WYPR Events

In Love with Viola: d'Amore and da Gamba will feature violist Dan McCarthy and violist da gamba Arnie Tanimoto, who will serenade the listener with the rich viola sounds of different types of violas, along with charming commentary. McCarthy will perform the music of Atilio Ariosti on one of the most interesting members of the viola family, the viola d'amore, which has seven strings and an additional seven sympathetic strings. Tanimoto will be playing the music of Bach on the 6-string viola da gamba. Keyboardist Marc Bellassai will be the accompanist.

Heritage Award-winning 53rd Annual Deer Creek Fiddlers Convention includes band and individual performer competitions in bluegrass, old-time and Celtic music, and vocal and Appalachian clogging/flatfooting competitions. Top prize for the band competition is $1000. This family friendly event includes food and craft vendors, but the emphasis is on music. Shade tree picking and picnicking are encouraged. The day concludes with a concert by IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass.

Brent Birckhead [saxophone]
Deborah Bond [vocals]
Brandon Lane [bass]
Noble Jolley [piano & keys]
Devron Dennis [drums]

Celebrate BIRCKHEAD's album release of "CACAO" at Keystone Korner Baltimore! "Cacao" exudes an overwhelming sense of coolness. This smooth and sweet composition has a bright fanfare of woodwinds and a dense funk bass line, the song mirrors the complex yet addictive flavor of its namesake.

Brent Birckhead is an award-winning artist, whose aesthetic is an intersectional amalgam of traditional and popular styles. Unbound by genre, Birckhead’s approach to woodwind artistry is driven by his compulsion for creative risk and deep respect for legacy. His place in the continuum of a storied lineage begins with his surname, Birckhead, and extends to his extensive musical education and work ethic as a visionary approach to life as a rising leader.

Educated at Howard University (BME, MM), Birckhead was named best blues/pop/rock soloist and outstanding instrumental jazz soloist by Downbeat Magazine as part of the annual Student Music Awards. In 2011 Brent was named "Best Alto Saxophonist" by the Washington City Paper. The Baltimore native's talent earned him the honor of performing and touring with legendary artists including Lauryn Hill, Nas, Wale, Eric Benet, Larry Graham, George Duke and many more.

Obasi Akoto and prominent members of the Greater Baltimore & Washington, D.C. Jazz Community will lead us in world-class performances every Tuesday, beginning at 7pm. Surround yourself with great company, soul lifting music, and wonderful food! Click HERE to read our Bright Moments Jam Session Newsletter, written by Obasi Akoto every week.

"A jazz renaissance is happening right here and right now at Keystone Korner." - Obasi Akoto

Free admission, unless otherwise indicated. Reservations are required. Two item food & beverage minimum.

An award-winning historian tells a gripping, morally complicated story of murder, greed, race, and the true origins of prison for profit.

In the early nineteenth century, as slavery gradually ended in the North, a village in New York State invented a new form of unfreedom: the profit-driven prison. Uniting incarceration and capitalism, the village of Auburn built a prison that enclosed industrial factories. There, “slaves of the state” were leased to private companies. The prisoners earned no wages, yet they manufactured furniture, animal harnesses, carpets, and combs, which consumers bought throughout the North. Then one young man challenged the system.

In Freeman's Challenge, Robin Bernstein tells the story of an Afro-Native teenager named William Freeman who was convicted of a horse theft he insisted he did not commit and sentenced to five years of hard labor in Auburn’s prison. Incensed at being forced to work without pay, Freeman demanded wages. His challenge triggered violence: first against him, then by him. Freeman committed a murder that terrified and bewildered white America. And white America struck back—with aftereffects that reverberate into our lives today in the persistent myth of inherent Black criminality. William Freeman’s unforgettable story reveals how the North invented prison for profit half a century before the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery “except as a punishment for crime”—and how Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and other African Americans invented strategies of resilience and resistance in a city dominated by a citadel of unfreedom.

Through one Black man, his family, and his city, Bernstein tells an explosive, moving story about the entangled origins of prison for profit and anti-Black racism.

Robin Bernstein is the Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. She is the author of Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder that Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit (University of Chicago Press, 2024) and Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights (NYU Press, 2011), which won five prizes.

Julius B. Fleming, Jr. earned a doctorate in English, and a graduate certificate in Africana studies, from the University of Pennsylvania. Specializing in Afro-diasporic literatures and cultures, he has particular interests in performance studies, black political culture, diaspora, and colonialism, especially where they intersect with race, gender, and sexuality. Professor Fleming is the author of Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation (NYU Press, 2022; shortlisted for the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present 2023 Book Prize, Finalist for the Hooks National Book Award, and Honorable Mention for the 2023 John W. Frick Book Award).

Registration is required.

The Walters Art Museum, in collaboration with the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, is proud to present the 2024 Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize Finalists Exhibition. The exhibition showcases the work of three finalists—Hellen Ascoli, Amy Boone-McCreesh, and Sam Mack—in this prestigious competition, which awards a $30,000 fellowship to assist in furthering the career of a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the greater Baltimore region. Attend the award ceremony and reception and be among the first to celebrate the winner and mingle with members of Baltimore’s arts community.

This program is co-hosted with the Baltimore Office for Promotion and The Arts and presented in conjunction with the 19th annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize Finalists Exhibition on view at the Walters from July 17 through September 8, 2024.

A two and a half hour long comedic murder mystery where you play alongside professional actors to solve the crime (or not). We welcome you to “Good Riddance,” a 1990s mall opening gone terribly wrong!
Prepare to unravel the secrets of a thrilling murder mystery, where every twist and turn leads you closer to uncovering the truth. Put your sleuthing skills to the test as you examine clues and mingle with suspects, all while enjoying a delectable three-course meal. But beware – you might find yourself a suspect in this gripping tale. Secure your tickets now for an evening you won't soon forget!
Rating is PG-10 without curse words or gore, but there are some loud noises that may frighten young children.

A two and a half hour long comedic murder mystery where you play alongside professional actors to solve the crime (or not). We welcome you to “Good Riddance,” a 1990s mall opening gone terribly wrong!
Prepare to unravel the secrets of a thrilling murder mystery, where every twist and turn leads you closer to uncovering the truth. Put your sleuthing skills to the test as you examine clues and mingle with suspects, all while enjoying a delectable three-course meal. But beware – you might find yourself a suspect in this gripping tale. Secure your tickets now for an evening you won't soon forget!
Rating is PG-10 without curse words or gore, but there are some loud noises that may frighten young children.

A two and a half hour long comedic murder mystery where you play alongside professional actors to solve the crime (or not). We welcome you to “A Dance with Death,” a 1950s sock hop with a killer twist.
Prepare to unravel the secrets of a thrilling murder mystery, where every twist and turn leads you closer to uncovering the truth. Put your sleuthing skills to the test as you examine clues and mingle with suspects, all while enjoying a delectable three-course meal. But beware – you might find yourself a suspect in this gripping tale. Secure your tickets now for an evening you won't soon forget!
Rating is PG-10 without curse words or gore, but there are some loud noises that may frighten young children.

Join the B&O for Red, White & Choo-Choo, a celebration of American Independence Day!

Bring family, friends, and everyone in between out to the museum on July 4th from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm for a day of music, tie-dye, and sno-cones! See the museum decked out in patriotic bunting, enjoy classic cookout foods from the B&O Cafe, and join us for a midday train ride*!

Included in the price of Museum Admission. B&O Members are Free.

*Train ride tickets available for purchase onsite.