First Works has scheduled four internationally known arts groups for its 2020 winter/spring series. The first came from right here in Rhode Island, as Aurea presented “Of Nature Composed” before a packed house at the First Unitarian Church of Providence.

Artistic Director Consuelo Sherba has partnered with FirstWorks’s Earth First initiative to activate awareness and innovative thinking and to address climate-related problems.

The chamber quartet was in perfect form for the hour-long concert that melded music by Ives and others with the spoken word performed by Nigel Gore and Trinity’s Chris Turner. In addition to the words of Thoreau and others, Turner performed incredible harmonica improvisations that brought “oohs and aahs” from the audience.

Angelique Kidjo, known as “Africa’s Premiere Diva,” will perform at the Vets on February 22 at 8 p.m. The global pop superstar and her five-piece band will re-imagine the Talking Heads’ great opus, “Remain in Light.”

The following week, February 29 at 7 p.m., renowned violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, a new face in classical music, will give a performance of Redemption songs and sonatas at the First Unitarian Church. Roumain will collaborate with local music makers in a concert infused with electronic, urban and classical sounds, celebrating a worldview of civil rights for all.

Miwa Matreyek will give a public performance, “Glorious Visions in Animation,” at Providence College on March 25 at 7:30 p.m. Merging animated visions and her own moving shadow, Matreyek creates a moving art gallery of magical, spellbinding narratives, exploring connections between humans and climate change.

The series closes with Diavolo’s “Architecture in Motion: A Pure Shot of Adrenaline” at PPAC on April 24 at 7:30 p.m. Seen by over 95 million people on “America’s Got Talent,” Diavolo shatters boundaries and soars beyond the grasp of gravity.
For tickets to any and all of the events, go online at first-works.org.