Jens Lekman performing with youth orchestras on spring U.S. tour

Jens Lekman has announced a spring North American tour that will have him performing with local youth orchestras in many cities. Here’s more from Jens:

The idea for this started in 2015 when I was invited to Cincinnati to perform a show with a group of young string players from the organisation MYCincinnati. The show ended up being one of the most memorable moments of my whole career. I’ve always been drawn to the energy and playfulness that is present when a young person is still exploring and mastering music. Whether that energy and playfulness results in punk, hiphop or classical music doesn’t matter, it’s always there. As someone who’s been playing more or less professionally for over 15 years I often have to go back to this youthful source to remember and learn. To let the students become my teachers.

I kept dreaming of playing with MYCincinnati again and after talking to their teacher Eddy Kwon we came up with the idea of expanding it to a US tour, playing with local El Sistema inspired youth orchestras in every corner of the USA. From New York to California, Illinois to Texas. After a whole year of planning, me and Eddy are finally ready to announce this tour. I’m not sure what I can say apart from that you really don’t want to miss this.

MYCincinnati’s Eddy Kwon will be in Jens’ band for the whole tour and you can watch a video Jens, Eddy and the band rehearsing and playing some Lekman favorites (“Maple Leaves,” “Opposite of Hallelujah” and more) below.

The cities where he’ll be performing with youth orchestras are Providence, NYC, DC, Raleigh, Cincinnati, Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, and Austin. The NYC show is at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 17 with Orchestrating Dreams: American Youth Orchestra. Tickets for MHOW go on sale Friday, February 14 at 10 AM with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (2/12) at noon.

All tour dates are listed below.

Jens Lekman – 2020 Tour Dates
April 14 – Providence, RI – Fete Lounge (with Community MusicWorks)
April 15 – New Haven, CT – Space Ballroom
April 17 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg (with Orchestrating Dreams: American Youth Orchestra)
April 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
April 22 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre (with DC Youth Orchestra Program)
April 24 – Raleigh, NC – Kings (with Kidznotes)
April 26 – Cincinnati, OH – This Time Tomorrow Festival at Contemporary Arts Center (with MYCincinnati)
April 28 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall (with Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra)
April 29 – Milwaukee, WI – The Backroom @ Colectivo
April 30 – Minneapolis, MN – The Cedar Cultural Center
May 4 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater (with Bravo Youth Orchestras)
May 5 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
May 7 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
May 9 – Los Angeles, CA – Aratani Theater (with YOLA)
May 11 – Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom
May 14 – Austin, TX – Antone’s (with Austin Soundwaves)
May 15 – Dallas, TX – Blue Light
May 17 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
May 18 – Columbus, OH – The Basement