Anna Lapwood, Samara Joy, and Pink Martini Will Come to the Kauffman Center

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts has announced three new additions to the 2026-2027 Kauffman Center Presents series lineup: organist and classical music ambassador Anna Lapwood on Nov. 6, 2026, multiple Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Samara Joy on March 2, 2027, and the “little orchestra” Pink Martini on March 10, 2027. All three shows will be presented in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center.

“From Anna Lapwood’s incredible virtuosity and accessibility on the organ, to Samara Joy’s dynamic and evocative jazz song stylings, to the unstoppable engine of joy that is a Pink Martini concert, we are very proud of these diverse additions to the Kauffman Center Presents lineup. These three shows represent dynamic cornerstones of a great season and are not to be missed!” Kauffman Center President and CEO Paul Schofer said.

Anna Lapwood

Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, 7 p.m. Helzberg Hall

Anna Lapwood is one of the UK’s most dynamic ambassadors for classical music. As the official organist of the Royal Albert Hall, she has broken down genre boundaries and introduced a huge new audience to the organ. She has reached millions via her devoted social media following and helped revitalise repertoire for the instrument through the dedicated commissioning and performing of new works. She is also an established conductor and broadcaster, and a fierce advocate for the advancement of female voices within her industry. The scope of her influence is demonstrated by her appointment as MBE in 2024’s New Year’s Honours list and her inclusion in the 2025 Sunday Times Young Power List.

Lapwood is a graduate of Oxford University, where she was the first female Organ Scholar in Magdalen College’s 560-year history. In 2016, she also became the Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge–the youngest ever person to be appointed in that role at an Oxbridge college. Her time at Pembroke saw her found a much-lauded girls’ choir, commission works from leading choral composers and spearhead the release of five records.

A keen collaborator, Lapwood is an Artist in Association with the BBC Singers and Featured Artist with the Hallé. Her relationship with Royal Albert Hall has resulted in some of her most memorable pop collaborations including AURORA, Bonobo, Florence + the Machine and Raye, as well as actor Benedict Cumberbatch for Letters Live. Her close relationship with the Hall has also led to the launch of a new annual Organ Scholar Programme, just one of several initiatives demonstrating Lapwood’s commitment to musical outreach and the fostering of young talent. Her relentless encouragement of and support for female organists in particular has made her a role model within that community, neatly captured in the hashtag #playlikeagirl. Now with a three- million-strong social media following, she has helped bring the organ, and contemporary ideas of a what an organist can be, to a whole new audience.

Samara Joy

Tuesday, March 2, 2026, 7 p.m. Helzberg Hall

A native of the Bronx, Samara Joy became entranced by classic R&B as a child and cut her teeth as a singer in her church’s gospel choir. And while her family history is deeply musical—her grandparents helmed the Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and her father, the musician and songwriter Antonio McLendon, has produced, composed and arranged his own astounding original work—she didn’t delve into the jazz tradition until college at SUNY Purchase. During her studies there she won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, which introduced her to the larger jazz scene as a rising star to watch. She was acclaimed, by audiences and critics alike, as a masterful interpreter of jazz standards and a rightful heiress of the sound, technique and charisma that defined her jazz heroines—including Vaughan, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln and Carmen McRae.

Joy released her self-titled debut on the Whirlwind label in 2021, followed a year later by Linger Awhile, her breakout Verve debut. The album earned her a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album in addition to a headline-making win for Best New Artist. A deluxe edition of the album was released, as well as the EP A Joyful Holiday, which took home Grammys for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Jazz Performance in 2025. Her latest Verve album, Portrait, which Joy co-produced with the veteran trumpeter/bandleader and multi-Grammy winner Brian Lynch, showcases the intimate, soulful chemistry she’s developed with her touring band, earning her an NAACP Image Award in 2025 for Outstanding Jazz Album and the GRAMMY for Best Vocal Jazz Album in 2026. Portrait also spotlights her burgeoning gifts as a lyricist, in ingenious arrangements that meld her thoughtful words with music by Charles Mingus, Sun Ra and her late mentor Barry Harris.

Pink Martini

Wednesday, March 10, 2026, 7 p.m. Helzberg Hall

If the United Nations had a house band in 1962… Now in its 31st year, the unstoppable engine of joy that is Pink Martini continues to bring founder Thomas Lauderdale’s mission of multi-cultural connection and inclusion to concert stages on six continents. Presenting a mélange of catchy old-fashioned pop, global color, foot-tapping big band sound and Hollywood glamour, Oregon’s most famous “little orchestra” performs music intended to appeal to everyone, regardless of age or background.

Performing with a number of iconic voices including the band’s first lead singer China Forbes, the inimitable Storm Large, NPR’s dashing Ari Shapiro, the soulful Edna Vazquez, America’s Got Talent finalist Jimmie Herrod, fan-favorite Timothy Nishimoto, and international singing sensation Meow Meow, the “little orchestra” has played on legendary concert stages around the world, including the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall in London, and Bercy Arena in Paris.

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