The City of Albany announced a Virtual Tulip Festival celebration for 2021, which will occur throughout the entire month of May. The series will feature musical performances, tulip garden tours, prizes, and more.
While I join so many of you that are looking forward to getting back to celebrating the annual Tulip Fest the way we are accustom to, I am excited to participate in the month-long celebration of virtual Tulip Fest. I want to thank the Office of Cultural Affairs for their commitment to reinventing this and many other traditional Albany events in light of the COVID-19 outbreak and hope you and your family and friends will virtually join us for a full month of great programming.
In addition to the local musical performances, the Virtual Tulip Festival will present fun videos for kids to enjoy. Plus, the City of Albany Gardeners will provide a tour of the tulip beds and much more! Videos will premiere on the Albany Events YouTube page, on Facebook, and also on Public Access Channel Albany 1302. Make sure to stay tuned for schedule updates.
The 2021 Albany Tulip Queen, Court, and Mother of the Year will be presented later on with their own celebrations.
Hometown horn funk favorite, Victory Soul Orchestra, features the dirty sounds of New Orleans’ driving brass, with influences including Galactic and The Dap Kings. You can find them fronted by Albany’s own JB aka Dirty Moses and singer Dali Soto. Their efforts combined help create a funk/rap show that brings the house down. In January 2019, they released their first album, Astrobeat, which is available on vinyl and all streaming platforms.
C.K. and the Rising Tide’s brand of music features poetic, nostalgic lyrics supported by music that is rockin’ and emotionally evocative. Curtis K. Flach (“C.K.”) appreciates how a film’s soundtrack enhances and cements the emotions portrayed on-screen. C.K. has a similar agenda for his tunes: “I write music as a soundtrack to daily life – a way to express things you might not be able to say otherwise…or may not want to say.”
Tickets are available via Eventbrite for Victory Soul Orchestra on April 17 and C.K. and the Rising Tide, with special guest Julia Alsarraf on April 24. Expect more live music announcements from Lark Hall in the coming weeks.
On Saturday, April 10, Lark Hall welcomed The Wheel and a crowd of 70 or so Deadheads who barely found time to take a break from dancing. It seemed like everyone was letting loose the pent up dance moves honed over the past year. With two sets packed with Grateful Dead classics, including a fiery “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot” > “Franklin’s Tower,” the crowd was elated and showed the band their love all throughout.
SummerStage free concerts return to Central Park, bringing socially distanced live music this summer. The first benefit concert of the series of free shows begins with Dawes on Friday, April 16 at 10AM ET.
The SummerStage
With new New York City announcements on limited-capacity concerts, live performances are scheduled for Central Park and Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park/Richard Rodgers Amphitheater. Events will follow all regulations regarding large-scale outdoor events, included masks, socially distanced seating, and limited capacity. For admittance, a free ticket, proof of vaccine and/or a negative COVID test, and health screening (a questionnaire and temperature checks). All in-person performances will also be live-streamed on SummerStageAnywhere.org.
In addition to the musicial performances, ranging from hip-hop, indie rock, and jazz, there will also be outdoor, family-friendly marionette shows throughout the summer through CityParks PuppetMobile.
The City Parks Foundation will also soon launch a micro-grants program for grassroots arts organizations and individual artists to provide funding for free cultural programs in parks and neighborhood plazas in the city’s most under-resourced communities. These two organizations strive to provide free cultural programs across the city.
A Past SummerStage Show from 2019
Dawes will kick off the SummerStage free concerts season on April 16 as part of their 2021 tour to promote their new album, Good Luck With Whatever. Tickets go on sale begins at 10 AM, Friday April 16 on AXS.
The last year has been enormously difficult for our city. Live performance, with the energy that is generated by experiencing it with others, will be a balm for our collective soul. SummerStage has been an active member of the NYS Nonprofit Outdoor Performing Arts Coalition, working with fellow outdoor venues and the NYS Department of Health to ensure that we are well-prepared to provide a safe and comfortable concert-going experience that follows strict health protocols. SummerStage will help restore vibrancy to our city through free performances in parks, which have been such important public spaces for New Yorkers seeking safe respite during the pandemic.
Heather Lubov, Executive Director – City Parks Foundation
The City Parks Foundation, Summer Stage, and Capital One provide vibrant, culturally impactful, free events in New York City. Now that vaccines are rolling out at a wider, consistent pace, there is hope for more live concerts, beginning with these benefit outdoor shows.
Live music website JamBase has announced Cluster Flies, a cover album of the legendary Phish album Farmhouse, set for release on Friday, April 30th.
Performing artists on the album include William Tyler on the intro track “The Inlaw Josie Wales,” Club d’Elf on “Sand,” Ryley Walker on the monster 20 minute outro track “First Tube,”and many other talented artists.
I tasked the team to come up with an idea that we could rally around in place of live music and to raise lost revenues for JamBase. Rather than a standard fundraiser, the Cluster Flies project was conceived, and we soon reached out to an incredible group of musicians who graciously jumped at the opportunity to support JamBase.
David Onigman, CEO
Each song on Cluster Flies will premiere through a daily rollout on JamBase and a corresponding episode of The JamBase Podcast that will also feature interviews with each of the participating artists. A select number of Cluster Flies songs will debut on SiriusXM’s Phish Radio on episodes of Crowd Control and Headbands.
The limited-edition 3LP album was mastered by engineer Joe Lambert and features custom artwork created by longtime Phish collaborator Jim Pollock. The Cluster Flies Pollock poster will be available to bundle with the triple gatefold, 180-gram vinyl edition. A standalone triple gatefold, 180-gram vinyl edition without the poster can also be purchased. A high-res digital version can be downloaded as well.
Albany-based artist Gavin Preller excitedly announced his debut album: There is Wonder. The project is being mastered by Kramer and is set to be released on May 21st via Shimmy-Disc/Joyful Noise Recordings.
There Is Wonder was written and recorded between the months of October 2020 and February 2021 in Preller’s home town of Bethlehem, New York. Preller wrote, arranged, and performed every song from a basic basement setup in his parent’s home – except for drums on two tracks, which were recorded by Leor Manelis. Initially, Preller wrote and recorded the first six tracks before sending it to his iconic producer Kramer for mastering, Preller was them unexpectedly signed to the Shimmy-Disc label and encouraged to expand the six songs into a full record.
It’s hard not to hear flares of the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Jeff Buckley, proof of just how much Preller’s vocals are truly captivating.
Variance
Gavin Preller began studying classical piano at the age of 3, later picking up guitar at ten years old. In 2019 he attended Berklee College of Music before dropping out after one year to live in an agricultural community in Southern France. Back in the States in February, 2020, Preller took his backpack and acoustic guitar on a cross-country train to Portland, OR. He was living by himself in a used van, without a job, using a nearby Planet Fitness for showers, when Covid hit. That March, he sold the van and returned to his parent’s home in Upstate New York where he has been working on new music ever since.
Troy Savings Bank Music Halland WEXT present the UpLift Commission Series, faeturing local artists to participate. In collaboration with Organ Colossal, the Lift was curated and invited a small audience to sit on stage with artists while they performed.
The pandemic caused the program to end forcing staff at the Music Hall to find creative ways to keep it going. The Hall reached out to the Organ Colossal to find local community talent in the Capital Region. Each artist selected has contributed to their community throughout the years and their participation is another contribution. Their creations for this project reflect the mood of current times and each performance is honest and speaks to the changes music has faced over the year.
Upcoming UpLift Commission Series performances begin later this month. Indie singer based Upstate and Brooklyn,Belle Skinner, performs on Friday, April 23 at 7 p.m. Mother and son duo, sitarist Veena and tabla drummer Devesh Chandra perform on Friday, May 7. New York-based Puerto Rican singer, Taína Asili and guitarist Gaetano Vaccaro perform on Friday, May 21. The events are free and open to the public and links to performance will be released closer to the performances.
Troy Savings Bank Music Hallwas created in 1870 built on the upper level to show the bank’s appreciation to the local citizens for their support. In the beginning, the hall hosted performances from musicians nationally and internationally even during the World War II era. In 1979 the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Revitalization Committee after Troy’s declined and had problems supporting the arts.
The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Corporation came about through funding from the bank and from the city and county. It is a non profit organization and it leases the Hall from the bank. The Hall has a reputation for orchestra and chamber music. However with sound as its main priority, it became a venue with classical and modern music performances.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Chicago’s historic 1971 concerts, the band will release all eight Carnegie Hall shows in their entirety for the first time. Chicago at Carnegie Hall Complete will be accessible on July 16.
Fifty years ago, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Chicago became the first non-classical group to perform six nights in a row at Carnegie Hall. Between April 5 and 10, 1971, the band played and recorded eight shows at the celebrated venue. Performance highlights from those shows were featured on the band’s first live album, Chicago at Carnegie Hall. This quadruple LP of theirs reached #3 on the Billboard 200, was certified platinum, and remained Chicago’s best-selling live album.
Known as the “rock band with horns,” Chicago is one of the longest-running and best-selling groups. They have won countless awards over the years, not limited to two Grammy Awards, 11 Number One singles, five Number One albums, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Additionally, Chicago was the first American band to ever chart albums in Billboard’s Pop Top 40 in six consecutive decades.
Chicago at Carnegie Hall Complete includes memorabilia that commemorates the iconic event. The collection consists of replicas of the three posters that accompanied the original vinyl release. Also included are images of the original concert program, tickets, and other memorabilia from the historic event. Also included with the 16-disc set is a 28-page booklet illustrated with photos from the concerts. Alongside this will be new liner notes with contributions from Lee Loughnane, archivist Jeff Magid, writer/producer David Wild, and comedian/Chicago fanatic Jimmy Pardo.
Lee Loughnane, Chicago founding member, and trumpeter teamed up with engineer Tim Jessup to develop this work. The two spent nearly a year going through more than 40 concert tapes and remastered each concert in the studio. Their dedication led to the development of the eight shared shows. The performances featured contributions from every band member, including guitar work from Terry Kath, vocals by Kath, Robert Lamm, and Peter Cetera. Also featured are memorable work by Loughnane, James Pankow, Walt Prazaider, and Danny Seraphine’s jazz-influenced drumming.
Chicago at Carnegie Hall Complete will be available shortly and can be preordered exclusively here.
TheCaroga Lake Music Festival returns this year during the summer, and marks the 10 year anniversary for the festival.
Artist: Erica Harney
Caroga Arts Collective hosted several performances and events featuring artists from all around the world spanning from different genres. They use inspiration from nature found in the Adirondacks and bring the community together through art, culture and business.
The Caroga Lake Music Festival is presented by the Caroga Arts Collective and founded and directed by Kyle Barrett Price. It is five weeks and offers free music performances and community outreach. Artists from all around the world and from the community create interactive experiences for the audience. Four series arose from the festival including – Sherman’s Revival Series, Caroga Chapel Series, Encore!Jazz Session and The Barge.
This year is not only the 10 year anniversary for the Caroga Lake Festival, it is also the 100 year anniversary of Caroga Arts new home, Sherman’s Amusement Park. The festival takes place July 24 – August 22 and is featuring debut artists from genres such as classical, bluegrass, pop, jazz and more. Caroga Arts plans to partner with local businesses and organizations.
With health as the main priority for artists, the audience and staff, a Protocol Advisory Team is meeting every week to maintain safety as the festival approaches. Every concert held at the park will be held at Sherman’s Bumper Car Pavilion with socially distanced pods to seat the audience. More updates about the Caroga Lake Music Festival will be announced later this Spring.
The American Symphony Orchestra announces plans for free nine-concert chamber music series, taking place in Manhattan’s Bryant Park and 34th St. Herald Square Plaza and will run through May 3–19, 2021.
The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra that was founded back in 1962. Their mission is to make orchestral music accessible and affordable for everyone. The musical performances and works are curated around ideas drawn from a variety of disciplines such as history, visual arts, science, politics and literature. They often try to revive works that were rarely-performed in their hay day that audiences would otherwise never have a chance to hear performed live.
The nine concert series will include five different programs curated by American Symphony Orchestra musicians. The performances will feature music ranging from 20th century Mexican and all-American jazz composers to Afro-Cuban Batá drumming and classical works for horn quartet and woodwind trio. Some of the featured artists include percussionist and composer Javier Diaz, saxophonist Roxy Coss, and oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz.
There will be a limited number of first-come, first-served chairs set up near the Bryant Park Fountain Terrace in front of the stage and at Herald Square for people to watch the live music from American Symphony Orchestra. Artists and audience members will be required to follow current public health guidelines including wearing masks and social distancing. All the concerts will last for at least one hour and will begin at 5:30PM.
For more information on the American Symphony Orchestra and their concert series visit their website.
The full schedule can be read below:
Modernism in Mexico – String Quartet
Monday, May 3 & Tuesday, May 4, at 5:30 pm
Bryant Park Fountain Terrace
Modernism in Mexico explores string quartets by some of Mexico’s most important 20th-century composers: Manuel Ponce, Silvestre Revueltas, and Carlos Chávez. Ponce was Mexico’s leading classical musician, and this performance of his well-known song Estrellita is a new arrangement for string quartet. Carlos Chávez was his student and heir apparent, touring extensively as a conductor and producing an impressive body of compositions. Chávez’s close colleague, violinist Silvestre Revueltas, was a notable conductor/composer whose work includes the score to the 1936 film Redes (The Wave), commissioned by the Mexican government.
Cyrus Beroukhim, violin
Philip Payton, violin
Will Frampton, viola
Alberto Parrini, cello
Manuel Ponce: Estrellita
Manuel Ponce: Petite suite dans le style ancien
Silvestre Revueltas: Musica de Feria
Carlos Chávez: String Quartet No. 3
Strike Force – Percussion Ensemble
Wednesday, May 5 & Wednesday, May 12 at 5:30 pm
34th Street Herald Square Plaza
This percussion ensemble combines Afro-Cuban Batá drumming and poetry with the sounds of contemporary chamber percussion, featuring Grammy-nominated Imani Winds’ oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz in compositions by percussionist and composer Javier Diaz.
Kory Grossman, Javier Diaz, and Charles Descarfino, percussion
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
All-Javier Diaz Program:
“Chandani”
“Canciones del Idalgo”
“Maleza”
“Son Montuno Sinfonia”
“Sakpata”
“Lucumi Cycle”
ASO Salutes NYC/USA – Jazz Ensemble
Monday, May 10 & Tuesday, May 11 at 5:30 pm
Bryant Park Fountain Terrace
A truly American genre, the ASO presents this jazz ensemble as a salute to U.S. healthcare workers who have made it possible for New Yorkers to experience live music once again. The program, including works by Gershwin, Bernstein, Ellington, and Chick Corea, among others, celebrates composers who have defined the sound of this vibrant city.
Lee Musiker, piano
Lou Bruno, bass
Kory Grossman, drums
Eugene Moye, cello
Roxy Coss, tenor saxophone and flute
Harry Warren: “42nd Street”
George Gershwin: “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Porgy and Bess
Duke Ellington: “Take the A Train”
Leonard Bernstein: “Some Other Time”
Leonard Bernstein: “Cool” from West Side Story
Gustav Holst: I. Mars, the Bringer of War, from The Planets, Op. 32
Chick Corea: Children’s Songs
Charles Mingus: “Nostalgia in Times Square”
Woodwind Trio
Tuesday, May 18 at 5:30 pm
Bryant Park Fountain Terrace
Woodwind chamber music had something of a renaissance in the 1920s; at the same time, works for reed trio—oboe, clarinet, and bassoon—were coming together with the formation of the Trio d’Anches de Paris, a collaboration of three virtuosi reed players. This program offers music from some of the greatest composers of wind music in the 20th century.
Alexandra Knoll, oboe
Shari Hoffman, clarinet
Marc Goldberg, bassoon
Charles Koechlin: Trio d’anches Op. 206
Jean Françaix: Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon
Alexandre Tansman: Suite for Wind Trio
Claude Arrieu: Suite en trio
Albert Roussel: Andante from an Unfinished Wind Trio: Adagio
Joseph Canteloube: Rustiques – I. Pastorale
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon, FP 32a
Gilles Silvestrini: Oboe Etude No. 1: Hôtel des Roches Noires à Trouville
Horn Quartet
Monday, May 17 & Wednesday, May 19 at 5:30 pm
Bryant Park Fountain Terrace & 34th Street Herald Square Plaza
Perfectly at home in the outdoors, the horn quartet has enjoyed a rich history from the forest to the concert hall. This program features composers highlighted by Bard Music Festivals of the past with a few modern classics that will inspire.
Chad Yarbrough, David Smith, Lawrence DiBello, and David Peel, French horns
National Geographic is hosting a virtual celebration for Earth Day Eve with performances from several artists in efforts to unite and inspire people to take action to save the planet.
Art Credit: Cachetejack
The virtual celebration is one of the multiple ways that National Geographic is offering to honor Earth Day. The Earth Day Eve celebration is the first event and has a star-studded lineup of musical guests ranging from different genres. Performers include, Angélique Kidjo, AURORA, José González, Yo-Yo Ma, Ziggy Marley and more. My Morning Jacket is going to premiere their new music video as well. These artists will be joining from places that are important to them to raise awareness and take viewers on a virtual journey.
Earth Day Eve 2021 is hosted by Jessica Nabongo who is a travel writer, entrepreneur and more notably the first documented Black woman to travel every country in the world. Viewers joining the virtual festivities will be introduced to some National Geographic explorers. There will be appearances from renowned ethologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Rae Wynn Grant, Lillygol Sedaghat and Dr. Lucy Hawkes. National Geographic explorer and marine photographer Brian Skerry will preview the new Disney + series Secrets of the Whales. The Earth Day activities ends when Secrets of the Whales premieres on April 22 at midnight. Filmmaker and National Geographic explorer James Cameron is the executive producer and Sigourney Weaver is the narrator of the four-part series.
Along with performances from multiple musicians, there will be many announcements made and a virtual after party on National Geographic’s TikTok at 10 p.m. EDT. House music DJ/producer and environmental scientist Jayda G will be playing a set with visuals from the new Disney + series Earth Moods. National Geographic has a new playlist on Spotify to embrace the Earth month.
Earth Day Eve airs exclusively on National Geographic’s YouTube channel and on their website on April 21 at 8:30 p.m. EDT. The celebration revolves around music’s ability to unite everyone for the cause of protecting the environment.
