Big Ears Festival Shares 2025 Initial Artist Lineup: Béla Fleck, Esperanza Spalding, Les Claypool, Waxahatchee, Sun Ra Arkestra with Yo La Tengo and More
Big Ears Festival has shared the initial artist lineup for its 2025 staging, set to return to downtown Knoxville, Tenn. on March 27-30. With its forthcoming presentation, the beloved Volunteer State institution will issue yet another eclectic program of top-tier, boundary-breaking artists without the strictures of genre, amounting to nearly 200 concerts across more than 14 venues. ANOHNI & the Johnsons, Esperanza Spalding, Waxahatchee, Taj Mahal, Meshell Ndegeocello and Tortoise are among the top-billed names in the festival’s staggering roll of iconic acts.
In its typical, endlessly innovative fashion, the full scale of Big Ears’ 2025 lineup is almost too titanic and timely to express. Many of the headline acts offered 2024 projects sure to be recognized among the year’s finest, including Jessica Pratt’s Here in the Pitch, Cassandra Jenkins’ My Light, My Destroyer, Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood, Vijay Iyer’s Compassion (with artist in residence Tyshawn Sorey) and Spalding’s self-titled duo project with Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento.
Others still will return to the festival with new projects in process, including Béla Flecks’s banjo-harp-drum trio, Bill Frisell’s fresh six-piece string ensemble, Arooj Aftab’s Night Reign solo material and Ndegeocello’s operatic No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin. The lineup also boasts longtime figureheads like Tortoise, Rufus Wainwright, Ambrose Akinmusire, Les Claypool, Nels Cline, Taj Mahal, Sun Ra Arkestra and Yo La Tengo (who will perform together and separately) and ANOHNI & the Johnsons, who return after helping to launch the festival in 2009.
Big Ears 2025 will also host eight landmark special programs. Highlights within this high-profile cohort include a 50th-anniversary celebration of Philip Glass’ Music in 12 Parts to be performed by the Phillip Glass Ensemble, krautrock icon Michael Rother’s presentation of The Music of NEU! & Harmonia and the North American premiere of Jonny Greenwood’s daring eight-hour pipe organ composition 133 Years of Reverb, in the hands of the James McVinnie and Eliza McCarthy, two of the instrument’s foremost contemporary voices.
This litany hardly scratches the surface of what Big Ears Festival has to offer–and still further performances will be added as the event approaches. An exclusive presale for returning attendees will open tomorrow, Sept. 11 at 9 a.m. ET, with a general on-sale following on this Thursday, Sept. 12 at 9 a.m. ET. For tickets and more information, visit bigearsfestival.org.
Read on for the complete list of artists booked for Big Ears 2025.
Big Ears Festival Full 2025 Artist Lineup (Alphabetical):
Adam Rudolph’s Sunrise Quartet * Adam Rudolph’s Hu Vibrational * Adam Rudolph & Tyshawn Sorey * [Ahmed] * Alabaster DePlume * Alan Sparhawk * Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves * Amaro Freitas Trio * Ambrose Akinmusire: Honey from a Winter’s Stone * Ambrose Akinmusure (Solo) * ANOHNI and the Johnsons * Anoushka Shankar * Antipop Consortium * Arooj Aftab * Asha Puthli * Astrid Sonne * Axiom 5 * Barry Altschul’s 3 Dom Factor * Beak> * Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sánchez Trio * Bia Ferreira * Bill Frisell: In My Dreams * Brìghde Chaimbeul * Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino * Carlos Niño & Friends * Cassandra Jenkins * Chanel Beads * Chuck Johnson * Claire Chase * Clarice Jensen * clipping. * Cowboy Sadness * DakhaBrakha * Dan Weiss Even Odds Trio * David Grubbs * Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn * Dedicated Men of Zion * EMEL * esperanza spalding * eucademix (Yuka Honda) * Explosions In The Sky * Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG * Fieldwork (Vijay Iyer / Steve Lehman / Tyshawn Sorey) * Flore Laurentienne * Free Form Funky Freqs (Jamaaladeen Tacuma / Vernon Reid / Calvin Weston) * Helado Negro * Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly MESTIZX * Immanuel Wilkins’ Blues Blood * Jeff Parker ETA IVtet * Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade * Jessica Pratt * Joan as Police Woman * Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet with Julian Lage, Santi Debriano, and Will Calhoun * Joel Harrison’s Free Country * Joseph Keckler * Josh Johnson * Joy Guidry: AMEN * Jules Reidy * Julia Holter * June McDoom * Kahil El’Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble * Kalia Vandever * Kelly Moran * Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir * Kokayi * Kris Davis Trio featuring Robert Hurst & Jonathan Blake * Lankum * Lara Somogyi * Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz * Luke Stewart Silt Trio * Mabe Fratti * Macie Stewart * Magic Tuber Stringband * Maria Chavez + Victoria Shen + Mariam Rezaei * Marisa Anderson * Marissa Nadler * Mark Guiliana * Maruja * Mary Lattimore * Meshell Ndegeocello: No More Water – The Gospel of James Baldwin * Michael Hurley * Mike Reed’s Separatist Party featuring Ben LaMar Gay, Bitchin Bajas & Marvin Tate * ML Buch * Modney * múm * Nanocluster (Immersion | SUSS) * Nels Cline: Concentrik Quartet * The Nels Cline Singers * Peni Candra Rini * Phantom Orchard * Phil Cook * R.B. Morris & William Wright: The Mockingbird * Rachika Nayar * Rich Ruth * Rufus Wainwright * Sam Bush Band * Shelley Hirsch * SML * Squanderers * Steve Coleman and Five Elements * Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner: The Music of Anthony Braxton * Steven Schick * Steve Roach * Still House Plants * Sun Ra Arkestra * Sun Ra Arkestra & Yo La Tengo * Sunny War * Susan Alcorn * Sylvie Courvoisier Chimaera * Taj Mahal * Tara Clerkin Trio * Tarta Relena * Tessa Lark, Joshua Roman & Edgar Meyer * Tigran Hamasyan: The Bird of a Thousand Voices * Tilt * Tindersticks * Tortoise * Tyshawn Sorey, King Britt & Friends featuring Melz & Meshell Ndegeocello * Tyshawn Sorey Trio * Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith * Water Damage * Waxahatchee * William Basinski * Yaya Bey * Yo La Tengo * Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion * Zeena Parkins
Special Programming (Alphabetical):
Across the Horizon: Ambient & Americana Soundscapes
Curated by Bob Holmes & SUSS
Blacktronika: Afrofuturism in Electronic Music
Curated by King Britt
Jonny Greenwood’s 133 Years of Reverb (North American Premiere)
Performed by James McVinnie & Eliza McCarthy
Kate Soper’s Ipsa Dixit
Performed by Wet Ink Ensemble
Michael Rother: The Music of NEU! & Harmonia
Philip Glass Music in Twelve Parts (50th Anniversary)
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Tyshawn Sorey: Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)
Wadada Leo Smith: CREATE
RedKoral Quartet • Wadada Leo Smith Quartet • Orange Wave Electric • Revolutionary Love & More
