Davóne Tines, heralded as an artist "changing what it means to be a classical singer (The New Yorker) and “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” (Los Angeles Times), is a pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. A creator, curator, and performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel, and protest songs as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity.

Tines’s first studio album, ROBESON, is released on Nonesuch Records in September 2024. Through a diverse set of repertoire ranging from classical and gospel to Broadway and Black folk music, Tines explores his connection to legendary American baritone Paul Robeson, reimagining some of the music Robeson famously sang. Tines and his band THE TRUTH premiered ROBESON live at Little Island in New York in the summer of 2024, with the West Coast and Chicago premieres taking place in the fall. Also this season, Tines joins chamber orchestra A Far Cry to perform spirituals by Harry Burleigh and a new set of songs by frequent collaborator Tyshawn Sorey.

Tines is a musician who takes full agency of his work, devising new programs and pieces from conception to performance. He reflects this ethos in his Recital No. 1: MASS, an examination of the liturgy, comparing Western European, African American, and 21st Century traditions to lay bare commonalities at the heart of our shared spiritual journeys. The program features works by J.S. Bach, Margaret Bonds, Moses Hogan, Julius Eastman, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, as well as Tines. This season, he performs a newly orchestrated version of the recital with the New World Symphony, conducted by Stéphane Denève.

Davóne Tines has premiered operas by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard, and Matthew Aucoin, and his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth with the San Francisco Symphony to Kaija Saariaho’s True Fire with the Orchestre national de France. In a similar artistic endeavor to his Recital No. 1: MASS, Tines has created two concertos for voice and orchestra: Concerto No. 1: SERMON which combines poems from Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and Maya Angelou with works by John Adams, Anthony Davis, and a piece written by Tines and Igée Dieudonné with orchestration by Matthew Aucoin; and Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM, an examination of nationhood and our collective visions of America comprising an arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Michael Schachter, text by poet Mahogany L. Browne, new works by Caroline Shaw and Tyshawn Sorey, and “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” arranged by Tines and Schachter. Tines is also the co-creator of The Black Clown, a music theater experience commissioned and premiered by The American Repertory Theater and presented at Lincoln Center.

Tines is Musical America’s 2022 Vocalist of the Year. He is Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Artist-in-Residence and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale’s first ever Creative Partner, taking part in strategic planning, programming, and working within the community. He recently served as Artist-in-Residence at Detroit Opera—an appointment that culminated in his performance in the title role of Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in the spring of 2022. Tines is featured on the Grammy-nominated world premiere recording of the opera with Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, released in October 2023 on BMOP/sound. He is a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence; the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center; and is a member of Lincoln Center’s Collider, an innovation engine for new voices at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, where he also serves as guest lecturer.