Fulfill your wanderlust with a day of musical discovery and community connection at the second day of WoCo Fest 2025: Uplift at The Mansion at Strathmore and the Strathmore Lawn! In a time when we need it most, come together to uplift artists and one another through vibrant concerts, live composer workshops, and inspiring discussions with musicians, composers, and scholars. Experience uplifting music’s evolution from medieval renaissance to experimental electronics.
Be enthralled by performances from PUBLIQuartet, Seraph Brass, and Tapestry in the Mansion’s music room, classical guitar/cello duo Boyd Meets Girl during live composer workshops, and an electrifying festival finale by composer/performer and media artist Pamela Z. As an official Partner Event of WorldPride 2025, enjoy free outdoor performances by The QUEENTET Project featuring chamber ensemble District5 & DC-based drag artist Tara Hoot, The National LGBTQIA+ Flute Choir, and the International Pride Orchestra Brass Ensemble.
Food trucks will be on site and don’t forget to bring your blanket or lawn chairs for the outdoor performances. Each performance in the Mansion’s music room is ticketed separately. Outdoor performances are free and open to all—no ticket or registration required.
All Day Passes provide admission to all four concerts in the Music Room. To purchase a ticket to an individual concert, see below.
Pay-what-you-can tickets include entry to the Mansion, access to community booths, composer workshops, educational programs with the BI team, and more! Please note that Music Room concert admission is not included.
Music Room Concerts
2pm
PUBLIQuartet
Applauded by The Washington Post as “a perfect encapsulation of today’s trends in chamber music,” and by The New Yorker as “independent-minded,” multi-Grammy nominated PUBLIQuartet is an improvising string quartet whose repertoire blends genres and highlights American multiculturalism. PUBLIQuartet rose on the music scene as winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild New Music/New Places award, and in 2019 garnered Chamber Music America’s prestigious Visionary Award for outstanding and innovative approaches to contemporary classical, jazz, and world chamber music. PQ’s genre-bending programs range from newly commissioned pieces to re-imaginations of classical works featuring open-form improvisations that expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet.
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4pm
Seraph Brass
In its 11th season, Seraph Brass was founded by trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden with a mission to showcase the excellence of women brass players and highlight musicians from marginalized groups, both in personnel and in programming. Winners of the American Prize in Chamber Music, the group has been praised for its “beautiful sounds" (American Record Guide), "fine playing” (Gramophone), and “staggeringly high caliber of performance” (Textura). Seraph Brass performs a diverse body of repertoire, ranging from original transcriptions to newly commissioned works and core classics. Seraph is passionate about commissioning and premiering new works, and will be releasing a new album in March of 2025 through Tower Grove Records, featuring new works for brass quintet and compositions by Jeff Scott, Reena Esmail, Kevin Day, and Kevin McKee.
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6pm
Tapestry
Tapestry was founded to create bold, conceptual programs that travel through time, weaving together a diverse range of genres and colors. The Cleveland Plain Dealer describes Tapestry as “an ensemble that plants haunting vibrations, old and new, in our ears.” Each program beckons the listener to a new time and place—“an inexhaustible cornucopia of sensual pleasures,” according to the San Diego Reader. Tapestry’s first inspirations were Hildegard von Bingen, medieval polyphony, and contemporary composers, especially women composers. Their repertoire has expanded to include impressionism, traditional music, tango, and a touch of jazz. The ensemble has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe as well as Russia, Latvia, Canada, and Colombia. Tapestry also performed under the baton of Marin Alsop with the Colorado and Cabrillo Festival Symphonies.
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8pm
Pamela Z
Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist working primarily with voice, live electronics, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live looping, she processes her voice to create complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and wireless MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. She has been commissioned to compose scores for dance, theatre, film, and chamber ensembles including Kronos Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, the Living Earth Show, Eighth Blackbird, the Bang on a Can All Stars, Julia Bullock with SF Symphony, and the LA Philharmonic New Music Group.
Buy Individual TicketsMusic Room concert tickets include admission to Mansion activities.
Mansion Schedule
About WoCo Fest
WoCo Fest 2025: Uplift is a two-day festival celebrating music by all gender-marginalized composers, taking place May 30–31 at the Mansion at Strathmore and outdoors on the Strathmore campus. As an official WorldPride Partner Event, this year’s festival showcases an eclectic lineup of LGBTQ+ and allied artists and ensembles, celebrating the voices of women and gender-marginalized composers in thrilling new ways. Friday’s opening concert will feature some of DC’s finest musicians, followed by a day of musical exhibitions, live composer workshops, outdoor performances, and transformative discussions. The festival will close out with an electrifying performance by composer/performer and media artist Pamela Z.
Boulanger Initiative and WoCo Fest 2025: Uplift is supported in part by funding from Strathmore, the Montgomery County Government and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, the Maryland State Arts Council, The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and The Alice M. Ditson Fund.
