Arooj Aftab & Varijashree Venugopal

• Look Out for BearsHyken / Lebos / Lopez / Matthews
• Platter of DiscontentMarc Mellits
• Beach Boys Symphonic SuiteHyken / Lebos / Lopez / Matthews

Special Collaboration with Arooj Aftab

Special Collaboration with Varijashree Venugopal

• HarmonyMichael League

Nu Deco Ensemble

Since its inception in 2015, Nu Deco Ensemble has exploded onto Miami’s eclectic musical scene captivating audiences, holistically engaging with its community, and fusing innovative, genre-bending orchestral performances and collaborations with the highest levels of musical artistry. Called a “chamber orchestra for the 21st century” by The New York Times, their performances have featured artists including Wyclef Jean, Allen Stone, Macy Gray, Monsieur Periñé, Jacob Collier, and Ben Folds; reimagined orchestral suites of the music of Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, The Beatles, and Aretha Franklin; symphonic masterworks from Bernstein, Stravinsky and Gershwin; and new music from some of today’s most exciting living composers.

Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab is a Grammy Award–winning artist whose work occupies a singular space in contemporary music, blending jazz, minimalism, South Asian musical traditions, and avant-pop. Declared “the coolest rock star in the world right now” by Uncut, she is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices of our time.

Her breakthrough album, Vulture Prince, ushered Aftab into the cultural zeitgeist with widespread critical acclaim, earning a Grammy win for the song “Mohabbat” and appearing on Barack Obama’s 2021 Summer Playlist. In 2024, she released her fourth solo album, Night Reign, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Jazz Album, while its lead single, “Raat Ki Rani,” was nominated for Best Global Music Performance.

Aftab has performed at major international festivals including Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, and Coachella, and has collaborated with ensembles such as the Metropole Orkest. She has appeared on NPR Tiny Desk Concert, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Later… with Jools Holland, and has been praised by The New York Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and The Financial Times.

Varijashree Venugopal

Bangalore-based Grammy® nominated singer-songwriter Varijashree Venugopal was widely recognised as a child prodigy who could identify 100 Carnatic Ragas at the tender age of 18 months, and began performing concerts at the age of 4. She initially trained under her musician parents Vidwan H S Venugopal and Vidhushi T V Rama, Vidhushi H Geetha, Vidhushi Vasantha Srinivasan, Vidwan D S Srivatsa, and later under Ganakalanidhi Vidwan Salem P Sundaresan.

Coming from a rich background of an intricate classical form of music such as Carnatic music, Varijashree is one of the pioneering artists in applying the techniques, fundamentals, and the sound and soul of Indian singing in the global music context. Apart from being a singer, Varijashree is a flautist, composer, and music educator.

Her unique capabilities of using her voice as an instrument, her improvised singing, and the blending of her singing with various music cultures using Indian singing techniques, has led to features and collaborations with some of the most notable musical personalities in the world such as Bobby McFerrin, Michael League, Snarky Puppy, Victor Wooten, Herbie Hancock, Béla Fleck, Hamilton de Holanda, Eddie Gomez, Anat Cohen, Jacob Collier, Praveen D Rao, C4 Trio, Trio Bobo, Anoushka Shankar, EYM Trio, and more.

Michael League

Michael League is a 4-time GRAMMY award-winning multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, arranger, songwriter, label owner, and bandleader based out of Catalonia, Spain. Aside from founding and leading Snarky Puppy and Bokanté, Michael has worked with and/or produced for a diverse range of artists spanning multiple genres, including David Crosby, Esperanza Spalding, Michael McDonald, Kirk Franklin, Jacob Collier, Laura Mvula, Chris Potter, TOKiMONSTA, Susana Baca, and more.

His debut solo album, So Many Me, features League performing every instrument as well as singing on songs written alone during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is co-produced and mixed by 2-time GRAMMY award-winner Nic Hard and mastered by GRAMMY award-winning engineer Emily Lazar.

Ultimate Ears