Codemakers is the Fine Arts Center’s artist-activist conversation and performance series featuring boldly creative, socially engaged artists, thinkers, and projects from around the world — especially those working outside the Western canon.
Ruby Ibarra
Thursday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.
Bowker Auditorium
Extraordinary Filipino American rapper Ruby Ibarra hits UMass with a band that includes pioneering guitarist (and western Massachusetts resident) June Millington! If you've seen the 2025 championship Tiny Desk concert, you know.
Maria Mazzotta
Thursday, December 3, 8 p.m.
The Drake
Italian singer-songwriter Maria Mazzotta builds on a foundation of traditional music of her native southern Apulia, adding influences from across southern Europe and north Africa and layering on fuzzy post-rock experimentation. Her most recent solo album, 2024's Onde, is a triumph.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Wednesday, March 10, 7:30 p.m.
Bowker Auditorium
More than sixty years after the group’s founding, Ladysmith Black Mambazo continues to represent the pinnacle of South African a cappella music. The group has performed for millions of people around the world, won five Grammy Awards, and been nominated for a total of nineteen Grammys.
Yasmin Williams
Thursday, April 1, 8 p.m.
The Iron Horse
Guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams’ songs cut across the breadth of American folk forms, here exploring their African and European origins, there visiting birthplaces that stretch through Appalachia and southward to the Mississippi Delta. Take this opportunity to see Williams in the intimate setting of a club while you still can.
Stanley Clarke and Hiromi along with the PUBLIQuartet
A Celebration of the Music of Chick Corea and Beyond
Saturday, April 10, 8 p.m.
Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall
A truly special night of live music awaits! Two of jazz’s greatest living performers, bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Hiromi, lead a tribute to their late, longtime friend and collaborator Chick Corea — with help from the innovative, genre-blending string ensemble PUBLIQuartet.
Seth Parker Woods
Sunday, April 25, 3 p.m.
Bowker Auditorium
In this intimate solo recital, celebrated cellist Seth Parker Woods will embrace the spirit of the UMass Department of Music and Dance’s beloved Bach Festival and Symposium. The festival brings exceptional musicians and scholars of international stature to campus to connect with students, alumni, and faculty, in examination and celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.