NYS Music 202​1

Tag: Central Park

  • SummerStage NYC Announces Free Summer Concerts

    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.

    summerstage free Concerts
    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.

  • Capital One City Parks Foundation Announces Michael Mwenso Performance

    Capital One City Parks Foundation announces performance from Michael Mwenso as part of their SummerStage Anywhere series on February 25, 2021 at 7PM EST. The performance will be streamed virtually as part of a Black History Month celebration. 

    Michael Mwenso

    The performance is titled the Michael Mwenso: Hope, Resist & Heal, Performance and will also be hosting a conversation with Shannon Effinger. Michael Mwenso is not only a musician but an artist and social commentator. He will offer his unique and ancestral perspective on Black music and its power to heal. He is an African-born queer man who grew up in London and New York. The performance will consist of a  live studio recorded performance with his group, Mwenso and the Shakes, a multicultural New York jazz group. After the performance the conversation with arts journalist Shannon Effinger focusing on the continuum and power of Black roots music will take place. 

    Michael Mwenso was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone but spent his teenage years at the legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott’s in London where he was exposed to musicians like Benny Carter, Elvin Jones, Ray Brown and Billy Higgins. Mwenso is known for his work as a  trombonist, singer and performer playing in jump bands, reggae and Afrobeat horn sections and at hard-bop sessions.

    Mwenso has worked with big names like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jon Batiste, Aaron Diehl, Sullivan Fortner and Jamison Ross.Mwenso began his collaboration of Juilliard trained musicians known as The Shakes which come from all over the world including Sierra Leone, South Africa, Madagascar, London, France, Jamaica and Hawaii. Between all of them they create a unique jazz and blues sound  through African and Afro-American music.

    The performance will take place on February 25, 2021 at 7PM EST. The performance will be streamed virtually on SummerStageAnywhere.org and across SummerStage social media outlets Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch as part of a Black History Month celebration.  For more information on the performance visit Capital One City Parks Foundation’s website.