Image credit: Richard Dumas

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Join us for this Artist Salon, a concert and conversation that explores shared themes between MoAD’s current exhibition UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s March 2026 concert program Pearls of Sorrow. 

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MoAD’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs Key-Jo Lee, and GRAMMY-nominated countertenor Reginald Mobley will lead an insightful panel discussion that explores how musicians draw inspiration from visual art (and vice versa).

Mobley will also sing excerpts from the upcoming Pearls of Sorrow program with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, guiding listeners through the program’s blend of Baroque works and African American spirituals. Keyboardist, composer, and conductor Henry Lebedinsky will accompany Mobley from the keyboard and also join the panel to discuss the orchestral arrangements he has prepared for the Pearls of Sorrow performances.

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The evening concludes with a Q&A, offering the audience a chance to engage directly with the artists. Light bites and refreshments will be provided. If you are a ticket holder for any of the three Pearls of Sorrow concerts with Reginald Mobley on March 13-15, 2026 you are eligible for free admission to this program at MoAD.

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American countertenor Reginald Mobley is globally renowned for his purity of tone and deft interpretation of baroque, classical and modern repertoire, leading an award-winning career on both sides of the Atlantic. His debut solo album Because released in June 2023 on Alpha Classics earned raves reviews, winning both the Opus Klassik and the Edison Klassiek, while also garnering a GRAMMY® Award nomination. The Chicago Reader keenly heralded him as “Curator, musical code-switcher, YouTube sensation: Reginald Mobley is a countertenor for our time.”

An advocate for diversity in music and its programming, Reginald became the first ever Programming Consultant for the Handel & Haydn Society following several years of leading H&H in its community engagement concerts entitled Every Voice. He holds the position of Visiting Artist for Diversity Outreach with Apollo’s Fire and has served as Artistic Advisor at the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Reginald is also leading a research project in the United Kingdom funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to uncover music by composers from diverse backgrounds, currently working on the music of Charles Ignatius Sancho.

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Key Jo Lee (@keyjolee) is chief of curatorial affairs and public programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. In this role, Lee oversees the strategic direction for the museum’s exhibitions and programs; leads globally on identifying and promoting emerging artists from the African diaspora; and works to expand MoAD’s reach and influence locally, nationally, and internationally.

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She is responsible for the overall management and execution of the museum’s curatorial vision, including its exhibitions, publications, and public and educational programs, and plays an important role in the organization’s outreach, communications, and digital strategy. Lee has a master’s degree from and is PhD candidate in History of Art and African American Studies at Yale University.

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Her first book, Perceptual Drift: Black Art and an Ethics of Looking, was published by Yale University Press and The Cleveland Museum of Art in January 2023.

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Hailed by The Miami Herald for his “superb continuo… brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” historical keyboardist, composer, and conductor Henry Lebedinsky has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, Sonoma Bach, and the Cantata Collective, among others. Recent conducting engagements include the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Sonoma Bach’s Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. As part of a career built on collaboration, he serves as co-Artistic Director of the Bay Area’s GRAMMY-nominated AGAVE and, with Stephen Stubbs, as co-Artistic Director of Seattle’s Pacific MusicWorks from 2018-2023. With countertenor Reginald L. Mobley, he has introduced listeners on three continents to music by Black composers from Baroque to modern, including recent appearances at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and Festival Printemps Musical des Alizés in Morocco. In 2014, he founded Seattle’s Early Music Underground, which brought Baroque music to brewpubs, wineries, and other places where people gather, and presenting it in multimedia formats which both entertain and educate.

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This event is presented in collaboration with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale

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