Play On 2024

Wednesday, October 30 · City Winery Chicago

1200 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60607

Doors 5:30pm · Show 7:00pm

Join Merit School of Music for a special concert benefiting equal access to music education at City Winery! We are thrilled to announce that Alexis Lombre will headline our 6th annual Play On, with additional performances by Mae Ya Carter Ryan and Merit’s very own Honors Jazz Combo.

Enjoy the gorgeous music, bid on exciting raffle prizes, and support high-quality music education in Chicago.

Purchase Concert Tickets →

Interested in sponsoring Play On? Click the button below and fill out the online form. If you have any questions or would like to submit a payment via check, please contact Elizabeth Forrey.

Sponsor Play On

Alexis Lombre

Alexis Lombre is a pianist, vocalist, composer, and producer from Chicago. Her musical mission is to keep the ‘Soul’ in music alive. As JazzTimes puts it, “Lombre realized early on that by refusing to be constrained by convention— whether so-called ‘jazz’ or otherwise—she’d be honoring, rather than defiling, the rich heritage she’d come to embrace.” She has toured nationally all over the United States, and internationally to Canada, Cuba, Brazil, France and South Africa with artists such as Georgia Anne Muldrow, Marcus Miller, Jon Batiste, Keyon Harrold, Endea Owens & The Cookout, Dan Wilson, Nicole Mitchell, Jamila Woods, Kassa Overall, Tia Fuller, DJ D Nice and the Miles Davis Electric Band. Alexis Lombre was granted the Inaugural 2022 New Music Next Jazz Legacy Award and the 2023 Luminarts Award. She is also a proud alum of Merit School of Music!

Mae Ya Carter Ryan

Mae Ya Carter Ryan is a Chicago-based singer with a powerful, soulful voice. After attending Merit School of Music and having recently graduated from Berklee College of Music, she is making her mark on the music scene far and wide with appearances on WGN’s Morning Show, CBS’s Someone You Should Know segment, WCIU’s You and Me This Morning, ABC’s Heart and Soul, WTTW PBS, the Ovation Network’s Young Marvels, Hallmark’s Home and Family Show and more.

Honors Jazz Combo

The Honors Jazz Combo, under the direction of Alex Beltran, is Merit’s premier jazz performing ensemble comprised of the Alice S. Pfaelzer Conservatory’s most advanced student jazz musicians. Students audition for the program on an annual basis and hail from all over the greater Chicagoland area.