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Biography
Shana Tucker: ChamberSoul Cello & Songs
Cellist. Singer-Songwriter. Arts Advocate. Teaching Artist. Collaborator. Cultural Conduit. Shana's unique genre of ChamberSoul weaves jazz, roots, folk, acoustic pop, and a touch of R&B into melodies that echo in your head for days, engaging audiences of all ages through candid song-storytelling in performance.
A sought-after collaborator, Shana performs and records with jazz flutist/composer Nicole Mitchell, Grammy-nominated NuSoul collective The Foreign Exchange, legendary jazz saxophonist/composer Bennie Maupin, and countless others. Shana's composition and film scoring credits most recently include The Legacy Of Black Wall Street, a two-part documentary series and spotlight event on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network commemorating the 100th that tracks the rise of Black Wall Street, the 36-block economic hub in Oklahoma’s Greenwood district up until the 1921 Tulsa race massacre that destroyed this booming epicenter.
Recent North Carolina dance/cello collaborations include a duet, When We Were Queens (debuting February 2024), a multidisciplinary performance by choreographer/dancer Murielle Elizeon explores the pai(s respective relationship to ancestry, history, and generational and racial trauma through music and dance; Noula with Haitian American choreographer, Gaspard Louis (September 2022); They Are All, an exploration of living with Parkinson’s Disease, presented at American Dance Festival 2019; and Continuing To Tell, a multidisciplinary public-space performance presented by Proxemic Media that highlights the history of Civil Rights in Durham, NC.
Shortly after the release of her debut CD, SHiNE, Cirque du Soleil recruiters heard an NPR interview with Shana about her ChamberSoul songwriting and performance style, they invited her to be cellist/vocalist for their show, KÀ in Las Vegas, where she performed for five years before returning to North Carolina. Ever the citizen artist, Shana is the recipient of several grants nationwide: United Arts of Raleigh and Wake County - North Carolina and two Nevada Arts Council grants, including the prestigious Artist Fellowship for her exemplary work as a Performing Artist. Additionally, Shana has served on review panels and advisory committees for arts organizations across the country, including Chamber Music America (CMA), United Arts Council (Raleigh, NC), South Arts (Atlanta, GA), Durham Arts Council (Durham, NC) Nevada Arts Council (Carson City, NV), and NCPC ArtsMarket (Durham, NC).
A front-line advocate for arts education, Shana is an accomplished teaching artist with over 20 years’ experience with community engagement, workshops, lesson planning and artist residency facilitation. As a social justice activist, Shana recently stepped down from her role as Executive Director for Kidznotes, an El Sistema-inspired free after school “community through orchestra” organization for K-12 students in Title I schools in Durham, NC. -- www.shanatucker.com
