TOSHI REAGON

TOSHI REAGON | she/her (librettist, com­poser, music director) is a talented and versatile singer, composer, musician, curator, and producer with a profound ear for sonic Americana—from folk to funk, from blues to rock. While her expansive career has landed her at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, and Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily find Toshi turning out at a music festival, intimate venue, or local club. She has collaborated with artists including Carl Hancock Rux, Ani DiFranco, Lenny Kravitz, Elvis Costello, and Nona Hendryx. As a composer, she has worked with Katori Hall, Urban Bush Women, and The Jane Comfort Dance Co., among others. She is currently touring the Bessie Award-winning The Blues Project with tap dancer Michelle Dorrance and Dorrance Dance. Reagon founded WORD*ROCK*SWORD, a com­munity festival that takes place throughout New York City every September. Together with her mother Bernice Johnson Reagon, she has created two operas with director Robert Wilson, The Temptation of St. Anthony and Zinnias, The Life of Clementine Hunter. Reagon has co-composed music for two Peabody Award-winning films and received a NYFA Award for Music Com­posi­tion, the 2010 OutMusic Heritage Award, and the Black Lily Music and Film Festival Award for Outstanding Perfor­mance. She is a National Women’s History Month honoree and was named a 2015 Art of Change Fellow by the Ford Foundation.