All The Rivers: Global Ensemble Raises Funds for Immigrants

On March 11, 2026, Jules Wetchi walked to the front of the Flynn Theater stage in Burlington and said four words across the house: “Hello. Bonjour. Mbote na yo. Jambo.” Students from Burlington High School answered back in whatever languages they carried.

Two miles from the Flynn, federal immigration officials had positioned themselves on Dorset Street in South Burlington. They were targeting an immigrant family. Protesters showed up and didn’t leave for most of the day.

All The Rivers, the ensemble Wetchi performs with, didn’t coordinate around that moment. It happened anyway.

The group draws from more than 20 musicians representing 10 countries, many of them immigrants who’ve settled in Vermont. Their March 11 show at the Flynn was their first full ticketed performance, and it’s built around a purpose that’s grown more pointed as immigration enforcement has escalated under Trump. Every dollar raised goes directly to organizations in Vermont supporting immigrant communities.

The concert opened with a Lingala song from members of the Congolese Catholic Choir. That’s not a soft start.

Avi Salloway, 40, leads All The Rivers. He’s a University of Vermont graduate who spent years on the road with Burlington rock band Billy Wylder, touring through North Africa and working alongside Palestinian and Israeli youth musicians. He moved back to Vermont from Los Angeles roughly two and a half years ago, and he’ll tell you he wasn’t sure about it. “I was initially worried about the lack of cultural diversity,” he said. He changed his mind. “I’ve always had a deep affinity and connection to Vermont. And zooming out, it really does have a very welcoming community and a progressive aspect that I really appreciate.”

The ensemble first came together at Burlington’s Festival of Fools in 2024. Nobody expected it to become a permanent project. Emily Landenberger, a friend of Salloway’s who speaks on behalf of the group, described that original performance as a one-time thing.

Then the political environment changed.

“In light of all of the tension and trauma that the immigrant community is facing right now, Avi wanted to reconvene the group,” Landenberger said.

They did. The Flynn debut followed. It’s cross-cultural music operating as something beyond a celebration, functioning as a fundraising vehicle but also as a visible statement: 20-plus musicians on a single stage, drawing from a dozen different musical traditions, in a state that critics often dismiss as too homogeneous to sustain that kind of range.

Salloway doesn’t accept that characterization. “I have been lucky and fortunate to have a lot of experience working with people from different backgrounds and cultures,” he said. Vermont’s immigrant population has grown, particularly around Burlington and Chittenden County, and the refugee resettlement network operating in the region has long been among the more active in New England.

The preview performance for Burlington High School students was free. That was deliberate. Students got access to the Flynn stage and the musicians before the ticketed public did.

Coverage of the April 04 performance from VTDigger noted the ensemble’s plans to keep performing. What All The Rivers does next isn’t settled. What’s already on the record: 20-plus musicians, 10 countries, one stage in Burlington, and a day when federal agents were two miles away on Dorset Street while high schoolers were calling back across a theater in languages they knew.