Shining a Light Through Music

Just as music exists to connect us, Iris exists to build on those shared connections. We partner with different community groups to use music as a tool to foster conversations and deepen our connection to each other and our common interests.

4

CHAMBER CONCERT SERIES TO REACH ACROSS MEMPHIS

10,000+

PEOPLE REACHED EACH SEASON

This Season’s Events

SMALL BUSINESS SERIES

Building on the success of the first season, Iris will partner with even more small businesses this season to reach more of the Mid-South, including newcomers Inspire Cafe in Binghampton and Sweet LaLa’s in East Memphis, and returning partners Cafe Noir in the Edge District and Music Box in Germantown. All events are either $20 or pay-what-you wish to encourage broad participation.

RECOMPOSED: ELENA URIOSTE

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Wrapping up our residency with Baptist Centers for Good Grief will be violinist Urioste performing Max Richter’s Recomposed with the Iris strings. This exhilarating restructuring of Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons will be an uplifting concert of music and life reimagined.

Past Meaning Projects

AWADAGIN PRATT: BLACK IN AMERICA

Iris Collective engaged with world-renowned pianist Awadagin Pratt to bring Black in America, his film about personal experiences with racial profiling, to Memphis. The film was accompanied by Pratt and Iris musicians and ended with a panel discussion facilitated by the National Civil Rights Museum. 

ALPHA OMEGA VETERANS SERVICES

Local veterans workshopped their own interpretation of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale with Iris musicians and delivered their creative responses on the GPAC state to the new music inspired by their responses.

  • "Thanks for the ears for the voices rarely heard."

    — KEVIN FERRELL, U.S. ARMY, ALPHA OMEGA VETERAN SERVICES

  • "We are so pleased with the Iris Fellows. Their talents and their interaction with our residents across campus have shown that music really is the common language."

    —DIRECTOR OF LIFE ENRICHMENT, TREZEVANT MANOR