One Voice, Many Frequencies
The Future of Hybrid Performance
THU, FEB 12 @ 7:00 PM
Semel Theater, Emerson Tufte Performance & Production Center
Learn about the shifting nature of solo performances from some of the brightest minds in Boston’s performance space and an internationally renowned solo artist.
One Voice, Many Frequencies brings together boundary-pushing artists, educators, and cultural leaders to explore how contemporary solo work is breaking down the walls between music, theater, and storytelling, and what that means for artists and audiences right now.
At the center of the conversation is Ahamefule J. Oluo, whose acclaimed solo performance The Things Around Us blends live trumpet, looping, humor, and storytelling to explore identity, memory, and connection. Their work is known for its emotional range, musical sophistication, and ability to transform deeply personal material into shared experience.
Oluo is joined by artists who represent a creative core of Boston’s music and performance scene as performers, builders of platforms, communities, and futures: Toki Wright, Amanda Shea, Tim Hall, and Cliff Notez.
Rooted in lived artistic practice and real-world experimentation, One Voice, Many Frequencies offers a rare look at how solo performance is being reimagined right now by artists who are making the work shaping scenes, building communities, and inspiring the next generation of performers.
Info
Venue
Semel Theater, Emerson Tufte Performance & Production Center
10 Boylston Pl, Boston, MA 02116
Dates
Feb 12, 2026 | 7:00 pm
Details
FREE w/ RSVP
All Ages
Please note: this event is exclusively for Emerson College and Berklee College of Music students, faculty, and staff. When reserving tickets, please enter your college affiliated email address for confirmation. This is a free event. Guests will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis upon arrival. Reserving your tickets does not necessarily guarantee admission, but we rarely turn anyone away from our free events. Please plan to arrive early—ideally 20 to 30 minutes before showtime—to ensure entry.
Artists
Toki Wright
Toki Wright is Chair of Berklee College of Music’s Professional Music Department and an internationally recognized MC, producer, writer, radio host, arts diplomat, and community organizer. A pioneer in hip-hop education, Wright led the nation’s first fully accredited hip-hop studies program, later recognized by NYU’s Hip-Hop Education Center as a Best Transformative Higher Learning Model. His work bridges performance, pedagogy, and cultural leadership, with global teaching and touring across Africa, Europe, and China, and deep community engagement through initiatives such as Yo! The Movement and Hip-Hop at H.E.A.L.S. Wright has released multiple albums, toured internationally, collaborated with artists including Talib Kweli and BJ The Chicago Kid, and performed at major festivals such as Coachella and Rock the Bells. A two-time Emmy Award winner, he also co-curated the CLIO Award-winning, Cannes Lions-nominated Watch the Stove mixtape and continues to shape contemporary music culture through broadcasting, writing, and mentorship.
Tim Hall
Tim Hall is a Boston-based musician, poet, educator, and cultural facilitator whose work bridges jazz, neo-soul, hip-hop, and spoken word. A saxophonist and live-looping solo artist, Hall is known for weaving music and storytelling into performances that explore Blackness, masculinity, resilience, and care. His solo projects include Colors of My Soul and Trust the Process, and his work has been presented at venues and festivals including Boston Calling, BAMSFest, the Museum of Fine Arts, and HubWeek. An Assistant Professor in Berklee College of Music’s Professional Music Department, Hall teaches artist development and music entrepreneurship while mentoring emerging artists. He is a member of the band STL GLD, a principal collaborator with Cliff Notez, and a co-founder of HipStory, a digital media production company amplifying Boston’s creative community. Hall has been recognized by the Boston Music Awards, New England Music Awards, and WBUR’s ARTery 25 for his impact on arts and culture in the region.
Amanda Shea
Amanda Shea is a Boston-based spoken word artist, poet, and cultural leader working at the intersection of poetry, music, social justice, and community building. A three-time Boston Music Award winner and 2024 Boston Foundation LAB Grant recipient, Shea is known for blending spoken word with hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and experimental sound; WBUR praised her EP God, Again for “bridging the gap between poetry and music.” Her work has been featured by institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, TEDx, GBH, Netflix, Prime Video, and BBC News. Described by The Boston Globe as a “connector of creativity and community,” Shea is the founder and curator of Activating ARTivism and the host of GBH’s Outspoken Saturdays. She is also the producer of the award-winning documentary BLACK: Narratives in Boston’s Black Queer & Trans History and currently serves as Arts & Culture Director at 617PEAK, using art as a tool for storytelling, healing, and collective change.
Cliff Notez
Cliff Notez is an award-winning Boston-based multimedia artist, musician, and cultural connector whose work moves fluidly across hip hop, jazz, folk, soul, and R&B. Known for pairing incisive lyricism with rich, layered sound, Notez explores trauma, healing, and the lived realities of the Black experience through music, film, and performance. Their work has been featured by The New York Times, NPR, The Boston Globe, and Boston Magazine, which named him Musician of the Year, and has earned multiple Boston Music Awards, including Best New Artist. A prolific collaborator and dynamic live performer, Notez has appeared at festivals including Boston Calling and shared stages with artists such as Ja Rule and Gym Class Heroes. Cliff is also the co-founder of HipStory, a digital media production company dedicated to amplifying Boston’s creative community through interdisciplinary storytelling.
Ahamefule J. Oluo
Ahamefule J. Oluo (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, writer, comedian, and creator of live performance. They were a member of award-winning experimental jazz quartet Industrial Revelation. They are a Mellon Creative Research Fellow, Creative Capital awardee, MAP Fund awardee, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Creative Research Fellow, FCA Emergency Grant recipient, USArtists International grantee through MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, and Artist Trust Arts Innovator awardee. Oluo premiered Now I’m Fine (2016) and Susan (2020) at The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, both of which were critically acclaimed by The New York Times. Oluo wrote, scored, and starred in the award-winning film Thin Skin (2020), which won Best Director at the Harlem Film Festival; appeared on This American Life; and produced albums by comedians Hari Kondabolu and Dwayne Kennedy. Oluo is co-writer and director of Lindy West’s solo comedy show Every Castle, Ranked. They have written for television, including HBO Max’s Santa Inc. with Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. Oluo has received presentation and/or residency support from Transform Festival in Leeds, UK, Under the Radar Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ArtsEmerson, the Historic Asolo Theatre at the Ringling Museum, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, The Clarice at the University of Maryland, Fusebox Festival, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, On the Boards, UW’s Meany Center, Seattle Theatre Group, Seattle Rep, Intiman, Field Hall in Port Angeles, Wa Na Wari, Langston, Yaddo, and MacDowell. THE THINGS AROUND US premiered at Portland’s Time-Based Art Festival in Fall 2024 and continues to tour nationally and internationally. A second-generation Seattleite, Oluo is now based on Twana lands on the Olympic Peninsula in rural Washington and remains active in Seattle’s music, comedy, and performance communities.
About Public Dialogue
ArtsEmerson’s Public Dialogue conversation series invites audiences to explore big questions in intimate settings. Hosted by a member of the ArtsEmerson team, local and national luminaries will offer their points of view on the urgent questions surfaced by the artists on our stages. Join us this season to dive deep into topics of cultural theft, government surveillance, and global approaches to decolonization.
