Making Home Saturday Series: Building Home (Session 1)

Three capes hang from the ceiling of a gallery installation space. The ceiling has ornate crown molding. The image is bordered in light purple. Red texts reads Making Home at the bottom. In black text, it reads Smithsonian Design Triennial.

Making Home Saturday Series: Building Home (Session 1)
A musical performance by AMOC*’s Davóne Tines with Brent Michael Davids and a special guest 
April 26, 2025 – 11:00 A.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Experience a live performance by American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*)’s Davóne Tines with Lenape Center’s Director of Music & Language Brent Michael Davids (Mohican/Munsee-Lenape) and a special guest. The performance will be held atop of “Living Room: Orlean, Virginia”— Tines’s installation with Hugh Hayden and Zack Winokur for Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial.

This program is being held as part of the Making Home Saturday Series: Building Home, a day-long, multi-format public program and celebration taking place across the museum’s galleries and garden involving several Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial designers and architects. Through food, song, storytelling, and conversation, the participants will share the cultural perspectives, models of environmental advocacy, and systems of Indigenous building they explore in their Making Home commissions. Learn more about the other Sessions.

Register to attend.

About the Speakers

Black and white logo spelling A M O C with an asterisk at the end.
American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) is broadly recognized as one of the most consequential companies, producing and presenting some of the most significant interdisciplinary art. Founded in 2017 by composer Matthew Aucoin and director, choreographer, and dancer Zack Winokur, AMOC* was established with the mission of building and sharing a body of collaborative work. The company is comprised of 17 of today’s most sought-after composers, choreographers, directors, vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, writers, and producers, all united by a commitment to collective authorship and long-term, generative relationships with other creators. AMOC* connects artists and audiences in visceral and surprising ways.
A person with dark rimmed glasses smiles. They wear a black top hat with a colorful band. Pink flowers and green foliage take up the back and foreground.
Brent Michael Davids (Mohican/Munsee-Lenape) is a professional composer, and a music warrior for native equity and parity, especially in concert music where there is little indigenous influence. Davids places Native voices front and center. He originated and co-founded the award-winning Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP), championing indigenous youth to compose their own written music. He uses indigenous instruments, including handmade quartz flutes, and pens performable notations that are themselves visual works of art. Davids is co-director of the Lenape Center in Manhattan, and is enrolled in the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. His composer career spans nearly five decades, with countless awards and commissions from America’s most celebrated organizations and ensembles.
A person with short, dark hair faces right.
Davóne Tines is a pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. A creator, curator, and performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel, and protest songs as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity. Tines is an artist who takes full agency of his work, often devising new programs and pieces from conception to performance. He has premiered numerous operas by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard, and Matthew Aucoin; and his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to Kaija Saariaho’s True Fire. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut performing in John Adams’ El Niño. His first studio album, ROBESOИ, released on Nonesuch Records on September 13, 2024, explores his connection to legendary American baritone Paul Robeson, reimagining some of the music Robeson famously sang.

Accessibility & What to Expect

Format: This is a live musical performance. The event requires registration and is standing room only—capacity is strictly first come first served.

About the space: This performance will take place in Cooper Hewitt’s gallery space on the first floor of the museum. It is fully wheelchair accessible. Space requires registration and is limited, first come first served and standing room only. There is an accessible restroom on the Ground floor. Read more about accessibility at Cooper Hewitt. 

Accommodations: If we can provide any accessibility services to support your participation, email us at CHEducation@si.edu or let us know when you register. Please make your request as far in advance as possible—preferably at least ten days before the program date.  

Special Thanks

Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial is presented in collaboration with Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This project received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum; the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the National Museum of the American Latino; the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center; and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Generous support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Support is also provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; Edward and Helen Hintz; re:arc institute; the Keith Haring Foundation; the Lemberg Foundation; Maharam; and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.