The Opening Doors Project, in collaboration with Old Sloop Presents and the Club Passim Folk Collective, presents a free performance and conversation with Kemp Harris and Lydia Harrell in Rockport, MA.

Kemp Harris is an artist whose music spans and transcends the genres of soul, blues, jazz, and musical theater. He has shared the stage with artists such as Koko Taylor, Livingston Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and Taj Mahal, and has composed original music for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As impressive as his music resume is, what’s even more impressive is that he accomplished all this while also working for more than 40 years as a beloved, award-winning kindergarten teacher in Newton, Massachusetts.

Lydia Harrell, a longtime collaborator of Kemp's, is an actor, vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose music blends jazz, folk, blues, and R&B. An Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, she has performed with bands and orchestras all over the world at world-class venues like the Apollo Theater. She has appeared in films like Hulu’s "Boston Strangler," theater productions like "Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert" with the Boston Pops, and recently released a new ukulele-based album of originals and standards.

The show will be hosted by Opening Doors co-founder Alastair Moock.

This program is made possible by the Mass Cultural Council, Someone Else’s Child Foundation, Antonia and Vladimer Kulaev Foundation, Nine Athens Music, Club Passim, and Filmmakers Collaborative.

Admission to the event is FREE, but we kindly welcome donations. Your support enables us to continue making our work accessible to all, thank you!