Ars Nova Workshop presents Baltimore-born trumpeter Brandon Woody and his spirited ensemble UPENDO, at Solar Myth on Thursday, June 20, 2024.

Trumpeter/composer Brandon Woody was referred to as an “artist on the rise” by the Baltimore Sun in 2015 at the age of 17. Since then, he has gone on to become an international artist, performing with his band UPENDO, curating projects for major museums, film scoring, collaborating with international brands and performing at major venues and institutions around the globe. Woody studied with Ambrose Akinmusire at Manhattan School of Music and has performed with a genre-spanning array of artists including Solange, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marc Cary, Sean Jones, Plunky, Danilo Pérez, Lalah Hathaway, Robert Glasper, Bilal and others. Hehas also produced and arranged horns for Emma Vie, Sudan Archives, Tye Tribet, Miranda Curtis,Slauson Malone, Kevin Sinatra and Klein and several others. Woody uses music as a tool for healing, genuine connection and celebrating community. UPENDO, which means “love” in Swahili, is a sextet founded, Woody explains, so that he and his bandmates could “ play the music that we wanted to play, which was Black music…. all I’m trying to do with this music is to make space for, and spread, love.”