Listening Sessions at Duke

Thursday nights | the Ark

A space to listen to and move through music together

Programming Schedule

-pressing play at 8pm-

-Upcoming-

Session XXXVIII: March 26, 2025 (Wednesday night)

  • Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal

  • Tyler, The Creator, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

-Past-

Session XXXVII: March 6, 2025

  • Burna Boy, Outside

  • Fela Kuti, Zombie

Session XXXVI: February 20, 2025

  • Aphex Twin, Drukqs

Session XXXV: February 13, 2025

  • Max Richter, From Sleep

Session XXXIV: January 29, 2025 - Dance Party Edition!

  • Kaytranada, 2011 Montreal Boiler Room

Session XXXIII: January 22, 2025

  • Brian Harnetty, Shawnee, Ohio

  • Julia Wolfe, Anthracite Fields

Session XXXII: January 15, 2025

  • Ms. Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

  • FKA twigs, MAGDALENE

Session XXXI: December 2, 2024

  • Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

  • Prince, Purple Rain

Session XXX: November 25, 2024

  • Devin Maxwell, Timebending

  • Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell

Session XXIX: November 18, 2024

  • Keeley Forsyth, The Hollow

  • Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago

Session XXVIII: November 11, 2024

  • Kate Soper, Ipsa Dixit

Session XXVII: October 28, 2024

  • Burial, Untrue

  • Franz Schubert, Death and the Maiden

Session XXVI: October 21, 2024

  • Dua Saleh, I SHOULD CALL THEM

  • Nilüfer Yanya, My Method Actor

Session XXV: October 7, 2024

  • Camarón de la Isla, La leyenda del tiempo

  • C. Tangana, El Madrileño

Session XXIV: September 30, 2024

  • Sun Ra, The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

  • Henry Thomas, Texas Worried Blues

Session XXIII: September 23, 2024

  • Charmaine Lee, KNVF

  • Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation

Session XXII: September 16, 2024

  • Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer (film)

  • Tierra Whack, Whack World (visual album)

Session XXI: September 9, 2024

  • Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Wild God

  • Cocteau Twins, Heaven or Las Vegas

Session XX: September 2, 2024

  • John Coltrane, One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note (disc 1)

  • T.M. Krishna, Sheik Mahaboob Subhani, and Kaleeshabi Mahaboob, Jagadodharana - Ragam Kapi

  • Bernard Woma, Live at the Pito Bar

  • *guest curated by Jake Richter

Session XIX: April 21, 2024

  • Claude Debussy, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

  • Pink Floyd, The Wall

  • Run-DMC, Raising Hell

Session XVIII: March 25, 2024

  • Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues

  • Portishead, Roseland NYC Live

Session XVII: March 18, 2024

  • Patti Smith, Horses



Info for Attendees

Session XVI: March 4, 2024

  • Tobias Picker and Konzert und Theater St. Gallen, Lili Elbe

Session XV: February 26, 2024

  • Bauhaus, In the Flat Field

  • Courtney Bryan, Requiem

  • Brìghde Chaimbeul, Carry Them With Us

Session XIV: February 19, 2024

  • Phill Niblock, Young Person’s Guide to Phill Niblock

Session XIII: February 5, 2024

  • Silvana Estrada, Marchita

  • Sade, Lovers Rock

Session XII: January 29, 2024

  • Federico García Lorca, selected poetry readings

  • Townes Van Zandt, Townes Van Zandt

  • Chavela Vargas, La Luna Grande: Homenaje a Federico García Lorca

Session XI: January 17, 2024

  • Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives

Session X: January 10, 2024

  • Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG

  • Beyoncé, Renaissance

Session IX: December 7, 2023

  • Kate Bush, The Ninth Wave

  • Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 9

Session VIII: November 29, 2023

  • Lankum, False Lankum

  • Lisa O’Neill, All Of This Is Chance

Session VII: November 14, 2023

  • Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily, Love in Exile

  • Caroline Polachek, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

Session VI: November 9, 2023

  • Saul Williams, Neptune Frost

    • (film screening)

Session V: November 2, 2023

  • Raven Chacon, Live from Alcatraz and Voiceless Mass

  • Parchman Prison Prayer, Some Mississippi Sunday Morning

Session IV: October 26, 2023

  • Cornelius Cardew and The Scratch Orchestra, The Great Learning (Paragraphs 2 and 7)

  • Brian Eno, Another Green World

Session III: October 19, 2023

  • Diamanda Galás, The Litanies of Satan

  • Béla Bartók, Bluebeard’s Castle

Session II: October 12, 2023

  • SOPHIE, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides

  • Julius Eastman, Feminine

Session I: September 10, 2023

  • Éliane Radigue, Trilogie de la Mort

  • Facilitated by MFA-EIP student Indigo Cook

  • Every Thursday evening at 8pm, unless otherwise noted

  • Programming typically lasts about 2 hours. Come for the first five minutes, the last five, or any duration in between

  • The Ark is located on East Campus at 14 Epworth Dorm Lane

  • Listen in the way that feels best for you - sitting, walking, dancing, lying facedown on the ground - and be respectful of the choices others make

  • Programming announced here and on our Instagram account, @DukeListeningSessions

    • (recommendations always welcome!)

  • The Ark is an ADA accessible building by entering on the bottom floor and taking the elevator up to the main floor

  • Music and lighting can range in volume and intensity. Please reach out if you would like to attend and need any sensory accommodations

  • Contact indigo.cook@duke.edu with any questions