets will be required. As with all Great Names events, the College distributes tickets only for the number of seats available in the venue.
Oct 12 Sunday
For over a decade, Tuba Skinny has grown steadily in popularity, releasing twelve albums and touring all over the world. They’ve attracted a wide variety of fans, young and old, neophytes and niche-enthusiasts, with the strength of their musicianship and the scope of their jazz and American roots music catalog. The band is composed of Shaye Cohn (cornet), Barnabus Jones (trombone), Todd Burdick (tuba), Craig Flory (clarinet), Gregory Sherman (guitar and vocals), Max Bien-Kahn (banjo), Robin Rapuzzi (washboard), and Erika Lewis (vocals and bass drum).
While they’ve become known as world-class interpreters of traditional jazz, over the years they’ve branched out into jug band music, spirituals, country blues, string band music, ragtime, and New Orleans R&B. Their approach is a true reflection of Americana, encompassing the full genealogy of popular American music from an early 20th century perspective.
No matter how well-known they’ve become or how high-profile their gigs have gotten, Tuba Skinny has always returned to the streets. “We continue to play in the street because it’s a public space,” says Shaye. “We get to play for everyone: old, young, rich, poor, people from all walks of life. It keeps things interesting because it’s organic and unpredictable.”
This engagement of Tuba Skinny is made possible in part through the Jazz Touring Network program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Oct 16 Thursday
Acclaimed Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and MacArthur Fellow recipient of the prestigious “Genius Grant”, Chris Thile is a multifaceted musical talent, described by The Guardian as “that rare being: an all-round musician,” and hailed by NPR as a “genre-defying musical genius.” Thile is a founding member of the highly influential string bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, and has collaborated with countless luminaries from Yo-Yo Ma to Fiona Apple to Brad Mehldau. For four years, Thile hosted public radio favorite Live from Here with Chris Thile (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion). With his broad outlook, Thile creates a distinctly American canon and a new musical aesthetic for performers and audiences alike, giving the listener “one joyous arc, with the linear melody and vertical harmony blurring into a single web of gossamer beauty” (New York Times).
Over the last year, Thile has been touring with Nickel Creek in support of the critically acclaimed 2023 release Celebrants, and captivating audiences with a playfully ambitious biographical composition entitled ATTENTION! (a narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra).
The wide-ranging program of Thile’s 2025-2026 solo performances will feature selections from his acclaimed solo recordings of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas – including the upcoming second volume out this autumn – alongside his signature mix of classical, folk and improvisational brilliance.
Nov 23 Sunday
DakhaBrakha is a music quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine. Their “ethno chaos” sound spans years of performances prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion, but war is in everything now. They masterfully blend Ukrainian traditional music with influences from around the world, resulting in an unexpected new music.
They are troubadours, activists and educators. Though their name means Give/Take in the old language, DakhaBrakha is new Ukraine, both pre-colonial and post-Soviet, working within a global network of art and music. They aim to help audiences see Ukraine not as a monolith, but as a cosmopolitan culture that takes in other cultures and gives in return.
Jan 10 Saturday
Singer, songwriter, music producer, visual artist, and writer Neko Case is the consummate career artist — fearless and versatile, with a fierce work ethic and a constant drive to search deeper within herself for creative growth. “One of America’s best and most ambitious singer-songwriters” (Rolling Stone) and “essentially peerless” (NPR), Case has long been revered as one of music’s most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans.
In addition to numerous acclaimed and GRAMMY-nominated solo records, Case is a founding member of Canadian supergroup The New Pornographers. She is the author of The New York Times bestselling memoir ‘The Harder I Fight the More I Love You’ and the weekly Substack newsletter ‘Entering The Lung,’ and is currently composing the musical theater adaptation of the Academy Award-winning motion picture ‘Thelma & Louise.’
$1 from every ticket will go to Peer Solutions and support their positive youth leadership and development program designed to prevent harm before it begins and engage lifetime ambassadors of positive change (www.peersolutions.org).