Cat Calls: A Feminist Cabaret with Joshua Espinoza and Heidi Ackerman
Cat Calls: A Feminist Cabaret humorously puts on full display music written by men for women to singsongs so catchy we forget to cringe. Heidi Ackerman intertwines the songs with readings from her favorite authors and personal anecdotes. The set ranges in style from Sarah Vaughan standards to modern Cecile McLorin Salvant/Sullivan Fortner arrangements. Heidi’s sultry voice and comedic timing is perfectly paired with Joshua Espinoza at the keys. Together, they have you listening to these lyrics as if for the first time. Join them for a memorable night of laughter and song.
Baltimore based musician, Heidi Ackerman is a sought-after conductor, clinician, and vocalist. Her drive to impact lives through shared music led to a concert series at the Maryland Correctional Women’s Facility. As a soloist, she graced the stages of Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, Severance Hall with the Cleveland Pops, The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra, and The Henry Ford with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Latino-American pianist Joshua Espinoza blends and bends genres into a style that is immediately relatable yet difficult to define. Fusing the spontaneity of jazz with soaring folk melodies, shimmering impressionism, and head bopping backbeats, Espinoza explores the art of musical storytelling with the refinement of classical chamber music but the freedom of jazz. Espinoza has performed professionally with jazz luminaries such as Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, Miho Hazama, Jihye Lee, Paul Bollenback, John D’earth, Mike Pope, Chuck Redd and Kris Funn.