NINA SIMONE: BEYOND CATEGORY
USC Thornton School of Music’s Beyond Category Series

Curated and Hosted by Lara Downes and Jason King
Part of the USC Thornton School of Music Series Beyond Category: Nina Simone

This unique two-day concert event celebrates Nina Simone’s classical training and its profound influence on her expansive, genre-defying musical vision, her creative genius, and her lifelong pursuit of personal, artistic, and collective freedom. The concert’s title draws inspiration from one of Simone’s signature tunes, her 1967 rendition of Billy Taylor’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”—an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement that remains deeply resonant today. Serving as both tribute and point of departure, this two-day concert event explores Simone’s singular musical voice through her original compositions and powerful re-imaginings of others’ work. Known for fusing styles as varied as blues, jazz, gospel, and classical—especially her early grounding in composers like Bach and Czerny—Simone created music that transcended genre in order to speak truth to power. Despite facing structural barriers and systemic limitations throughout her career, she courageously addressed civil and human rights struggles head-on, infused her art with a deep global consciousness, and offered searing reflections on the complexities of Black existence in America. Simone persisted in crafting a liberated artistic identity that has inspired generations and served as a wellspring.

Co-curated and hosted by curator and pianist Lara Downes and USC Thornton School of Music Dean Jason King, these concerts offer a powerful reimagining of Simone’s catalog—an offering in the spirit of her liberation, transformation, and artistic life lived 'beyond category.'

Free and open to the public with advance RSVP. Reservations will open soon.

NINA SIMONE: BEYOND CATEGORY is an event series presented by USC’s Thornton School of Music, as part of its now-annual Beyond Category Series. This groundbreaking program examines Nina Simone’s singular artistic voice and her multifaceted approach to music and the making of culture. Widely celebrated as a global icon of jazz, blues, and civil rights activism, Simone’s work was deeply rooted in classical music, which helped shape her phrasing, harmonic language, and improvisational brilliance.

Fusing that classical precision with the emotional power of gospel, jazz, and blues, among other styles, Simone defied genre boundaries and created a body of work that remains uncategorizable—bold, boundary-breaking, and timeless.