American Mavericks Project Vl. 1: QUEST Premieres in January

The American Mavericks Project (AMP) will present the world premiere of American Mavericks Project Vl. 1: Quest, which celebrates trailblazing Black Arts Movement poets and the legacy of AMP founder Chelsea Randall's great uncle, the poet and editor Dudley Randall, through new piano music.

The concert will take place at on Sunday, January 25th, 2026, at the Dweck Center, Central Public Library, Brooklyn, NY.

Chelsea Randall will premiere six solo piano pieces commissioned for AMP by esteemed composers Carolyn Yarnell, Adolphus Hailstork, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Anthony R. Green, Regina Harris Baiocchi and Jeremiah Evans, inspired by the poetry of Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, Naomi Long Madgett and Dudley Randall, who platformed these poets via his Detroit-based Broadside Press.

Melba Joyce Boyd, Michigan's Poet Laureate and Dudley Randall's biographer, and Jon Randall, Dudley's nephew and Broadside Press poet, will recite the poems which inspired the commissioned works prior to Chelsea's performances. Quest is dedicated to the memory of Nikki Giovanni.

The program will feature Piano Broadsides I. A Poet is Not a Jukebox, II. Nocturne for Zasha, III. Shape of the Invisible (2023), by Regia Harris Baiocchi, Don Quixote (Quest), (2024) by Adolphus Hailstork, When We Come (2024), by Joyce Solomon Morman, Under a Soprano Sky (2025), by Anthony R. Green, Sky Diving (2025), by Carolyn Yarnell, and Lyrical Cartography (2025) by Jeremiah Evans. The premiere of Quest is supported in part by the Brooklyn Arts Council's Brooklyn Arts Fund.

Following the premiere, Quest will be presented in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Michigan and California. A series of interviews with the commissioned composers will be published on the AMP website, and educational workshops and lecture-recitals featuring the commissioned works will take place across the US in spring 2026.

About the American Mavericks Project: The American Mavericks Project (AMP) is dedicated to piano music by Black American composers 1900-present, with emphasis on 21st century composers, through performances, commissions, education and research. https://www.americanmavericksproject.com/

About Chelsea Randall: NY-native pianist Chelsea Randall is a dedicated advocate of underrepresented and new music. She has performed at venues including NY's Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Old First Concerts in SF, University of Cambridge and Théâtre Adyar in Paris, and her playing has been broadcast on NY's WQXR, NPR and WWFM. She has received awards from New Music USA, Brooklyn Arts Council, Music Talks, Conservatoire de Paris and McGill University, among others. She is the founder of the American Mavericks Project (AMP) dedicated to piano music by Black American composers, and the founder of the Crossings Project exploring links between African and Western music. She has premiered and debuted music by composers including Jeremiah Evans, Brittney Benton, Lilyanne Dorilas, Natalie Dietterich, KiMani Bridges, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Grace Coberly, Chloe Clarke Smith and many others.