Gateways Music Festival’s 2026 Gateways Spring Festival honors the Festival’s visionary founder, pianist and educator Armenta Hummings Dumisani, in celebration of her 90th birthday on June 27. Dumisani, a hidden figure in both Black and Women’s history whose leadership built one of the most vital communities for Black classical musicians in America, founded the festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the festival will return this April. The 2026 Gateways Spring Festival is presented in association with the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music.
MAKING MAGIC WITH DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM ON FIREBIRD
The spring season launches with a historic first: the Gateways Festival Orchestra, the Festival’s flagship ensemble comprised of 58 Black professional classical musicians drawn from leading symphony orchestras, elite conservatory faculties and the international freelance community, will perform Igor Stravinsky’s iconic score for FIREBIRD live for Dance Theatre of Harlem’s acclaimed production, April 16–19 at New York City Center. The collaboration marks a rare and significant artistic convergence between two legacy institutions — the musicians’ collective artistry elevating Stravinsky’s masterpiece with cultural resonance and depth, amplifying the power and brilliance of DTH’s dancers. Renowned award-winning conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson will conduct the Orchestra on April 16, 18 and 19. Tania León, Pulitzer Prize-winning conductor, composer and first music director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, will conduct the Orchestra on April 17.
THE 2026 GATEWAYS SPRING FESTIVAL: A TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMING
In Winston-Salem, the 2026 Gateways Spring Festival will thread legacy and community into five days of artistic programming and events anchored by Gateways in Celebration, a concert honoring Dumisani’s singular contributions and featuring the Gateways Chamber Orchestra and Brass Collective, with performances by Amadi Azikiwe, Marcus Thompson, Damien Sneed and Jas Ogiste. Included will be works by Black composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Margaret Bonds and George Walker as well as Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This program embodies the Festival’s ethos: bridging generations, illuminating lineage and celebrating artistry shaped by heritage and lived experience.
Throughout the week, the Festival will present free public programming designed to inspire audiences of all ages. This includes Young Musicians Institute: Brass Day, a high-impact community workshop led by the Gateways Brass Collective; Masterclasses for strings, brass and piano at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; and a piano recital with Damien Sneed, whose multifaceted career as an Emmy-winning conductor, composer, pianist and professor of music at Howard University has earned recognition across classical, operatic and interdisciplinary circles.
Additional festival offerings include the Dr. Paul J. Burgett Lecture and Community Conversation, led this year by National Association of Negro Musicians’ 2025 Competition winner Mira Walker, Gateways Brass Collective in concert, and The Family Dinner: A Gateways Reunion, an intimate gathering celebrating the community of artists and supporters first envisioned by Dumisani. The Festival also launches with a pre-festival livestream, Prelude to Spring, featuring archival performances by Sneed, Rochelle Sennet, David Berry and Dumisani herself.
MORE THAN AN ORCHESTRA
Groundbreaking from its inception, Gateways Music Festival has stood as a powerful testament to the living tradition of Black artistry in classical music and to the enduring fellowship that sustains it. Founded in 1993 by Dumisani, a concert pianist, as a space where Black classical musicians could gather in affirmation, artistry and shared culture, Gateways has grown into one of the nation’s leading organizations dedicated to celebrating and amplifying Black classical artistry. For more than thirty years, it has brought together generations of artists — not only to perform at the highest level, but to enlighten, collaborate, connect and inspire while honoring the composers and traditions that shape their artistic lives. By convening this community year after year — and welcoming audiences of all backgrounds into that shared expression — Gateways affirms the essential and ongoing contributions of Black artists across the classical music landscape.
“At Gateways, Black culture and classical music are not in conversation from a distance — they’re inseparable — and you don’t just hear it, you feel it. It moves through the room, connecting people across time, tradition and lived experience,” said Gateways Music Festival President and Artistic Director Alex Laing. “That spirit began with Miss Armenta — her vision, her insistence on excellence and her belief that Black classical artists deserve a home in this music. We are honored to pay tribute to her because every time Gateways convenes, we’re carrying her legacy forward, building community and showing what Black artistry makes possible across generations.”
ADDITIONAL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Taking Center Stage at 2026 ASTA/SAA National Conference
In late February, another highlight was serving as collaborative artist at the collocated American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) Conferences, the premier annual event for string educators and performers; Gateways Music Festival Artistic Director Alex Laing delivered a keynote address and the Gateways Chamber Players was featured in two showcase concerts performing works by Coleridge-Taylor and featuring GRAMMY-nominated violist Jordan Bak, Harlem Quartet founding member violinist Melissa White and more.
Gateways Brass Collective: National Highlights
A resident ensemble of Gateways Music Festival and the nation’s only all-Black professional brass quintet, the Gateways Brass Collective continues its trajectory of powerful artistry and national impact. This season, the Collective will appear at the HBCU National Band and Orchestra Directors’ Consortium Convention, the International Trumpet Guild Conference and Carnegie Hall Citywide, in addition to its featured Spring Festival concert in Winston-Salem.
Drawn from leading orchestras and ensembles across the country, GBC’s members — Herbert Smith, Courtney Jones, Larry Williams, Isrea Butler and Jerome Stover — are celebrated for their dazzling technique, stylistic versatility and dynamic presence on stages nationwide.
For more information about Gateways, visit: www.gatewaysmusicfestival.org.
For details about the 2026 Gateways Spring Festival, including tickets, visit: https://www.gatewaysmusicfestival.org/spring-festival-2026.