From New Orleans Jazz Fest to Carnegie Hall World Music Series; from Panama Jazz Festival to Tijuana Jazz & Blues Festival, South Africa’s Sharon Katz & The Peace Train thrill presenters and audiences alike with their Afro-Jazz-Rock-Folk fusion of global music and dance. 

After making history in South Africa with their tour aboard The Peace Train, CNN filmed Sharon jumping out of a helicopter to promote Nelson Mandela’s vision of a better life for all. This sparked the band’s international career which has featured performances and workshops on three continents; 10 albums including 5 on the Grammy ballot; starring in the award-winning film, When Voices Meet; and being recorded along with Rubén Blades, Elton John, Tina Turner and Madonna for Sting’s Carnival! album. 

South African musician, music therapist and activist Sharon Katz began her anti-Apartheid work as a teenager. Soon after Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Sharon formed the country’s first, 500 member multicultural choir and band known as The Peace Train. With Mandela’s presidential victory, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train became the country’s first musical ambassadors of the new democracy with tours across Africa, USA, Canada, Middle East, Mexico, and Cuba. 

In the years since, Sharon has continued to perform with The Peace Train band and uses her music to promote humanitarian causes worldwide. She has performed with philharmonic orchestras, community choirs and disenfranchised youth around the world. The award-winning film, When Voices Meet, documents her work and proceeds from her performances have gone toward building a school, supporting an orphanage, and providing meals and after-school mentorship in South Africa. In recent years, Sharon has been working in the border region between Mexico and California with migrant youth, girls rescued from trafficking, and survivors of torture. She has just returned from South Africa where she recorded a new album "Desert Air" released July 14th, featuring the group Afrika Mamas along with her fellow musicians in South Africa and the USA.