MAE.SUN

Wed, Mar 25

$30 TICKETS | ALL AGES In the luminous world of MAE.SUN (aka Hailey Niswanger), music is a sacred collaboration with the divine. Through saxophones, clarinets, flutes, piano, and vocals, she orchestrates sonic landscapes rooted in love, awareness, and healing. After studying jazz at the prestigious Berklee College of Music on full scholarship, she began traveling the world as a professional musician, inspired by a multitude of sounds and teachings. Awakened through Thich Nhat Hanh in 2016, Hailey found a deeper meditation within her music and emerged with a new artist name and sound—MAE.SUN—releasing three albums: Vol. 1: Inter-be (2017), Vol. 2: Into the Flow (2019), and Vol. 3: Reverence (2024). Originally from Portland, Oregon, MAE.SUN first began making waves in the jazz community as Hailey Niswanger when she won the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz International Saxophone Competition before graduating high school. Her Billboard-charting debut album Confeddie (2009), garnered praise from jazz critics, including Nat Hentoff of The Wall Street Journal, and was listed among NPR’s top jazz albums of the year. While living in New York City, she released her second and third albums, The Keeper (2012) and PDX Soul (2015), all while touring with Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society. MAE.SUN has continued to collaborate widely across the music world. Her flute can be heard on the Grammy-winning “Black Parade” by Beyoncé and on Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project. She has been a frequent collaborator with Medasin, and their viral song “Magic” has accrued nearly 70 million streams across music platforms. In 2021, her musical partnership with Mia Garcia brought forth the band OHMA, whose debut album Between All Things (2022) led them to open for FKJ on a North American tour. The duo released their second album, On Loving Earth (2024), and has performed internationally in Japan, Europe, and Mexico, as well as at the Hollywood Bowl with Incubus and on their album Morning View XXIII. Her collaborations span many genres. She has appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk with Karol G; on Saturday Night Live with Demi Lovato; and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with David Letterman with Sleigh Bells. She has toured internationally with Clairo and performed with Kenny Barron, Harvey Mason, Vulfmon, The Wolff & Clark Expedition (a collaboration between drummer Mike Clark and pianist Michael Wolff), Kinga Głyk, Ben Williams, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Anna Wise, Louis Futon, and more. For the past 12 years, she has been recognized as a Rising Star in the DownBeat Critics Poll and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NPR, JazzTimes, Jazziz, and DownBeat Magazine. MAE.SUN has also performed at numerous venues and festivals across the United States, including New York’s Blue Note, National Sawdust, BRIC, Winter Jazz Fest, San Jose Jazz Summerfest, and on WBGO’s The Checkout. When not on the road or in the studio, one can usually find MAE.SUN immersed in nature with a wooden flute in hand. Her sound is a call to remember the interconnectedness of all things, sharing the depth and beauty of life through music.