Samora Pinderhughes is a composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics alongside high-level musicianship. The New York Times describes Pinderhughes as “one of the most affecting singer-songwriters today, in any genre” that “turn(s) the experience of living in community inside-out, revealing all its personal detail and tension, and giving voice to registers of pain that are commonly shared but not often articulated.”

 

Samora has collaborated with artists across boundaries and scenes including Common, Herbie Hancock, Glenn Ligon, Sara Bareilles, Robert Glasper, Simone Leigh, Daveed Diggs, Kyle Abraham, Titus Kaphar, and Lalah Hathaway. He has been mentored by Anna Deavere Smith, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, and others.

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Pinderhughes is the first-ever Art for Justice + Soros Justice Fellow, a United States Artist Fellow, a recipient of Chamber Music America’s Visionary Award, and has received awards from Creative Capital, the Kennedy Center, and Sundance. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and is currently getting his Ph.D. at Harvard University. Pinderhughes has released the musical projects The Transformations Suite, Black Spring EP, and GRIEF.

 

He is also the creator and executive & artistic director of The Healing Project, a massive multidisciplinary project which was recently awarded a $1 million grant from The Mellon Foundation to expand its work.