Davóne Tines is a pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. A creator, curator, and performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel, and protest songs as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity.

Tines is an artist who takes full agency of his work, often devising new programs and pieces from conception to performance. He has premiered numerous operas by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard, and Matthew Aucoin; and his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to Kaija Saariaho’s True Fire. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut performing in John Adams’ El Niño. His first studio album, ROBESOИ, released on Nonesuch Records in September 13, 2024. explores his connection to legendary American baritone Paul Robeson, reimagining some of the music Robeson famously sang.

Tines is Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Artist-in-Residence and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale’s first-ever Creative Partner. He is Musical America’s 2022 Vocalist of the Year, a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University.

Davóne Tines

November 2025

Davóne Tines and The Truth return for a second residency at ArtYard this year to develop new work inviting listeners into a world of self-reflection and catharsis. Tines and his band will build upon their reimagined MASS idea to create an alt-pop sound framed by simple guided meditations. This intimate work combines subtle strains of classical, experimental R&B, jazz, and string with delicate studio production, providing for a direct, personal, and immediate connection.

January 2025

Davóne Tines and The Truth will be in residence at ArtYard this January to hone music and material from the groundbreaking artist’s ROBESON, Recital No. 1: Mass, and other projects in the works, performing an open rehearsal at 4 PM on Saturday, Jan. 25.

DAVÓNE TINES & THE TRUTH’s new work ROBESON grapples with the legacy of a hero. Exploding the musical repertoire of Paul Robeson, Tines and his band The Truth — pianist John Bitoy and sound artist Khari Lucas — take listeners on a trip from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the floor of a Moscow hotel room in an attempt to understand an icon not through aspiring to his monumentality, but through connecting to his vulnerability.

Recital No. 1: Mass is the latest in a series of Tines’ works speaking to the African-American experience while highlighting what all humans share in common. Using Caroline Shaw’s miniature Mass (a reimagined Latin service created especially for Tines) as a framework, the experience interweaves music from the Western European classical tradition, African American spirituals, and contemporary compositions. Music of J. S. Bach reflects that composer’s strong faith background, while provocative African American composer Julius Eastman reflects on the religious conviction of another in Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc. Contemporary composer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey’s Songs for Death interpret spiritual texts through disquieting settings, never quite offering the listener deliverance. Music of Margaret Bonds and Moses Hogan also receives renewed context and perspective in this powerful exploration of spirituality and humanity.