Program Notes for L'Rain – Live at the Walker

L’Rain – Live at the Walker
Saturday, May 2, 2026
7:30 pm
McGuire Theater

L’Rain – Live at the Walker

Taja Cheek — Guitar, Bass, Vocals

Ben Chapoteau-Katz — Music Director, Sax, Synthesizers, Additional Vocals

Timothy Angulo — Drums, Percussion

Justin Felton — Guitar, Samples

Zachary Levine-Caleb — Guitar, Bass, Vocals

Andrew Lappin, Allen Dobbins, Lilleth — Crew

Tonight’s performance runs approximately 80 minutes with no intermission.

Please note: This event will be audio and video recorded. By attending, you consent to appear in this documentation and its future use by the artist and the Walker Art Center. If you prefer not to be recorded, please let staff know upon arrival.

Accessibility

For more information about accessibility, visit our Access page.

For questions on accessibility or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564 or email access@walkerart.org.

About the Artists

BENJAMIN CHAPOTEAU-KATZ is a saxophonist, synthesist, composer, and bandleader based in New York City. He has performed and recorded with artists including L’Rain, Moses Sumney, Solange, Rihanna, DRAM, and Bettye LaVette, bringing his voice to projects that span jazz, experimental music, and popular traditions. As a co-producer of L’Rain’s critically acclaimed albums Fatigue and I Killed Your Dog, his work has been recognized by outlets such as Pitchfork and The Wire. In addition to international touring, he leads and contributes to projects that explore the intersections of improvisation, contemporary composition, and cross-genre collaboration.

JUSTIN FELTON is a Brooklyn based musician. As a member of L’Rain, he contributes guitar and samples. His solo project Strugglin’ is a display of his sample practice, releasing Pitch Pine in 2022 via RVNG. Intl. In 2024, he was the touring bassist for Big Thief, joining them on a European tour. His music has been described as “oddly compelling”.

ZACHARY LEVINE-CALEB began his music career playing bass and guitar with prison activist, spoken-word artist and actor Bryonn Bain for his production “Lyrics From Lockdown” (produced by Harry Belafonte), performing at venues like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as correctional facilities across the country like Rikers and Ironwood.
In 2017, the Boston-born artist/producer shared his debut album There’s A Virus Going On, which garnered praise from The Fader, Pigeons & Planes and Okayplayer among others. The collection stands as a thesis statement for his bold brand of funk, borrowing as much from Sly Stone as Dave Longstreth.
His sophomore effort, Loops of Life, was released in the summer of 2019 and showcases Zach remarkable ability to marry acrobatics and accessibility. Recorded to 8-track tape in his LoveLove Studios, he and producer Will G. Radin capture both Zach’s singular musicianship and songcraft as well the spirit of the community surrounding them. Loops of Life is out now.

TIMOTHY ANGULO is a drummer and composer based in NYC. Although his background is in jazz, Angulo has performed with a dizzying array of musicians including Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker, Ethiopian legend Mulatu Astatke, acclaimed trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire and Mac Arthur fellow Craig Taborn, as well as jazz royalty Reggie Workman, Ravi Coltrane and Bill Frisell. He is a member of experimental group L’Rain and is as comfortable performing at North Sea Jazz Festival, The MET Museum and Billboard live Tokyo as he is on stadium stages like Forest Hills and Hollywood Bowl. Combining intuition and discipline to allow the music to reveal itself regardless of genre, Timothy Angulo is one of the most original, innovative and versatile drummers working today.

ANDREW LAPPIN is a producer, composer, engineer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. Working with a diverse group of artists across genres, Andrew’s ability to help his collaborators push boundaries while staying true to their unique strengths is one of his greatest assets. L’Rain, Lucy Dacus, Annahstasia, and Cassandra Jenkins are some recent highlights from his discography. In addition to artist projects, Andrew has also composed and produc original music for television, film, and radio.

ALLEN DOBBINS is a New Jersey based cinematographer, musician, and multimedia artist. His work often explores the intersection of visual storytelling and cultural memory, blending a vast array of influences with his own sense of observational intentionality. A visual storyteller by trade, his work invites viewers to engage on a deeper level through palpable sensory and emotional cues. He believes that every person has a story to tell, and is constantly seeking out new ways to explore the human condition.
Most notably, his work in documentaries has led him to an Emmy nomination for the documentary feature, The Slow Hustle, directed by Sonja Sohn. He has toured extensively with the Australian band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard as a Director of Photography, livestreaming over 60 shows across North America and Europe, as well as their music festival, Field of Vision.
Helping to capture moments brings him joy. In his free time, Allen likes to play music, watch films, and spend time with his wife and two young children.

LILLETH directs, choreographs, and designs surrealist film, immersive experiences, and experimental opera-theater-dance-music that aims to transport you into a multi-sensory dream or nightmare. On film, Lilleth choreographed and co-created Every Step is a Prayer, distributed by NOWNESS, and awarded Official Selection at Palm Springs International Short Fest (2022) and Official Selection at Holly Shorts Film Festival (2022) among others. Lilleth co-directed Born With An Extra Rib, produced and presented by The Kitchen NY, and awarded Queer Art New Work Prize (2022) and Translatinos Festival (2023), among others. Lilleth also worked as assistant to director Glenn Kaino on Hoops, Hopes, and Dreams (Sundance 2025, Hulu 2026).
Lilleth is an MFA Candidate at The University of Southern California, in Film and Television Production for Directing. Lilleth was awarded the 2025 Virtual Production Thesis, as writer and director of ELIXIR, a surrealist sci-fi horror short, to premiere in May 2026. Lilleth was awarded the Ganek Immersive Studio Prize in Spring 2025 for which they wrote and directed a live-action horror short in Virtual Reality, ELEVATOR, to be experienced on the Apple Vision Pro. Lilleth has also had the opportunity to direct music videos and commercials all of which will premiere, alongside the rest of their new work on film in Spring 2026.
LILLETH’s live performance direction has been shown at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall with The New York Philharmonic, The Getty Museum, The Geffen Contemporary at The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, The Kitchen NY, Little Island NY, Superblue, Abrons Art Center, Berghain (CTM Festival, Berlin), La Mama, CPR – Center for Performance Research, The Bushwick Starr, DAAD Galarie Berlin, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Ars Nova, and National Sawdust, among others.
LILLETH trained with directors André Gregory, Ivo Van Hove, Lila Neugebauer, Diane Paulus, Niegel Smith, 600 Highwaymen, and Kaneza Schall, among others, on projects at The Louvre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and The Holland Festival, among others. Lilleth was awarded 2023 Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Performance Research.
LILLETH received their bachelors degree in Clinical Research Psychology at Harvard University, with a minor in Dramatic Arts.

TAJA CHEEK is a Brooklyn-born musician and curator.
A multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Cheek frequently records and performs under the name L’Rain. Her work is rooted in r&b, jazz, noise, and pop, using voice memos and manipulated samples as inspiration and source material. Her 2023 album, I Killed Your Dog, is a kaleidoscopic exploration of heartbreak, released to critical acclaim across the globe. Her sophomore album, Fatigue, was The Wire’s #1 album of 2021 and the #2 album of the year in Pitchfork. Cheek has been featured on the covers of magazines including The Wire and Paste.
Cheek has performed across the US, Canada, Asia, and Europe at venues and institutions including BAM, The Kitchen, The Barbican, MASS MoCA, The Stone, Cafe Oto, Blue Note Tokyo, and three performances at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She has toured, collaborated, and shared stages with artists including Animal Collective, Brittany Howard, Big Thief, Sharon Van Etten, Moses Sumney, Immanuel Wilkins, Kevin Beasley, and Deerhunter.
In addition to her work as an artist, she is also a performance curator. Cheek was a guest curator for the 2024 Whitney Biennial and is currently the Artistic Director of Performance Space New York in the East Village. Prior to PSNY, Cheek was BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn’s inaugural Artist Curator. She also led performance programs at MoMA PS1, organizing programs including Warm Up, a summer outdoor music series that the museum has hosted in its courtyard since 1998, and Sunday Sessions, an interdisciplinary performance series. In 2017, she co-founded a DIY rehearsal and performance space in her neighborhood in Brooklyn that primarily supports experimental work.

Special Thanks: Terrance Thomas

Living Land Acknowledgement

The McGuire Theater and Walker Art Center are located on the contemporary, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Dakota people. Situated near Bde Maka Ska and Wíta Tópa Bde, or Lake of the Isles, on what was once an expanse of marshland and meadow, this site holds meaning for Dakota, Ojibwe, and Indigenous people from other Native nations, who still live in the community today.

We acknowledge the discrimination and violence inflicted on Indigenous peoples in Minnesota and the Americas, including forced removal from ancestral lands, the deliberate destruction of communities and culture, deceptive treaties, war, and genocide. We recognize that, as a museum in the United States, we have a colonial history and are beneficiaries of this land and its resources. We acknowledge the history of Native displacement that allowed for the founding of the Walker. By remembering this dark past, we recognize its continuing harm in the present and resolve to work toward reconciliation, systemic change, and healing in support of Dakota people and the land itself.

We honor Native people and their relatives, past, present, and future. As a cultural organization, the Walker works toward building relationships with Native communities through artistic and educational programs, curatorial and community partnerships, and the presentation of new work.

Acknowledgments

The Walker Art Center’s Performing Arts programs and commissions are made possible by donors and Producers’ Council members: AJT Fund; Bridge Fund for Dance program through the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department; Christina Evans and Weston Hoard; Nor Hall and Roger Hale; Judith Brin Ingber and Jerome Ingber; Neal Jahren; the Jerome Foundation; King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury; Knox Foundation: Susanne Lilly Hutcheson, Zenas Hutcheson IV, Henry Hutcheson, and Perrin Hutcheson; Sarah Lutman; Emily Maltz; the David and Leni Moore Family Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network; Rebecca Rand; Lois and John Rogers; the Serendipitous Leverage Fund; Therese Sexe and David Hage; Elizabeth and Mike Sweeney; John L. Thomson; Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation; Sue and Jim Westerman; and Frances and Frank* Wilkinson. Media partner MPR News, The Current, and YourClassical MPR.

*deceased

To learn more about upcoming performances, visit 2025/26 Walker Performing Arts Season.