Past Events

Celebrity Series of Boston Presents

Sandeep Das and Suhail Yusuf Khan
Soundscapes of India with Boston City Singers

February 25, 2023 at 3:00 pm

Join tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das and Suhail Yusuf Khan, who brings a rock sensibility to India’s traditional stringed sarangi, as they team up to present Soundscapes of India. We can guarantee that these two artists will present a wide-ranging concert that blends the traditional and modern, and vividly conjures the diverse landscapes, cityscapes, and cultures of India.
 

Das and Khan share the stage with students from Boston City Singers in what will be the culmination of their February vacation tabla camp, where they will spend the week learning the basics of the twin hand drums. 

Urbanity Dance's Creative Class of Urbanity Underground and Junior Apprentice dancers will perform and present new work. 

Urbanity Underground is Urbanity's second company comprised of accomplished dancers who are pursuing various professions or advanced studies, but still want to stay connected to dance at a high level. Urbanity's Junior Apprentices are talented high school students ages 14+ who are interested in pursuing a career in dance. 

The Cambridge Jazz Foundation Presents
 

The Jazz+Soul Connection

Feburary 10, 2023 at 8:00 pm

Celebrate the voice of Farayi Malek as she explores the sounds from Billie Holiday, Donny Hathway, Cannonball Adderley, and Diana Washington.

The Bridgeside Cypher Presents
 

Love & Rhythm

February 3, 2023 at 7:00 pm

Love and Rhythm will showcase talented, local RnB artists performing with a live band. Located in the Multicultural Arts Center ballroom, it will also include a "cypher" portion, where the live band will play RnB cover songs and artists can sign up to sing and or freestyle in a fluid, collaborative concert.

There will be plenty of Valentine's day themed decorations, a photo booth, refreshments, and hor dourves. This elegant event will be the perfect place to celebrate Valentine's Day early!

Juventas New Music Ensemble performs
 

Kelley Hollis: Center Stage

January 21, 2023 at 8:00 pm

Juventas Soprano Kelley Hollis headlines this rare solo concert, with a program centered on mental health and healing.

Hear Her Sing for Freedom

A Concert by Coretta Scott King
Adapted by Najee Brown

January 13 - 16, 2023

Each year, we host an annual event in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For over 30 years, we have celebrated his legacy through our Joyful Noise concert with Harlem Gospel Choir. This year, returning from a 2 year hiatus due to the pandemic, our new Artistic Director Najee Brown will be reimagining the event to focus on the legacy of Coretta Scott King, who’s role in the Civil Rights Movement is often underrepresented. Scott King presented concerts to fund the movement, and was responsible for the salaries of many of the men employed at the SCLC. In Hear Her Sing for Freedom, visitors will have the chance to experience what it might have been like to witness Coretta Scott King perform a Freedom Concert.

United Dance Presents:

The Extraordinary Nutcracker

December 9-10, 2022

Come and discover the origin story of the Nutcracker! The untold story of the Extraordinary Nutcracker by artistic director and choreographer Gianni Di Marco is an epic story ballet of love, adventure, and magic. Follow our heroine as she embarks on a magical adventure to save the love of her life. Immerse yourself in a new tradition with our holiday market, arts and crafts, and photo booth.

In this extraordinary musical pairing, Robert Schumann’s beloved Dichterliebe is intertwined with Love in the Time Of..., a brand new song cycle commissioned by BOC. 10 poets and 8 composers have created 16 new songs, each one a reflection or response to the brilliant works in Schumann’s cycle. In a fully staged narrative, this piece explores the love we aspire to and the things we must let go amidst all the promise, turmoil, wonder and heartache of the 21st century.

Tomomi Kohno

Born in Tokyo, Ms. Kohno started piano at age of 4. She has won many prestigious competitions, such as the Tokyo International Guitar Competition, Asian International guitar Competition. She is the president of The Spain-Japan Guitar Society.

Zaira Meneses

International classical guitarist, dancer, singer, and Sonja Rocho performance artist.

She is highly regarded by the international press as a leading performing artist of classical guitar. Founder and president of the Entrepreneurs' Online Academy, EFGA Music was founded in 2020 and named after her husband, world-renowned classical guitarist Elliott Fisk.

Fermata Chamber Soloists is excited to open our 5th season, featuring music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Modern and contemporary music can sometimes be a turn-off for audiences, who often feel more alienated by the sounds they hear than anything else. Join us as we bravely dive into this unique language, and uncover the powerful meaning beneath.

Poet Regie Gibson and world-funk-and-more band Atlas Soul once again join forces in a return to the Series for an afternoon of powerful words and music, featuring covers and originals, as well as Gibson’s resonant, dazzling, and thought-provoking wordplay.

Traka, the newest work from Cambridge-based Haitian choreographer Jean Appolon, means “Troubles” in Haitian Creole and explores how dance, community, and culture are pathways to healing from traumatic events. Inspired by Appolon’s own healing process after his father was murdered in Haiti’s 1991 coup, Traka uses Haitian folkloric dance and contemporary dance to depict the journey of a country and a people working through generational trauma.

Appolon teams with Haitian composer, turntablist, and Afro-futurist Val Jeanty (Val-Inc), who creates Vodou-inspired contemporary soundscapes that provide the rhythmic foundation for Appolon’s heartfelt and thought-provoking work.

Also available as a streaming performance premiering October 13, 2022 at 4pm.

Transmute is about the energy that connects us all and the soul expansion & transformation that can happen with universal love of community. One love, one light, transmuting darkness to light.

As we transmute energy for ourselves and those around us, we collectively heal humanity. Transmute brings artists together across different ages & various styles of dance, with live music, poetry, and voice. The show brings a community heart healing component in the per-formance with audience involvement and energetic healing for all. Dance styles are contemp-orary, modern, structured & contact improvisation, and ballet.

With guest artists Erica Cornejo and Carlos Molina and pre-professional dancers of Integrarte.

Flamenco a la Mexicana:

Friday, September 9, 2022 @ 8pm

In September, Mexico and Mexican people across the world commemorate Mexican Independence. However, through the heart of Mexico runs Prehispanic and Spanish blood, because Mexico is the result of a “mestizaje”, a very deep cultural mixture. Flamenco a la Mexicana is a celebration of that miscegenation of which all Mexicans are a product. It is a show created by the Mexican flamenco dancer María Aliaga, where music, costumes, dances and traditions fuse with flamenco, a Spanish art. Mexican boleros meet the chords of the Andalusian guitar, Mexican textiles turn into a flamenco dress, and La Catrina, the Mexican skull, dances flamenco. This show, created in 2014, has been presented in Mexico City and New York. September 9 at the Multicultural Arts Center will be the first time it will be presented to commemorate the Independence of Mexico, celebrating our “mestizaje”.

Mark your calendars for this rarely performed operatic gem! Composed in the late 1600s, Venus & Adonis is believed to be the earliest surviving English opera. Playful Cupid pierces his mother Venus with one of his arrows. She promptly falls in love with the beautiful youth Adonis and sends his off hunting with his comrades. Then the drama begins as Adonis is felled by a wild boar! Our opera is a fascinating window into the period and a musical gem that sparkles anew for us today.

Ekti Abhinaba Natoker Mohora (In search of a novel play) is a dark absurd comedy that reflects the state of humankind in current times. It takes us on
a spiral of stories that are repeatedly fragmented leaving one wondering what is
true. An ensemble cast of human and non-human characters create a collective collage of the despair and ludicrousness of our current life.

Off-Kendrik Presents
Ekti Abhinaba Natoker Mohora
(In search of a novel play)

Saturday, June 4, 2022, 6:30pm
Sunday, June 5, 2022, 3pm

Urbanity Dance

10th Anniversary Series

Boston Jazz United for Ukraine
A Jazz Benefit for the People of Ukraine 
Featuring Maxim Lubarsky & Special Guests 
Friday, May 13th, 2022, 7:30-9:30pm EST US

Conceived by Jay Hoffman & CJ Kelley, this event is presented by JazzBoston, the Multicultural Arts Center (MAC), and the Cambridge Community Center for the Arts (CCCA), with partial funding provided by Kjell Christiansen and Stephen Adams.

Join us for Wonderland: a Hip Hop film screening and panel conversation on Hip Hop and Placemaking. This project created by Paul Willis uses art to create a conversation about home through digital storytelling, music and community engagement.

If you attended and enjoyed the events at the Multicultural Arts Center, let us know! If there's anything you'd like to see more of, or if you have any vendor recommendations, drop us a comment on our Facebook page.