Presented in partnership with The August Wilson African American Cultural Center and Calliope on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, Ruckus and Davóne Tines will reflect upon the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in a new program entitled, “What Is Your Hand In This?”

PITTSBURGH, PA—On Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 7:30pm at The August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC), Chamber Music Pittsburgh (CMP) is proud to present Ruckus in their Pittsburgh debut with bass-baritone Davóne Tines. Well known for their versatility and playful approach to early music, the San Francisco Classical Voice has described Ruckus as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band.” According to Alex Ross of The New Yorker, bass-baritone Davóne Tines is “changing what it means to be a classical singer.” Together, they will perform “What Is Your Hand In This?” a program that travels through four centuries of reimagined songs, hymns, and ballads to offer a meditation on and interrogation of the American legacy through its revolutionary musics.

The program is presented in partnership with both the AWAACC and Pittsburgh’s Calliope House, an organization dedicated to the “preservation of traditional and contemporary folk music and its allied arts” and headquartered in Shadyside.

“This special partnership between our three organizations has enabled us to share this incredible program with a broad and diverse audience,” said CMP Executive and Artistic Director Martha Bonta. “In November, CMP presented Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos performed in a twist as chamber music on modern instruments. With Ruckus and Tines, we will hear period instruments through the lens of contemporary performance practice that traces a line from the Baroque ripieno to the jazz rhythm section and the modern folk-rock band. It’s so exciting in this light to see where our respective audiences already overlap, and to identify the spaces where there are opportunities to bring our communities together. Also appropriately for our audiences, I’m thrilled that the program opens with a song by the incredibly influential 19th century composer and Pittsburgh native, Stephen Foster.”

“We are thrilled to join Chamber Music Pittsburgh and Calliope House to bring this important project to Pittsburgh,” said Janis Burley Wilson, President and CEO/Artistic Director of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.“These artists are asking timely questions that need to be voiced, especially as we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and reflect on our shared history. We can’t wait to see where this journey of discovery leads our audiences.”

“Folk music is the chamber music of America, so this co-presentation is a natural fit for Calliope,” said Alyson Bonavoglia, Executive Director of Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music Society. “The program traces many different styles of American music, from hymns to protest songs to original compositions by the performers, and explores the ways in which the American traditions of artistic expression and cultural evolution can guide our interconnected future. We are delighted to be marking the American sesquicentennial in this way.”

Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. Described as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Ruckus’ core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. The NYC-based ensemble aims to fuse the early-music movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove and jangle of American roots music, creating a unique sound of “rough-edged intensity” (New Yorker) that’s “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (New York Times). The group’s members are among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music.

Ruckus’ debut album, Fly the Coop, a collaboration with flutist Emi Ferguson, was Billboard’s #2 Classical album upon its release. Performances of Fly the Coop have been described as “a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” (New York Times). The Boston Musical Intelligencer describes the group as taking continuo playing to “not simply a new level, but a revelatory new dimension of dynamism altogether… an eruption of pure, pulsing hoedown joy.”

Ruckus joins Davóne Tines in a collaboration entitled “What is Your Hand in This?” The program, marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, asks: How can we passionately address wrongs while coexisting as a people? Can we find compassion for others? Can we find compassion for ourselves? The repertoire spans early American hymnody, Handel’s Messiah, Benjamin Carr’s Federal Overture, abolition-era songs, mid-20th century protest songs, and features commissions from Carnegie Hall and Hudson Hall.

Davóne Tines has been heralded as a “singer of immense power and fervor” and “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” (Los Angeles Times). “The immensely gifted American bass-baritone Davóne Tines has won acclaim, and advanced the field of classical music.” (The New York Times) This “next generation leader” (Time Magazine) is a path-breaking artist at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, his work blends opera, spirituals, gospel, and anthems, as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance and human connection.

PROGRAM

PART I

Beautiful Dreamer (1864)
Stephen Foster (1826-1864)
Overture from Compassion Preludes (2025)
Douglas Adam August Balliett (1982-)
The Four F’s from Compassion Preludes
Balliett
Be the Lover of My Soul (2025)
traditional / arr. Davóne Tines (1986-)

PART II

Concerto Grosso No. 10 in D Minor, op 6: ii
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)
Scherzo from Compassion Preludes
Balliett
The Liberty Song (1768/2025)
John Dickinson (1732-1808) / arr. Balliett
Concerto Grosso No. 10 in D Minor, op 6: iv
Handel
What Mean Ye? (1845)
George W. Clark (unknown)

PART III

A New Death March (1801?)
Sawney Freeman (1769-1828)
To The White People of America (1854)
Simpson
The Rays of Liberty (1801?)
Freeman
The House I Live In (1942/2025)
Allan & Robinson / arr. Tines & Balliett
Federal Nations (2025)
Balliett
The Federal Overture (1794)
Benjamin Carr (1768-1831)
“Why do the Nations so Furiously Rage” from Messiah (1741)
Handel

PART IV

Buddha (1984)
Julius Eastman (1940-1990)
This Bitter Earth (1960)
Clyde Otis (1924-2008) / arr. Tines & Balliett
What is My Hand in This? (2025)
Tines, arr. Balliett
Chester (1778)
William Billings (1746-1800)
A Change is Gonna Come (1964)
Sam Cooke (1931-1964)
Nunc Dimiitis from Compassion Preludes
Balliett
Be the Lover of My Soul (Reprise)
traditional / arr. Tines

The program runs 70 minutes, without intermission.

TICKETS

Pick 3 subscriptions range from $99–156 and can be purchased online, by mail, or by calling the box office at (412) 626-6121. Single ticket prices range from $35–55. Individual student tickets are $15.

About Chamber Music Pittsburgh

Since 1961, Chamber Music Pittsburgh (CMP) has provided Pittsburgh audiences with the opportunity to hear the world’s finest chamber music artists. CMP serves Pittsburgh’s diverse communities through a variety of series and programs, including its MainStage Live subscription series; its Pittsburgh Performs series featuring Pittsburgh artists in unusual venues outside of the traditional concert hall setting; and its free, need-based musical instrument lending library, administered in partnership with East Liberty’s Hope Academy of Music and the Arts. Each CMP season features a carefully balanced menu of acclaimed chamber ensembles and brilliant emerging groups, performing traditional musical masterpieces as well as contemporary, intercultural, and crossover compositions. Chamber Music Pittsburgh remains a vital element of cultural life in Pittsburgh and is recognized throughout the classical music world. The 65th Anniversary MainStage Live Season, which coincides with the American semiquincentennial, is entitled “Voices in Time: A Celebration of Chamber Music in America,” and features US-based artists in wide-ranging programs that exemplify all that chamber music can be in America.

About The August Wilson African American Cultural Center https://awaacc.org/

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a nonprofit cultural organization that generates artistic, educational, and community initiatives that advance the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. One of the largest cultural centers in the country, focused exclusively on the African American experience and the celebration of Black culture and the African diaspora, the Center welcomes more than 100,000 visitors locally and nationally. Through year-round programming across multiple genres, such as the annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Black Bottom Film Festival, AWCommunity Days, TRUTHSayers speaker series, and rotating art exhibits in its galleries, the Center provides a platform for established and emerging artists of color whose work reflects the universal issues of identity that Wilson tackled, and which still resonate today.

About Calliope https://calliopehouse.org/

Founded in 1976, Calliope is a nonprofit educational and presenting organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of traditional and contemporary folk music and its allied arts. We firmly believe that music is a language through which we speak, learn, create, and come to know our world, engaging individuals of all backgrounds. Through our programs, we seek to connect people through the particular power of folk music and serve the community by encouraging and supporting the joy of live music, the delight of making music, and the power of sharing music.