Gather Hear Tour

03/19/2026

The Gather Hear Prison Project continues onto season 2! This week we returned to perform at MCI-Shirley for about 100 incarcerated men who are enrolled in programs with Boston College, Tufts University, and Wachusett Community College. It was a treat to have one of my favorite pianists, Mikael Darmanie share the concert with me! The highlight of the concert was a performance with one of the incarcerated students, Ricardo, but more about that in another post.

The students presented me with this adorable MVP (Most Valuable Pianist) award ❤️ One man shared that this was the first concert he’s ever been to, because he’s been incarcerated 40 years.

Thanks to for continuing to partner with us and making these concerts possible, and for all the incredible work you do day in and out. Thank you to for continuing to fund the Gather Hear Prison Project!

02/22/2026

Imagining a world in which Lakota singing & classical piano live together ~ From our first workshop session at Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota

Check out our project and the video from the workshop session! gatherhear.com/rosebud

Inspired by the Lakota song “Wioste Olowan”
Singing: Chaz White Feather
Piano: Miki Sawada
Composition: .randallmyers
Interactive sound design: Trevor New (Chaz’s hand gestures are controlling effects!)

02/19/2026

Meet Chaz White Feather ⭐️ Chaz is Lakota and he is the co-performer for our show “A Collective Landscape.” Chaz has an exceptionally powerful voice with a huge range, and knows hundreds of songs that have been orally passed down to him. Here he is singing about sending off men for war, written from a woman’s perspective.

Traditional song will be upheld and amplified in our show, allowing the audience to take in the full glory and breadth of the Lakota tradition. But as the show progresses, we discover that Lakota singing and classical piano may have more in common than upon first hearing….videos of that coming soon!

02/14/2026

A year in the making, I’m so excited to finally get to tell you about our most ambitious project to-date, in partnership with Sincangu Lakota Oyate members from Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota 🦬

“A COLLECTIVE LANDSCAPE” will be a new show for Lakota singing and classical piano co-featuring Chaz J. White Feather, singer from Rosebud.

Lakota & Western classical music will be showcased in their original, traditional formats. But with Brendon Randall-Myers and Trevor New on the artistic team preparing new compositions and audience-interactive electronics, the two art forms will come together over the course of the show, their underlying common musical language and worldview revealed.

The seeds for this project were sowed when Dr. Kathy May Tran my friend & Boston-based physician who regularly works at Rosebud through the IHS, had the idea for Gather Hear to perform at the reservation.

Then, when I spoke on the phone with a Lakota elder, Butch, it became clear that this was going to be the seed of so much more than “just” me coming to perform my usual program.

All about the project: gatherhear.com/rosebud

01/11/2026

Did you watch our North Carolina tour recap video yet? We talked BBQ, the most devastating moment of tour, and what makes all this work so meaningful. Link in comments! Shoutout 🍖

01/07/2026

We are saddened to hear that Odie's Deli in Soldotna, Alaska is closing. Our concert at Odie's in 2017 was one of Gather Hear's first ever ( #6 out of 106 to date!). Then-owner Megan was actually one of the very first people to say “YES” to the idea of Gather Hear - something that was only a figment of my imagination at the time.

Back then, we knew so little about what the classical music experience could be like, outside of the traditional concert hall. It was magical to land in a small town in Alaska, discover a baby grand piano inside an ex-Wendy's that was turned into a locally owned deli. Not only that, but to find a kind and tight knit community who gathered around music and art of all different kinds.

Gather Hear developed as a project by learning from people like Megan (then-owner of Odie’s; not the final owner). Odie’s shuts its doors; so have other businesses that Gather Hear has partnered with over it’s lifetime. People move on in their work, or even pass away. But their legacy live on in our work, as well others who were touched and inspired by them.

Check out our archival videos below and blog post from the Soldotna visit:
https://www.gatherhear.com/soldotnaak

01/02/2026

Happy new year!!! Let’s start 2026 with some music…here’s another snippet of “Spira” for piano and rap by Chris Thompson

Full piece is available on YouTube, link in bio 📺

12/23/2025

A sweet Christmas throwback to Gather Hear Alabama 2023, performing a little Charlie Brown Christmas 🎄 at a women’s shelter in Birmingham

12/20/2025

“SPIRA” FOR PIANO AND RAP
Written by Chris Thompson

Complete performance available on our YT ~ link below

Written for Gather Hear North Carolina
With support from the Arts Council of Moore County

Chris joins the tradition of Gather Hear commissioning & featuring composers across their home state in performance. We’re proud of this body of work that is available to everyone!!

12/16/2025

Look at these gorgeous people (and a beast) in their Gather Hear hats 🤩 thanks to all our donors, we're currently at $8170/$10,000 of our end-of-year fundraiser!! Join in and help us get to the finish line 👯‍♀️

Hats are available for $50+ donations, or if you sign up to be a $20+/month monthly donor. And of course, thank you to all the donors who opted out of a hat too. We're so grateful to have such wonderful people in our corner.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-gather-hear-north-carolina

(the amount there doesn't reflect offline donations we've received, which is why it's lower than $8170)

12/14/2025

Grab a beverage and join us for this deep dive tour reflection! We filmed this at night immediately after our final concert (with a 4am wake up call the next day), so we were loopy from exhaustion 😅 but it led to a very candid convo on topics ranging from Favorite/least favorite tour moments, BBQ, and the uncertainty of continuing on with Gather Hear.

YouTube link in bio! Help us out and hit subscribe!

12/13/2025

Grab a beverage and join us for this deep dive reflecting on Gather North Carolina! We filmed this immediately after our final concert, so we were loopy from exhaustion which led to a very candid convo on topics ranging from Favorite/least favorite tour moments, BBQ, and the uncertainty of continuing on with Gather Hear.

We were pretty loopy by this point, which made for a raw and honest reflection on the 13-concert, 15-day tour experience we'd just gone through. IG: ...