Pathways to Resilience QEP is pleased to support App State’s Arts Engagement and Cultural Resources in hosting Etienne Charles, award-winning Trinidadian trumpeter, composer and climate storyteller, on our campus during Earth Week 2026.
During his time in Boone, Etienne Charles will speak with classes across the university and connect with our community. His visit will culminate in a performance of his latest composition, Earth Tones, a multimedia jazz performance featuring original compositions that draw attention to people and regions that are, or soon will be, significantly affected by climate change. Stay tuned for details on the schedule of opportunities to learn about his work using music as a mode for understanding and communicating climate stories:
- Wednesday, April 22: class visits
- Thursday, April 23: class visits
- Friday, April 24: class visits, performance
ABOUT EARTH TONES
The Earth Tones performance, scheduled for the evening of Friday, April 24th at Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, invites us into a sensory journey that includes sounds, stories, and musical idioms from at-risk coastal communities, with images and short films of disappearing mangrove swamps, coral reefs, oyster beds, seagrass, sand dunes, and mud volcanoes.
Featuring musicians from the very communities most at risk, the performance balances blunt reality, eternal optimism, and surrealism, ultimately offering an exhortation to address climate change’s impact on our future.
We encourage you to get your tickets for this performance before they run out! Note: student tickets are just $10.
ABOUT ETIENNE CHARLES
Trinidad born Etienne Charles is a performer, composer and storyteller, who is continuously searching for untold stories and sounds with which to tell them. His lush trumpet sound, varied compositional textures and pulsating percussive grooves enable him to invoke trance, soothing and exciting listeners while referencing touchy and sometimes controversial subjects in his music.
A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow and 2022 Creative Capital Awardee, he researches his compositions by traveling to the regions on which he is focused, meeting with musicians and cultural leaders then observing and participating in rituals to be fully immersed into the cultures that he is studying. His concerts engage, enlighten, educate and enrich audiences with energized multidisciplinary performance utilizing original composition, thematic improvisation, dance, short films and spoken word to create a holistic experience.
He currently serves as Associate Professor of Studio Music and Jazz at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He holds a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University.
For more about the artist, visit etiennecharles.com.
For more about these events, contact Shea Tuberty (tubertysr@appstate.edu).