Tuesdays on the Terrace | Tromblau & Friends
August 12, 20255:30 pm - 8:00 pm
This event is free, but capacity is limited. Reserve a Fast Pass for expedited entry—available soon!
Tromblau & Friends, The California Clipper, Mar 20, 2024. Emma Blau (trombone), Dakarai Barclay (Trumpet), Alejandro Salazar (Drums), Carmani Edwards (Bass). Photo: Yurrrtdottv.
About the Event
Summer Tuesdays come alive on the MCA terrace with free concerts highlighting artists from Chicago’s internationally renowned music community. Enjoy live music while relaxing on the lawn with your own picnic, or savor snacks and drinks available for purchase. Then head inside to catch the MCA’s summer exhibitions—we’re open late on Tuesdays and free for Illinois residents.
This week, trombonist and composer Emma Blau brings Tromblau & Friends to the MCA terrace, exploring the intersection of Jewish music and Black American music. An effective performer and creator, Blau blends jazz, prayer, and improvisation to craft compositions that challenge boundaries and celebrate freedom. With Tromblau & Friends, her Chicago-based collective, she reimagines tradition through sound, creating music that is both rooted and innovative.
About the Artist
Emma Blau, “Tromblau,” is a Chicago-based trombonist, composer, DJ, and Jewish educator born and raised in New York City. She graduated from The Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University where she studied under Vincent Gardener and Tom Garling. In May 2022, she created Tromblau & Friends, a collective playing her original compositions inspired by Black American music and Jewish music and liturgy (avodah). Her compositions combine freedom, prayer, and play to create alternate realities that seek to protest the mundanity of oppression and suppression. Tromblau & Friends performs regularly and is featured among many venues across the Chicagoland area, recently including renowned Marvin Tate’s Y Theater. In 2024, she was the Music Director for Chicago Tap Theater’s production For All We Know, choreographed by Sterling Harris. Alongside food justice organizer and DJ Nick Davis, aka nick2bomb, Blau also cohosts a jam session, “The Playdate,” where attendees are encouraged to access their imagination through jazz, house, disco, and hip-hop. She has performed with musicians such as Rob Mazurek, William Parker, Teddy Campbell, and Shenel Johns in venues such as Birdland and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York and Oliver’s Jazz Bar in London. More information on upcoming shows and how to play with Emma can be found on Instagram: @tromblau.
Funding
Tuesdays on the Terrace is presented by NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago.
Tuesdays on the Terrace is made possible in part by a generous gift from Luminarts Cultural Foundation.
