The University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music is in for a healthy dose of radical creativity. In the highly respected Beyond Category Series, Dean Jason King welcomes Solange Knowles and her Saint Heron collaborators Shantel Aurora and Sabla Stays for an unconventional conversation and sonic exploration of sound, memory, and community. It is something more than a lecture; it is an insight into how one of the most adventurous musicians of the modern era continues to reimagine what music and culture can be.
From Pop’s Little Sister to Culture’s High Priestess
Solange has never been content to stay in a single lane. Her music is cinematic, her visuals are architectural, and her sense of curation is as sharp as her voice. Her landmark album A Seat at the Table (2016) was both a deeply personal memoir and a sweeping anthem of Black identity, featuring creative contributions from Raphael Saadiq, now a member of USC Thornton’s Creative Vanguard. Three years later, she doubled down with When I Get Home (2019), an avant-garde exploration of Houston’s cultural DNA wrapped in jazz, R&B, and experimental electronica.
At USC, she’s going to be discussing more than music. She’s going to discuss how she makes work that becomes a living archive, a vessel of memory, identity, and resistance.
Enable Sheer Music: Not A Collective, A Revolution
Solange’s platform, Saint Heron, is more than a collective; it is a movement. With initiatives like the Saint Heron Community Library, she is building spaces that preserve the work of Black and Brown creatives who have historically been excluded from cultural canons. Her El Dorado Ballroom performance series brings intimate, genre-defying showcases to multiple cities, creating new homes for experimental sound and communal storytelling.
Shantel Aurora and Sabla Stays, both from the Saint Heron network, will also join her on stage to break down the particulars of this mandate: how do you keep cultural memory alive and transport art to new places?
From Houston Streets to Ballet Stages
Solange’s radical curation doesn’t start with her own platform. She has also worked with global institutions, including the Elbphilharmonie in Germany, the Venice Biennale, and the Guggenheim in New York.
It cemented her status as a rule-breaker in 2022 when she became the third woman and the first African American composer ever commissioned to write the score for the New York City Ballet. The commission placed her among giants and then proved she could redefine the rules.
Academia Encounters the Avant
Solange’s appearance at USC is about more than one night of discussion; it is about creating the tone for the future of music education. In an algorithm- and marketability-obsessed world, Solange humbly reminds us that sound is more than product. Sound is history. Sound is community. Sound is the meaning of survival. With the arrival of Saint Heron at USC, Dean Jason King is also introducing a new type of academic discourse: one that offers new possibilities rather than focusing on history and is propelled forward by artists who live out their philosophy in the moment.
