DEFIANTLY JONI to Open at Mark Taper Forum with MUSE/IQUE Orchestra
Rachael Worby leads Chris Pierce, Effie Passero, and the DC6 Singers Collective in a celebration of Joni Mitchell's artistry.
MUSE/IQUE will present DEFIANTLY JONI: A Singer/Songwriter Bares Her Soul, led by Artistic & Music Director Rachael Worby with Chris Pierce, Effie Passero, the DC6 Singers Collective, and the MUSE/IQUE Orchestra. There are seven performances presented between July 11 and 19, 2026 at the Mark Taper Forum, in partnership with Center Theatre Group and proudly sponsored by Classical California. Admissions available now at muse-ique.com
“I'm not a joiner,” Joni Mitchell once said. “I've never been a joiner.” Indeed, Joni Mitchell has only ever been defiantly herself — fiercely independent, a singer who sings and a writer who writes like only Joni Mitchell, who even plays chords of her own invention, who bucked genre and used a folk guitar merely as a means to be what she always was: a poet, a jazz composer, and a painter.
Mitchell was part of a fertile folk scene at a particular place and time, namely Los Angeles in the late 1960s and '70s, and she was also in a tradition of classical art songs and jazz. But she blazed her own eccentric trail, writing stream-of-consciousness confessions in a musical style that defied easy categorization. With her singular voice and raw honesty, she both transcended and heavily influenced the stars who orbited around her — among them Graham Nash, James Taylor, Carole King, Neil Young, and David Crosby. When he heard Mitchell's 1971 album Blue for the first time, Crosby recalled, “I felt like quitting the business and becoming a gardener.”
DEFIANTLY JONI is an intimate tribute to her unique genius — as well as a testament of the cultural milieu and musical streams that fed into her art and then poured out of Laurel Canyon and into a surplus of other genres and artists. That confluence can be felt in the song “Circle Game,” which featured Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on backing vocals during a time when she was living with Nash in the same house that inspired his song, “Our House.” Mitchell's chemistry with James Taylor played out in the song “A Case of You” from her zenith 1971 album, Blue. “Love is touching souls,” she sang, “surely you touched mine, 'cause part of you pours out of me in these lines from time to time.” In a Los Angeles canyon in the early 1970s, so many stars were touching, harmonizing, forming constellations — and yet Joni Mitchell remained, as she sang it, a “lonely painter”… defiantly herself.
About the Artists
Chris Pierce (vocals) has been a singular voice in American roots music for more than two decades. Over the course of eight solo albums, many side projects, and more guest appearances than most could do in one lifetime, his powerful songs have given voice to the voiceless and shed light into dark and hidden corners of the American dream. His new record Songs for the Heavy Hearted releases 8/21.
Effie Passero (vocals) is a singer/songwriter based in Puerto Vallarta, MX. After appearing on American Idol's revival in 2018, she has received multiple accolades nationwide. Now a staple member of Postmodern Jukebox, she has performed worldwide from the Sydney Opera House to Royal Albert Hall. Her debut album Grace will be released in its entirety in early 2027. @effiepassero on socials
DC6 Singers Collective (vocals) are a Los Angeles-based ensemble with roots in a cappella, gospel, doo wop, and R&B, but they fuse styles to transcend boundaries. They have collaborated with global music legends, such as Cece Winans, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Michael Bolton, and institutions like the San Francisco Symphony and LA Opera, and were recently heard on the Oscar-winning soundtrack for Sinners, performing at this year's Academy Awards.
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