Author: Christine McAleer

  • Dan and Eugene Levy Announce “Schitt’s Creek” Book, October Appearance at the Beacon Theatre

    Schitt’s Creek co-creators and the father-son duo, Eugene and Dan Levy, ended their Emmy and Golden Globe-Award winning show after 6 seasons and at the height of its fame, preserving its all around quality. Finally they give fans a little more, with Dan and Eugene Levy announcing a celebration for the launch of their book titled Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek. If their short Netflix documentary left you in tears, hearing from them at their special one-night event at New York’s Beacon Theatre on October 25th will melt your heart.

    Schitt's Creek

    Tickets to the Beacon Theatre event not only include admission but a copy of their upcoming book.

    For those who can’t make it to the Beacon Theatre, the Levy’s will hold a simultaneous livestream on October 25th at 7:30pm EST. And if you miss the streaming, it will also be available for on-demand viewing until November 1st. The Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek hardcover book will be mailed after publication date on Tuesday, October 26 to those with streaming access.

    We are excited to be able to express our gratitude to a handful of those fans in person, safely, in New York, but also adding the livestream component… We look forward to celebrating all of you and this special book on October 25.

    Dan Levy

    Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek will encapsulate the glowing and hysterical environment that was Schitt’s Creek. This book will remind you how this record breaking show came to be, including a catalogue of Moira’s wigs, vocabulary, David’s knits, and Alexis’s adventures. They’ll delve into detail of Schitt’s Creek major scenes like Moira at Herb Ertlinger Winery, the Rose Family Christmas episode, and Patrick and David’s first kiss. We may never get more episodes of Schitt’s Creek but at least Levy’s book will evoke the memories and laughs we had watching the show for the first time. 

  • Utica Preps For 5th Annual Downtown Getdown Music And Arts Fest On September 18

    On Saturday, September 18 Handshake.City will host the 5th Annual Downtown Getdown Music and Arts Fest in Downtown Utica. This festival made its debut in 2016 and continues to bring people together to celebrate Utica’s music and creativity. 

    Downtown Getdown

    Be there by 10am for the ‘Getdown to the Mat,’ that is an all-levels yoga class with In Bloom Yoga. Of course, free of charge and no registration required. 

    After lowering your heart rate and blood pressure, Handshake.City brings live music, art and a vendor fair from noon to 6pm. Who will be performing you ask? None other than Utica’s finest local talent. Ashleigh DeCarr will open at 12pm with an acoustic Americana-contemporary background. Then we’ll hear from The Lower Tolpa, Deeplex, Vada March, and the recently reunited The Reuben James at 4:30pm. That’ll be a complete circle of rock, dub reggae, acoustic pop and folk rock. Please welcome these guests for their first time on this stage.

    If that’s not enough there will also be live glass blowing and wood carving demonstrations. The vendor fair will have food and beer for sale along with homemade and vintage goods. 

    Take your best shot at the Server Sprint at 2pm. Servers will race through Handshake.City with a loaded tray for the chance to win prizes and cash, and now you can too! Register just before the race starts and get ready for the races.

    Street hockey with Utica College Pioneers Men’s Hockey team will be at 3pm with other family friendly events as well.

    Downtown Getdown is free, with more information available here.

  • Hispanic Heritage Month Brings Flamenco Dancing to UAlbany PAC

    Kicking off Hispanic Heritage month, The UAlbany Performing Arts Center will be presenting two programs the weekend of Friday, October 1.

    Hispanic Heritage Month

    On October 1, an Evening of Flamenco Music and Film featuring a solo set from Flamenco guitarist Maria Zemantauski will be followed by a screening of Flamenco Vivo’s 6Hilos (6Threads) focusing on the Golden Age of flamenco. Several artists will perform live alongside Flamenco Vivo. Saturday, October 2 will feature a presentation of Tablao Flamenco, with both performances starting at 7:30pm

    Founded in 1983, Flamenco Vivo uses flamenco as a power to build bridges between people all over the world. With bases in New York City and Durham, NC it is one of America’s premier flamenco companies. While performing high quality dance works for Hispanic Heritage Month, Flamenco Vivo also provides arts education promoting the next generations of Spanish dance artists and educators. 

    Guitarist and composer Maria Zemantauski is based in Upstate New York where she is a teacher, lecturer and performer, and performs across Europe and the continental U.S.  Zematauski is on the faculty in the Department of Fine Arts, Theater Arts & Digital Media at Hudson Valley Community College where she has also been the Coordinator of Cultural Affairs since 2004.

    6Hilos (6 Threads) recently premiered in New York City three months ago to show city goers how artists are forced to persevere during this pandemic. Flamenco Vivo’s work pays homage to singers of the “Golden Generation” who have left a legacy of more than 50 years and marked the golden age of flamenco.   

    Tablao Flamenco pays homage to Spain’s flamenco cafes. Tablaos are popular places to see flamenco. These performances involve lots of improvisation, the call and response dance offers a neat look into the intersection of music and dancing.Admission to An Evening of Flamenco Music and Film is free. However tickets to the Flamenco Vivo’s performance are $15. Find more information about tickets here

  • A One Million Dollar Donation Gives Caroga Arts Collective a Bright Future

    In a summer season celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Sherman’s Amusement Park, and the 10th Anniversary of the Caroga Lake Music Festival, Artistic Director and Founder Kyle Barrett Price was presented with a check for $1,000,000 for benefit of the Caroga Arts Collective.

    Caroga Lake natives Ted Farnsworth and Rod Vanderbilt donated the funds, which will allow Caroga Arts Collective to evolve Sherman Park into a top-tier entertainment venue in the Northeast.

    caroga arts

    This is the town I grew up in and this is the town I love … I will never, ever forget the people who were so generous to all the kids who grew up here. I am truly honored that I can give back to the town that has given so much to me.

    Ted Farnsworth

    A previous donation to the Caroga Lake Music Festival of the formerly known 10.5-acre property, Myhill, began The Caroga Arts Collective in 2016.  With Bruce and Richard Veghte’s donation, the Caroga Lake Music Festival had a rich history to build upon. The Myhill estate had previously featured music from Frank Sinatra, Irving Berlin, and Elvis Presley, among others. Myer and Hildegarde Schine owned Glove and Hippodrome Theaters in Gloversville, NY while still being previous estate owners of Myhill.

    caroga arts

    Today Caroga Arts Collective annually attracts on average 100 musicians whether that be from orchestras, ensembles, or music schools. Some notable names include David Cook (Music Director of Taylor Swift), Sawyer Fredericks (winner of NBC’s The Voice), and Sierra Hull (GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass virtuoso). 

    Farnsworth was recently named in Variety Magazine, Top 30 Visionary and Disrupter of the Entertainment and Media Business of 2021. A current project that Farnsworth is involved in is his short-from video platform. Lomotif has earned its recognition as being a top-ten competitor of TikTok worldwide in 2021. Lomotif not only launched their own record label, Lomo Records, but gained enough traction to receive the music rights of artists like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber through a deal with Universal Music. He believes the collaboration will raise the profile of Caroga Arts Collective to new heights in Hollywood and the entertainment industry.

    caroga arts

    The collaboration between Farnsworth and Caroga Arts Collective has already proved successful. Next year’s shows at for the Caroga Lake Music Festival will be featuring even bigger talent, as well as a film festival through the Caroga Arts Collective which will be an extension of the Myhill Film Series, honoring the Schine family who were movie theater magnates in the mid-twentieth century

    We have been fortunate to create a uniquely accessible, intimate, and sought-after experience for artists, audiences and community members alike during our ten years of programming. We look forward to curating unforgettable moments and experiences for the generation of today and tomorrow.

    Kyle Barrett Price, Artistic Director and Founder
  • Catch Gabe Stillman at Funk ‘N Waffles on September 14

    Gabe Stillman, a national blues artists has been touring with his band since his newest record, Just Say the Words was released and began charting weekly on Roots Music Report. On September 14 at 8pm, you can see Gabe Stillman and his band make their debut at Funk ‘n Waffles in Syracuse.

    gabe stillman

    The Gabe Stillman Band is a three-piece machine that runs at full tilt for every performance. While their sound is unmistakably rooted in the blues, the band draws from the deep well of all American roots music. A graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Stillman went on to form his band in 2015. Stillman proved his talent at the 35th Annual International Blues Challenge, managing to be in the final eight contestants earning him the esteemed Gibson Guitar Award in Memphis, Tennessee.

    Not only was Stillman’s EP The Grind self-produced, but his follow up EP Flying’ High was backed by the legendary blues band, The Nighthawks.

    His album Just Say The Word has a total of thirteen tracks with two covers. The album also features contributions Texas Horns and special appearances by Funderburgh, Sue Foley, and Greg Izor.  Stillman’s reputation as an accomplished guitarist and meaningful songwriter. Gabe Stillman has established himself as an accomplished guitarist through his latest album which not only appeals to blues lovers, but music lovers in general. You won’t want to miss this show in Syracuse. More info and tickets are available here.

  • Rochester’s Two Truths Release Debut Single/Video “Brushstrokes”

    Two Truths, Rochester’s newest indie pop/rock outfit, was conceived during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic by musicians and roommates Blake Pattengale and Garrett Mader. Quarantine went quite swimmingly, as this new indie pop/rock band set off on the right foot with their first single “Brushstrokes,” with their forthcoming debut EP, Electric Campfire.

    two truths

    To fill out Two Truths, Max Greenberg joined on keys and Byron Cage on drums. Together their band’s sound pulls from a range of genres from Americana to rock, mixed with folk and a little electronic. Pattengale provides down to earth lyrics which are complimented by full vocal harmonies with electric drums and synths.

    As ambiguous as “Brushstrokes” sounds, the song itself has more meaning than what meets the eye.  Kerry Regan portrays a man who is looking to connect with his lost love. We see him at his art studio to revisit an old painting. The story unfolds to explain the man’s dreary present day life, compared to his past young happy and inlove self. A scenic picnic, a couple running through the fields accompanied with “When I was a younger man, I’d chase you through the fields that we painted with soft brushstrokes.”

    Kerry Regan becomes covered in paint, attempting to immerse himself in his past with his young lover. The music almost feels ambient through its synth texture and angelic guitar picking. Luckily for the protagonist, he finally finds himself in the painting with his lover.

    Two Truths serves up true potential in their first single, and we’re excited to see where they will go next. Follow Two Truths on Instagram.

    The music for “Brushstrokes” was produced by Pattengale & Mader in Pattengale’s home studio, accompanied by Max Greenberg & Byron Cage, Mixed by Pattengale and Mastered by Ed Brooks. Video production for “Brushstrokes,” was made possible with collaborations by Olivia Rose (pre-production, artistic director, actor), Krit Upra of Floated Magazine (videographer, post-production, director), with additional help from Jeanne De Keyserling (painter, actor) & Kerry Regan (actor).

  • TŌN (The Orchestra Now) is Back for Live Performances at The Fisher Center, Carnegie Hall, The Met and more

    The Orchestra Now (TŌN) is not only a visionary orchestra but also a master’s degree program. Founder Leon Botstein’s rich history includes being a Bard College president, conductor, educator, and music historian. Starting this September 11th,  this will mark Botstein’s seventh returning season. From world renowned repertoire to exciting new 21st century pieces, this orchestra will perform four different series and three free concerts. A total of 21 programs and 38 performances will be heard through May 22, 2022.

    The orchestra now

    The Orchestra Now has used this pandemic as a way to grow and better their sound where this season will feature 16 new members. If you’re keeping count, that will be a total of 65 musicians from 13 countries. All in all TŌN has performed 489 works by 234 composers in 35 venues since their beginning in 2015. 

    The ability to perform for a live audience is uncanny. While the Orchestra worked on perfecting digital programs,  Nothing can replace the exhilaration of live performance,” said Music Director Leon Botstein. The pent up excitement of these young performers will be sure to produce exhilarating concerts where after more than 66,000 live and virtual concertgoers, with 237 soloists and 22 conductors, they are more than qualified to perform their best season yet.

    We are truly thrilled to resume a direct connection with our audiences

    – Music Director Leon Botstein



    This season will start with the world premiere of Brahmsiana by debut conductor and composer Leonard Slatkin (Sept. 18-19 at the Fisher Center). There is also new work from Scott Wheeler written for violinist Gil Shaham, who will perform at the world renowned Carnegie Hall (Nov. 18) and the Fisher Center (Nov. 13-14). We’ll also hear Dismal Swamp from William Grant Still and Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Symphony No. 1. This piece was written to describe the treacherous conditions under the Nazi regime and will be performed this May 7th at the Fisher Center and May 12th at Carnegie Hall. Ravel’s Pictures at an Exhibition has been revived as Slatkin created a new arrangement noting its original composition for piano. Award-winning composer Cindy McTee who is conveniently Slatkin’s wife will perform Circuits this September 18-19 at the Fisher Center. 

    Lutosławski, Perry, and Bristow in addition to Wheeler’s world premiere will be included in the Carnegie Hall series. Musical America’s 2019 Conductor of the Year, Carlos Miguel Prieto will be a guest conductor at Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Sight & Sound series will return to The Metropolitan Museum of Art which focuses on Beethoven and Cristofori, Stravinsky and Picasso, and Dvořák and Delacroix to illuminate their interrelations between both music and art. Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ German Requiem will be performed at The Fisher Center series at Bard College along with another 18 concerts along with Brahmsiana’s debut. To gain a larger audience, TŌN offers three free concerts to help attract those who normally wouldn’t find themselves listening to classical music at Peter Norton Symphony Space in Manhattan with resident conductor Zachary Schwartzman. They hope that this will influence the future generations that will carry their love for classical music through the decades. To dazzle new concert goers repertoire from Mozart, Schumann, and Dohnányi will be played at Hudson Hall in Hudson, NY.

    Now if you will be missing TŌN’s Orchestra’s Fisher Center series you can always tune in. Don’t forget that TŌN can be heard on WMHT-FM, the classical music radio station of New York’s Capital Region and WWFM, the Classical Network station catering to New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. TŌN’s performances are also heard regularly on American Public Media’s Performance Today.

    CARNEGIE HALL SERIES, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage 

    Gil Shaham & Julia Perry Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 7 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Gil Shaham, violin

    Scott Wheeler: New work (World Premiere)

    Julia Perry: Stabat Mater

    George Frederick Bristow: Symphony No. 4, Arcadian

    Renowned violinist and Bard Conservatory of Music faculty member Gil Shaham joins the Orchestra for the world premiere of a new piece written for him by multi-award-winning composer, conductor, pianist, and teacher Scott Wheeler. Currently Senior Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Boston’s Emerson College, Wheeler’s works have been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and performed by such artists as Renée Fleming and Kent Nagano. Black American composer Julia Perry’s dramatic Stabat Mater, a setting of the 13th-century medieval poem “Stabat Mater Dolorosa,” describes the crucifixion of Christ from the viewpoint of the Virgin Mother and is dedicated to Perry’s mother. Also on the program is George Frederick Bristow’s rarely-heard Arcadian Symphony. A Brooklyn native and noted choral composer, Bristow frequently wrote music with American themes—his Symphony No. 4 was originally titled The Pioneer. It will be the first Carnegie Hall performances of Perry’s Stabat Mater and Bristow’s complete Symphony No. 4.

    New Voices from the 1930s

    Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 7 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Gilles Vonsattel, piano

    Frank Corliss, piano

    William Grant StillDismal Swamp

    Carlos Chávez: Piano Concerto

    Witold Lutosławski: Symphonic Variations

    Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Symphony No. 1, Essay for a Requiem

    The rarely-heard masterpieces in this concert spotlight works from the late 1930s, including William Grant Still’s evocative portrait of enslaved people taking refuge while seeking freedom, and Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s commentary on conditions under the Nazi regime. The program also features Mexican Symphonic Music Director and composer Carlos Chávez’s virtuosic Piano Concerto, called “imaginatively scored” and praised for its “elemental strength” and the “originality of its orchestral coloring” by The New York Times at its 1942 premiere. Leading progressive Polish music composer Witold Lutosławski’s adventurous Symphonic Variations was written while he was still a student at Warsaw University. His first substantial orchestral work, the Variations contain many folk-like themes.

    ROSE THEATER

    The Orchestra Now returns to Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall for the fifth season.


    Prieto, Falla & Debussy

    Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 3 PM

    Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor

    Solange Merdinian, mezzo-soprano

    Messiaen: Le tombeau resplendissant (The Resplendent Tomb)

    Debussy: La Mer (The Sea)

    Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat)

    José Pablo Moncayo: Huapango

    Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto, Musical America’s 2019 Conductor of the Year and music director of the Orchestra of the Americas, leads TŌN in a diverse program that includes Manuel de Falla’s vivid and eloquent ballet score Sombrero de Tres Picos, Debussy’s powerful La Mer, and a work by Spanish composer María Teresa Prieto.

    SIGHT & SOUND SERIES AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 

    The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

    Conductor and music historian Leon Botstein surveys the parallels between orchestral music and the visual arts with three concerts in TŌN’s popular Sight & Sound series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This season explores the connections between Beethoven’s fascination with the emergence of the first piano; an interest in unconventional artistic and musical forms shared by Stravinsky and Picasso; and the European fascination with the peoples of the New World as expressed by MacDowell, Dvořák, and Delacroix. In each program, a discussion is accompanied by on-screen artworks and musical excerpts performed by the Orchestra, followed by a full performance and audience Q&A.


    Beethoven, Cristofori & the Piano’s First Century

    Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Shai Wosner, piano

    Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, and Cristofori’s 1720 Grand Piano

    At the dawn of the 18th century, Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori created what would come to be known as the piano. A century later, it was clear that the instrument would become the defining instrument of Western musical culture. Beethoven’s “Emperor” Piano Concerto reveals the composer’s obsession with the musical possibilities emerging from the rapidly evolving technology of piano construction. 

    Stravinsky, Picasso & Cubism

    Sunday, February 20, 2022 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Blair McMillen, piano

    Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Winds and Picasso’s Man with a Guitar

    Upon settling in Paris in the 1920s, Igor Stravinsky formed close friendships with artists like Pablo Picasso, a founder of Cubism, which sought to deconstruct the familiar and reassemble reality through a disciplined, formal approach. The movement inspired Stravinsky to develop a new approach to the construction of musical forms. He loved to perform his Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, one of his earliest “neo-classic” masterpieces.

    Dvořák, MacDowell & Delacroix: The New World

    Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Edward MacDowell: Suite No. 2, IndianDvořákNew World Symphony, second movement, and Eugène Delacroix’s The Natchez

    From their earliest encounters in the New World, Europeans were mesmerized by the indigenous peoples of North America. French artist Eugène Delacroix painted a Natchez family as they fled the massacre of their tribe up the Mississippi River. Edward MacDowell’s Indian Suite incorporated native melodies and rhythms, and the second movement of Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony was inspired by Longfellow’s poem on Hiawatha.

    THE FISHER CENTER SERIES AT BARD, Sosnoff Theater

    The Orchestra Now’s residency at Bard College’s Fisher Center renews with 18 concerts and nine different programs including special performances of Handel’s Messiah and the Brahms Requiem, and the debut of conductor Leonard Slatkin with TŌN.

    Shostakovich & Dawson

    Saturday September 11, 2021 at 8 PM

    Sunday September 12, 2021 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    William L. Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony

    Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7, Leningrad

    William L. Dawson said of his emotionally charged Negro Folk Symphony that he wanted listeners to know it was “unmistakably not the work of a white man.” The work is paired with Shostakovich’s enormous and patriotic Seventh Symphony, Leningrad, written largely after he had fled the city following the German invasion during WWII.

    Slatkin Conducts Brahmsiana

    Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 8 PM

    Sunday, September 19, 2021 at 2 PM

    Leonard Slatkin, conductor

    Cindy McTeeCircuits

    BrahmsBrahmsiana arr. Leonard Slatkin (World Premiere)

    MussorgskyPictures at an Exhibition, Leonard Slatkin’s new arr. of Ravel’s orchestration

    Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin makes his debut with TŌN, leading the world premiere of his own arrangement of Brahms melodies, Brahmsiana, and his new arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition, which takes Ravel’s famous orchestration and reinstates portions of Mussorgsky’s original. The concert opens with Circuits, written by award-winning composer Cindy McTee.

    Strauss’ Merry Pranks & Bruckner’s Fifth

    Friday, October 1, 2021 at 8 PM

    Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 5 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    R. StraussTill Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

    Bruckner: Symphony No. 5

    Richard Strauss’ audience favorite Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, which chronicles the misadventures of the practical jokester and German peasant folk hero, is presented in contrast to Anton Bruckner’s massive Fifth Symphony, which was performed only once during the composer’s lifetime. He died having never heard it.

    Gil Shaham & Julia Perry

    Saturday,November 13, 2021 at 8 PM

    Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 2 PM (see program description for Nov 18 Carnegie Hall performance)

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Gil Shaham,violin

    Scott Wheeler: New Work (World Premiere)

    Julia Perry: Stabat Mater

    George Frederick Bristow: Symphony No. 4, Arcadian

    Handel’s Messiah

    Saturday December 11, 2021 at 8 PM

    Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Vocal soloists from Bard’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program to be announced

    Bard Festival Chorale, Bard College Chamber Singers

    HandelMessiah

    Leon Botstein leads The Orchestra Now, soloists from Bard’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, the Bard Festival Chorale, and the Bard College Chamber Singers in a performance of one of the most popular oratorios of all time.

    Tchaikovsky, William Tell & The Little Mermaid

    Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 8 PM

    Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    RossiniWilliam Tell Overture

    Alexander ZemlinskyThe Little Mermaid

    Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

    The spring 2022 season unfolds with a concert of such audience favorites as Rossini’s iconic William Tell Overture and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, richly orchestrated by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky. The program closes with Tchaikovsky’s final completed symphony, the Pathétique, which the composer called his “Passionate Symphony.”

    Clara Schumann & Brahms’ German Requiem

    Saturday April 2, 2022 at 8 PM

    Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 2 PM

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Anna Polonsky, piano

    Vocal soloists from Bard’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program to be announced

    Bard Festival Chorale, Bard College Chamber Singers

    Clara Schumann: Piano Concerto

    BrahmsA German Requiem

    Clara Schumann began writing her memorable Piano Concerto when she was just 14 years old, already a prodigy on the instrument. This virtuoso work will be performed by acclaimed pianist Anna Polonsky. Later in life, Schumann was close friends with Johannes Brahms. She said his German Requiem “is an immense piece that takes hold of one’s whole being like very little else.”

    Joseph Young & Rachmaninoff

    Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 8 PM

    Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 2 PM

    Joseph Young, conductor

    Julia Perry: A Short Piece for Orchestra

    Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3

    Julia Perry’s riotous Short Work for Orchestra was recorded by the New York Philharmonic in 1965. While much of her work has been neglected, she was a winner of the Boulanger Grand Prix for her Viola Sonata. Rachmaninoff’s rhythmically expressive Symphony No. 3 concludes the program. Guest conductor Joseph Young, Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony and Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra–USA at Carnegie Hall, leads the Orchestra.

    New Voices from the 1930s

    Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 8 PM

    Sunday, May 8, 2022 at 2 PM (See program description for May 12 Carnegie Hall performance)

    Leon Botstein, conductor

    Gilles Vonsattel, piano

    Frank Corliss, piano

    William Grant StillDismal Swamp

    Carlos Chávez: Piano Concerto

    Witold Lutosławski: Symphonic Variations

    Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Symphony No. 1

    FREE CONCERTS SERIES

    TŌN continues its series of free concerts at venues in New York City and beyond, providing families with an opportunity to attend their first orchestral performance and introduce a new generation to classical music.


    Britten, Sibelius & Tan Dun

    Sunday, Dec 19, 2021 at 4 PM, at Peter Norton Symphony Space, New York City

    Zachary Schwartzman, conductor

    BerliozRoman Carnival Overture

    Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

    Tan Dun: Symphonic Poem of Three Notes

    Sibelius: Symphony No. 5

    Mozart & Schumann’s Spring Symphony

    Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7 PM, at Hudson Hall, Hudson, NY

    Andrés Rivas, conductor

    Soloists to be announced

    Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds

    Ernő Dohnányi: Concertino for Harp and Chamber Orchestra

    Schumann: Symphony No. 1, Spring

    Liszt & Bartók

    Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 4 PM, at Peter Norton Symphony Space, New York City

    Zachary Schwartzman, conductor

    Emmerich Kálmán:Gräfin Mariza Overture

    LisztLes Préludes

    Zoltán KodályDances of Galánta

    Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra 

  • The Juliana Theory and Mae team up for Fall Tour, with stops in Williamsburg and Buffalo

    Emo/alternative rock pioneers, The Juliana Theory, have announced their U.S tour where they will be co-headlining with Mae this September.Both shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 11th and 12th are sold out, as well as the two tour kick-off shows in Los Angeles at The Roxy on September 3rd and 4th.

    juliana theory

    Pittsburgh’s The Juliana Theory helped set the standard for the many bands that would wield a rock/pop hybrid as their weapon of choice.  Their first album, the emo-pop cult classic, Understand This is a Dream, showed the band quickly evolved and sharpened their sound, and later delivered 2000’s genre-defining and genre-transcending, Emotion is Dead. 

    Fast forward to 2020 and The Juliana Theory has returned with multiple co-headline anniversary shows celebrating the 20 year anniversary of Emotion is Dead. Although the shows were postponed to fall of 2021, the band continued their comeback, signing with Equal Vision Records and releasing “Can’t Go Home,” a synthpop anthem marking their first new music in over a decade and a half.  Following the single, the band released their first LP in over 15 years, a reimagined album of the bands’ most enduring classics entitled A Dream Away on March 26, 2021 – assuring that classics like “Into the Dark” and “Were At the Top Of the World” could continue to evolve.  

    The anniversary tour will take them along the East Coast hitting both Nashville, Tennessee and Birmingham, Alabama. The Emotion Is The Everglow Tour 2021 will feature a full-band performance from The Juliana Theory with original band members Brett Detar and Joshua Fiedler. If you haven’t already listened to their latest album, A Dream Away, don’t panic! The album features reimagined classics like “Into the Dark” and “If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop?” from Emotion is Dead in 2000. Nonetheless, The Juliana Theory will be play Emotion is Dead in full, reminding us of how far this band has come over the past two decades. Mae will also being playing classics from 2005’s The Everglow. 

    Before they all run out be sure to check out tickets at thejulianatheory.com. Purchases will include a VIP package including an exclusive vinyl variant of Emotion is Dead.

    The Juliana Theory and Mae “The Everglow Tour” 2021 tour dates

    September 3rd – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy

    September 4th – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy

    September 11th – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

    September 12th – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

    September 26th – Birmingham, AL @ Furnace Fest

    October 8th – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East

    October 22nd – Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room

    October 23rd – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre

    November 26th – Washington D.C. @ Union Stage

    November 27th – Norfolk, VA @ NorVA

    November 28th – Philadelphia, PA @ TLA

    December 3rd – Boston, MA @ Paradise

    December 18th – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge

    December 19th – Detroit, MI @ Shelter

  • Jenny Kern Releases “Where Did the Time Go,” sets date for EP release

    Canadian-born and NYC-based singer-songwriter Jenny Kern has released the heartfelt and lyrically rich song, “Where Did the Time Go.” The new single follows a string of acclaimed singles that will precede the release of her long-awaited self-titled EP I Never Thought You Were Listening, due out on October 1.

    jenny kern

    Jenny’s career began when she was still in University, performing around Montreal. Eventually, she gained more confidence in her sound, leading her to move to NYC in 2013. NBC welcomed Jenny as a Page seeing her true potential, where she would late work for acclaimed filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, allowing her to make the leap into film and television. Her love for music became so apparent that in 2018 she decided to take a leap of faith and pursue music full time. 

    In her rise to fame Jenny found herself performing at notable venues around New York City like Rockwood Music Hall, Pianos, and Mercury Lounge. Her debut EP was not only down to earth but intimate; a self-reflection on her personal experience with self-doubt, regret and the search for comfort in painful seasons. Jenny lures her audience through a confession-like delivery portraying her vulnerability through each lyric.

    The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for Jenny’s writing style. Her anticipated self-titled EP I Never Thought You Were Listening will be released this October 1st, with her new single “Where Did the Time Go” giving her audience a tease of what we can expect from her.

    “Where Did The Time Go” is an intensely personal and self-reflective song about dealing with anxiety. I started writing this song in quarantine while having an existential crisis, and not knowing what my purpose was, or why I was existing. While it’s dark in nature it was very cathartic to write. There’s something powerful in laying out your fears and anxieties and admitting that you don’t have all the answers.

    Jenny Kern on Rock and Roll Globe

    Jenny’s first single of 2021, “Coming Back For Me” released this January has spun on XPN and NPR’s World Café and earned a spot on Spotify editorial playlists like New Music Friday, Fresh Finds, and Indie All Stars.

    Watch Jenny’s new music video below, produced by Tashaki Mikyaki, with a focus on the reality of isolation that pushes us to question ourselves.

  • The Kitchen Celebrates Their 50th Anniversary, Releases Fall 2021 Schedule

    The Kitchen has reached the organization’s 50th year of vanguard programming, continuing its work in highlighting experimental artists and composers. The Kitchen was actually among one the very first American institutions to embrace fields of video and performance when it was founded in 1971.

    The Kitchen continues to be one New York City’s oldest non-profit spaces that has shaped countless careers by being a powerful force to help define the American avant-garde. This season will feature residency-performances that go beyond the limitations of art-making and presentation. Both celebratory and introspective, these events push the audience to revisit The Kitchen’s pivotal work throughout history. As this season begins, Legacy Russell starts her role as Executive Director & Chief Curator, while Tim Griffin leaves his position after a decade.

    Nevertheless, The Kitchen houses two residencies this upcoming fall. First, a comedian, artist, and writer named Sophia Cleary will be performing her standup material, One & Only. This material will delve into the relationship between audience and performer. Next, we’ll hear from Alex Tatarsky’s residency. With overwhelming reviews, Rachel James in BOMB describes her as an “artist, poet, absurd ranter, and avid lover of trees, clowns, and dirt.”

    In addition, The Kitchen will also feature the multifaceted musician, poet, and visual artist Moor Mother. She celebrates the release of her album Black Encyclopedia of the Air. Without a doubt, this evening will be filled with music from the synth duo Anteloper featuring their trumpet, drums, and synths (obviously). Also Undoing Language: Early Performance Works by Brian O’Doherty will celebrate the 93-year-old artist. During this performance you can also hear from vocalist and composer, Holland Andrews, not to mention Claire Chase who has finally released Density 2036 part viii after 26 years of commissioning. In the exhibition In Support, we’ll hear features from Fia BackströmFrancisca Benítez, Papo Colo, and Clynton Lowry.

    The Kitchen’s anticipated Annual Benefit Gala, will be held September 14, 2021. Of course, the event honors Cindy Sherman and Debbie Harry. These two artists are known for their impact on photography and music history. It’s easy to forget that both of these artists are actually The Kitchen veterans. After all, Sherman made her New York debut with Untitled Film Stills at The Kitchen in 1980, and Harry performed in Dubbed in Glamour the same year. Unfortunately these tributes were postponed from last year’s gala due to the pandemic. However, the event will also welcome artists like singer/songwriter and hip hop violinist Bri Blvck and L’Rain. Their work has been described as having “wearied landscapes of synth, air horn, strings, and saxophone [that] distill a suite of low moods … into resilience and hope” (Pitchfork). 

    The gala also provides an opportunity to introduce Legacy Russell and recognize Tim Griffin’s relentless work. Russell’s background with The Studio Museum in Harlem includes leading the organization’s renowned Artist-in-Residence program and organizing numerous exhibitions. Furthermore, her academic, curatorial work, and research have revolved around the intersection with Black and queer visual culture. 

    Virtual programming from last year has led to new Video Viewing Room presentations. This monthly series showcases recent and archival video alongside contextualizing media and writing. The first months of the season will feature a new video short by Jen Liu. This video poses as a response to archival materials surrounding Fred Ho’s opera Warrior Sisters: The New Adventures of African and Asian Womyn Warriors, which was conveniently staged at The Kitchen in 2000. Recent video work, text, images, and research references are from Ilana Harris-Babou.

    Fall 2021 Schedule and Descriptions

    The Kitchen Gala Benefit 

    Honoring Debbie Harry and Cindy Sherman

    And Welcoming the Next Avant-Garde with Performances by Bri Blvck, L’Rain, and More

    Tuesday, September 14, 2021

    512 W. 19th St.

    The Kitchen and a star-studded, wide-ranging benefit committee including JiaJia Fei, Doreen Garner, Tyler Mitchell, Antwaun Sargent, Chloë Sevigny, and Qualeasha Wood, to name a few, gather supporters to celebrate Debbie Harry and Cindy Sherman, The Kitchen’s vast, rich history, and the future of the avant-garde. The milestone event begins at 6pm with cocktails, followed at 7:30pm by dinner and a program featuring special performances from Bri BlvckL’Rain; a welcome to Legacy Russell; and a tribute to Tim GriffinApril Hunt and Stretch Armstrong DJ the after party, from 9:30pm-12am. 

    Moor Mother

    Sunday, September 19, 7pm. $15

    512 W. 19th St.

    Multifaceted musician, poet, and visual artist Moor Mother returns to The Kitchen with a new electronic set to celebrate the release of Black Encyclopedia of the Air (ANTI- Records), an album that speaks to “memory and imprinting and the future, all of them wafting through untouched space like the ghostly cinders of a world on fire, unbound and uncharted, vast and stretching across the universe.” Trumpet, drums, and synth duo Anteloper (Jaimie Branch and Jason Nazary) shares the evening. Organized by Lumi Tan, Senior Curator.

    Sophia Cleary: One & Only

    In residence September 20–October 2

    512 W. 19th St.

    Sophia Cleary is in residence to develop a stand-up comedy show for an audience of one person. Developed from the comedic material she has performed in recent years, Cleary uses the frame of the black box theater to explore the limits of connection between performer and audience using intimacy as her medium. One & Only is a performance series where each show is borne of the unique connection between Cleary and her audience. Each performance simultaneously celebrates and upsets 1:1 power dynamics, and asks: “How does the apparatus of theater support or disrupt a relationship?” Directed by Sara Lyons. Lighting Design by Madeline Best. Organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator.

    Video Viewing Room: Jen Liu >< Fred Ho  ///  Electropore >< Warrior Sisters
    Available to view beginning the week of September 27, 2021

    Online: The Kitchen OnScreen

    Artist Jen Liu premieres a new video short, Electropore, as part of her ongoing project Pink Slime Caesar Shift (2017–present). Through this new piece, Liu responds to the work of composer, baritone saxophonist, and activist Fred Ho (1957– 2014), whose foundational concepts—political revolution through artistic form, Black and Asian American coalition building, matriarchal socialism, and capitalism as biotoxicity—continue to resonate today. Liu will present Electropore in tandem with archival materials related to the sci-fi opera from which it draws inspiration: Warrior Sisters: The New Adventures of African and Asian Womyn Warriors, by Ho and librettist Ann T. Greene, staged at The Kitchen in 2000. The Video Viewing Room will also feature working materials that draw out Liu’s conceptual affinities with Ho and her reframing of the original opera within an anonymous and electrified/digitized paradigm, as the extension of her own explorations of contemporary labor activism, grassroots genetic engineering, and femme filiation. Organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement.

    Undoing Language: Early Performance Works by Brian O’Doherty

    Friday, October 8, 7pm. Tickets $15

    512 W. 19th St. 

    This program brings together early performance works by artist, art critic, poet, and novelist Brian O’Doherty that engage with the breakdown of language into vowels that are isolated from meaning and enunciated as bodily sounds. It will include the first-ever performance of Vowel Chorus for Five Voices (1968) by the vocal ensemble Ekmeles; the movement and sound work Vowel Grid (1970) for two performers; and a new commission by vocalist and composer Holland Andrews, who will unpack the layers of the O’Doherty’s vowel performances and poems in a soundscape. At age 93, this program recognizes O’Doherty’s role as an artist who created a substantial body of performance works when he made works engaging with the performativity of language and how it interacts with the performance of the “self,” but also led the first national funding for performance and media art at the National Endowment for the Arts in 1970s, making an indelible mark on the New York performance art scene. Guest curated by Lucy Cotter.  

    Alex Tatarsky

    In residence October 20–November 22

    512 W. 19th St. 

    Performance artist Alex Tatarsky will create a laboratory for performance research, thinking through the opportunity of a residency as a home—a “residence”—to revisit latent ideas and cultivate unhinged processes within the framework of an institution, a context that can often inhibit individual values and experimentation. Taking inspiration from Palace of Depression, a mansion constructed of detritus in Depression-era New Jersey, Tatarsky imagines constructing an opulent home for one’s darkest feelings. Principles of assemblage shape improvisations guided by discarded objects and materials to probe our relationship to decay, and the things we push out of sight. Tatarsky will work with a group of collaborators who will provide performance prompts, or give insights into their process in order for Tatarsky to potentially inhabit their practices. Each week, the public will be invited in for studio visits and guided tours, which additionally serve as performative acts. Organized by Lumi Tan, Senior Curator.

    Video Viewing Room: Ilana Harris-Babou

    Available to view beginning the week of October 25, 2021 

    Online: The Kitchen OnScreen

    Artist Ilana Harris-Babou presents recent video work, along with related materials such as text, images, and research references. In the artist’s words, her work “speaks the aspirational language of consumer culture, using humor as a means to digest painful realities. Her work confronts the contradictions of the American Dream: the ever unreliable notion that hard work will lead to upward mobility and economic freedom.” Organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement.

    In Support

    Group exhibition featuring works by Fia Backström, Francisca Benítez, Papo Colo, and Clynton Lowry 

    Opening November 2021

    512 W. 19th Street 

    The word support commonly appears in language describing the aims and activities of mission-driven, nonprofit institutions like The Kitchen. This exhibition invites four artists to reflect on what this term means in practice within institutional contexts, asking: How do institutions rely on cycles of providing and receiving support? In what ways do institutions position themselves in support of people, projects, or causes? Is support inherently good? Participating artists will create new works that animate the interlocking structural, fiscal, interpersonal, and ideological systems underpinning institutions. Highlighting interstitial spaces in which artists, staff, and audience members commonly enact or accept support in its manifold forms, these works will be installed in sites such as The Kitchen’s lobby, production workshop, administrative offices, and roof. While realizing In Support, the artists and the institution’s staff members will work collaboratively to negotiate the opportunities—and grapple with the limitations—of how support functions within and beyond The Kitchen. Organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement.

    Claire Chase: Density 2036, part viii

    December 9–11 

    512 W. 19th St.

    Celebrated flutist Claire Chase returns to The Kitchen to perform the world premieres of new compositions by composers Ann CleareMatana RobertsLu Wang, and Bora Yoon, commissioned by Chase as part of her 26-year Density 2036 project to find radical, new musical terrain for the flute and its community in the 21st century. Organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator.