ASIAN ARTISTS

At Harlem Stage, we believe that artists of color is an expansive category that encompasses performers with roots from all parts of the world, including the Asian diaspora. An integral part of our mission is to respect, represent, and draw attention to the diverse community around us that makes Harlem and the greater New York area such a significant cultural hub that always maintains the attention of the rest of the world — especially in regard to performing arts. 

Asian artists have always been an integral part of the evolving music and dance culture of America, with many artists getting their initial start in the New York area. Harlem Stage is proud to provide a platform that celebrates the contributions Asian artists continue to make to the world.

From the sounds of traditional music to today’s contemporary genres, the profound influence and persistent presence of Asian Artists is impossible to ignore. Harlem Stage continues to host an array of talented Asian musical artists who have blazed their own trails across several styles while reinventing others. This includes jazz percussionist and tabla player Sameer Gupta and jazz pianists like Helen Sung and the award-winning Vijay Iyer, himself a native of New York.

From the Archives Spotlight:
Vijay Iyer Trio Jazz Shrines Concert

Harlem Stage presented the Vijay Iyer Trio in the spring of 2014 as part of the Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival, where audiences were dazzled by the critically acclaimed ensemble.

Harlem Stage routinely hosts a wide range of dance performances, including E-Moves, our long-running signature dance series for over 20 years that showcases choreographers of color who work across the spectrum of contemporary idioms in their celebration of movement and message. 

Past performers include the likes of Parijat Desai and her dance theatre, who often uses dance to cleverly spotlight the convergence of Indian and American culture, and 2022 Harlem Stage Emerging Artists winner Sun Kim, a distinguished dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and dance educator whose work spans everything from Cirque Du Soleil to commercial work with companies like Nike and Gap.

A first-generation Indian American artist and educator, Sameer Gupta is one of the only percussionists in the world to represent American jazz on a drumset and Indian classical music on tabla, creating a uniquely innovative style that merges both traditional and improvisational methods. Skilled in performing everything from bebop to avant-garde jazz and European classical percussion to North Indian classical tabla, Gupta continues to create and perform music from an authentic multi-cultural perspective that bridges numerous continents.

A longtime resident of Brooklyn, Gupta actively performs, curates, produces, and teaches through local institutions such as the Outside (In)dia Series (presented by India Center Foundation), Carnegie Hall’s Global Encounters, and Ragas Live Festival. He is a co-founder of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a nonprofit musicians' collective that creates cross-cultural understanding through the lens of South Asian classical music, and Raga Kids, an Indian music for toddlers education program. Gupta’s educative experience also includes facilitating workshops on Indian music and crossover drumming styles at The Jazzschool in Berkeley, California and Berklee College of Music in Boston. 

His performance and recording credits include working with artists such as Harry Belafonte, The Supplicants, Marc Cary Focus Trio, Casey Benjamin, Martha Redbone, Awa Sangho, Falu Shah, Rez Abbasi, Kiran Ahluwalia, Marc Cary, Wallace Roney, Karsh Kale, Pandit Krishna Bhatt, and Jason Samuels Smith.

Learn more about Sameer Gupta at his LinkTr.ee site.

Harlem Stage continues to host an array of diverse performances from visionary artists of color. Stay up to date on upcoming live and digital performances by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.

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