In the Western New York town of Ellicottville, the village will heat up this winter during Winter Blues Weekend, held January 20-22 at various venues and establishments in town. These hot spots will feature live and local blues artists on Friday and Saturday night, with more events planned during the long weekend, all free and open to the public.
Located in the heart of the Chautauqua-Allegheny Region, Ellicottville is located less that an hour northeast of Jamestown and less than an hour south of Buffalo. Presented by the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce, this high-energy, soulful celebration in the heart of the village will feature more than 15 regional acts. Ellicottville also offers eclectic shops, unique restaurants and two ski slopes all within walking distance.
Winter Blues Weekend has always been a hit with both our locals and visitors. We’re looking forward to welcoming back some of the greatest Blues artists in our area, as well as some new acts. We hope you will give these musicians a warm welcome!
Jessica Wallace, business development manager of the Ellicottville Chamber
The music kicks off Friday evening and continues through Sunday afternoon, allowing you to kick back and listen to amazingly talented musicians, perhaps after a day of skiing the local slopes.
“We want to make sure that everyone who comes to Ellicottville can enjoy these live performances at no cost,” said Wallace. “Many restaurants start their entertainment schedules in the afternoon, giving families with young children a chance to plan a fun, musically-inspired lunch or dinner out and take part in all the excitement.”
Book your lodging now so you can look forward to enjoying a weekend of great music, fun dining, eclectic shopping and freshly groomed ski conditions. A complete schedule of live music for Winter Blues Weekend 2023 will be posted on ellicottvilleny.com.
The historic Cohoes Music Hall announces three new shows to their calendar of upcoming events, featuring Hootenanny at the Hall, A Night of Joni Mitchell, and Stephen Pearcy’s “The Voice Of RATT.”
The Cohoes Music Hall opened its door in 1874 in Cohoes. It was restored in 1974 to become what it is today, a historic music hall with a great lineup of events. In late December, the venue was awarded $1.88 million in funding through New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation grants, transforming it into an energy-efficient building.
Their upcoming lineup of events features three new shows on the bill. On Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. Steven Pearcy brings “The Voice of RATT” to the Cohoes Music Hall. He is the founder, lead singer, and songwriter of the metal rock band RATT, credited with having been a pioneer of the early 80’s Sunset Strip rock scene. RATT has nearly four decades of success, having released eight albums and played thousands of shows worldwide all the while selling over 20 million records. He will be performing all the hits, including “Round & Round,’“ “Wanted Man,” “Lay It Down,” “Lack Of Communication,” “Dance” and many more.
Other events added at the Cohoes Music Hall include A Night of Joni Mitchell with Zan & The Winter Folk, Girl Blue, Hold on Honeys, and Belle-Skinner on March 11. The evening will be celebrating the music of the legendary Joni Mitchell, with four of the Capital Region’s premier musical acts together. Finally, the second annual Hootenanny at the Hall will happen on March 25. The event focuses on celebrating Country, Bluegrass, and Blues in the Capital Region, featuring three incredible artists/bands, The Moon Shells, Caity & the Gallaghers, and Jacob Shipley.
There are more events happening at the venue that have already been announced, including Zach Nugent and Dead Set on Jan. 20, The British Legends of Rocks Show on Feb. 17, ACROBAT, The International U2 Tribute Show on Feb. 25, Haley Reinhart on March 24, and many more.
Information about the events announced at the Cohoes Music Hall and to purchase tickets, visit here.
Isaac Mizrahi will return to Café Carlyle in February with his all-new show, “The Marvelous Mr. Mizrahi,” for a two-week residency, running from Valentines Day through the 25th.
Accompanied by his band of jazz musicians – led by Ben Waltzer – Mizrahi will perform a range of tunes from Arthur Freed to Grace Jones. The New York Times notes that Isaac Mizrahi “qualifies as a founding father of a genre that fuses performance art, music and stand-up comedy.”
The Marvelous Mr. Mizrahi
Isaac Mizrahi has worked extensively in the entertainment industry as a performer, host, writer, designer and producer for over 30 years. Along with his annual residency at Café Carlyle, Isaac has performed at various venues across the country such as Joe’s Pub, The Regency Ballroom, several City Winery locations nationwide and comes to the Carlyle fresh from his run as Amos Hart in the Broadway production of CHICAGO.
Mizrahi is also the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his Fall 1994 collection which received an award at the Sundance Film Festival. He hosted his own television talk show, “The Isaac Mizrahi Show” for seven years, has written three books, and has made countless appearances in movies and on television. He served as a judge on “Project Runway: All-Stars” for the series’ entire seven-season run. Previous residencies of Mizrahi’s at Café Carlyle were sellouts, receiving widespread critical acclaim.
Performances will take place at Café Carlyle from February 14-25 (Tuesday-Saturday) at 8:45pm. Weekday pricing begins at $100 per person for General Seating, $150 per person for Premium Seating, and $85 per person for Bar Seating. Weekend pricing begins at $135 per person for General Seating, $185 per person for Premium Seating, and $100 per person for Bar Seating. Reservations can be made online via Tock. Café Carlyle is located in The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel (35 East 76th Street, at Madison Avenue).
Joe Magnarelli, a world-class jazz expatriate from the Salt City, always makes time for his hometown when on tour. Even with a busy road schedule, the prodigal son will have an upcoming stop at the Jazz Central theater on Saturday, January 21st at 7:30 pm.
Magnarelli, who made his bones with stints in Harry Connick’s band and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, will front his current touring trio of luminaries, including organist Pat Bianchi, veteran of the Pat Martino and Lou Donaldson groups; Eastman School faculty Bob Sneider on guitar, and drummer Joe Strasser, former percussionist for artists as diverse as Harold Mabern, Jane Monheit, David Hazeltine, and Kyle Eastwood; all are leaders in their own right.
We haven’t seen enough of Joe Mags of late, due to pesky conflicts like pandemics. Area fans have been waiting too long for his return, so we expect them to line up for this one as well. The red carpet will be fully rolled out.
Larry Luttinger CNY Jazz founder
Well known to local audiences, Joe has appeared many times at CNY Jazz festivals and concerts, to play with his group, as a guest soloist with other jazz legends, or with the Syracuse Symphony and Symphoria.
Magnarelli’s career output continues to grow as his heavy international schedule continues into its fourth decade, including past experience with leaders Buddy Rich, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Brother Jack McDuff, Maria Schneider, Ray Barretto, his wife, Akiko Tsuruga, and many groups of his own. He has recorded over 15 albums as leader and logged many, many more as a sideman.
If you do attend, mask wearing is encouraged at the cozy downtown venue. Jazz Central is located at 441 E Washington St, Syracuse. Advance sale tickets are available now at cnyjazz.org/tickets
Brooklyn-based bluegrass trio Damn Tall Buildings will bring their fresh bluegrass sound to Caffè Lena on January 20 at 8PM with unmatched energy and enthusiasm that creates a captivating, high-energy sound.
Damn Tall Buildings
Consisting of fiddler/vocalist Avery Ballotta from Bozeman, guitarist/lead vocalist Max Capistran from Bedford, and bassist/lead vocalist Sasha Dubky from Philadelphia, Damn Tall Buildings is a tight, harmonizing, swinging trio that specializes in bluegrass but also expertly ventures through jazz, ragtime, country swing, and contemporary singer-songwriter styles. They have been called “The Carter Family for the millennial generation” by the Boston Globe.
Damn Tall Buildings is a damn fine trio, mixing bluegrass, swing, and foot-stomping old-time music you wouldn’t think possible from a band from Brooklyn.
No Depression, Chris Griffy
Continuing the busk energy in their early days, Damn Tall Buildings still radiates the energy of a ragtag crew of music students playing bluegrass on the street. But anchoring that energy is their instrumental chops, their strong songwriting, and their varied influences that stretch beyond bluegrass. Their latest release was their thrid full length album called Sleeping Dogs including 11 tracks in the summer of 2022.
Holding the mission that “To provide music, connection and learning from a legendary venue”, Caffè Lena presents extraordinary music in Saratoga Springs. It is renowned for its long history on continuously operating folk music venue in the United States. It has been recognized as “An American treasure” by The Library of Congress. The GRAMMY Foundation also recognized for its important contributions to the development of American music. In 2020 they launched a School of Music for the purpose of carrying on the folk tradition of music as a social pastime.
The performance of Damn Tall Buildings will start at 8PM and doors at 7:30PM (EST). Livestream is also available. Tickets for student or child are $10, while $18 for members and $20 for general admissions. For ticket and more information, please visit this link.
In the Washington County town of Hudson Falls, a year of celebration is underway. The Strand Theatre, which opened its doors on January 17, 1923, will kick off a centennial year of celebration, with a series of films that call back to the silent film era, which the Strand Theatre was initially built for.
October 2022
Having reopened on October 7, 2016 through the nonprofit Hudson River Music Hall Productions, which came together in 2010 with the goal of helping to rehabilitate old buildings in Hudson Falls. Having a huge calendar each month (see below) with a wide variety of genres, shows and experiences, the Strand Theatre holds the distinction as the only major music venue in Washington and Warren Counties that is open year-round. Part of a chain of Strand Theatres built in the early 20th century, other venues under the name Strand can be found in Plattsburgh and Schroon Lake, as well as others that have closed over time.
1923
The Strand Theatre opening night in 1923 incldued two screenings of One Week in Love. Now in 2023, the Hudson Falls Strand Theatre, starting on January 17th, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the venue’s grand opening with the 1923 comedy classic Safety Last, starring silent-era film star Harold Lloyd. January 19th will feature The General, starring Buster Keaton, with Max Schreck’s Nosferatu the feature film on January 20th, and Fritz Lang’s NYC-inspired Metropolis on January 21.
All movies will start at 7 pm, with admission and popcorn free.
Stay tuned for NYS Music’s full history of The Strand Theatre and more info on the centennial year of this Northeast New York multi-purpose performing arts venue.
On January 28 & 30, the gifted Andrew Barth Feldman will be making a performance at the Midnight Theatre in Manhattan, performing Barth Mitzvah Boy: An Evening Of Original Music.
Special guests will join Feldman for these shows, including including Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things, Parade at New York City Center), Shereen Pimentel (West Side Story, Into the Woods at New York City Center), Alex Boniello (Dear Evan Hansen, Spring Awakening), Gian Perez (Sing Street), Heath Saunders (Great Comet, Company) and more.
Feldman is known for his roles in Dear Evan Hansen, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Barth Mitzvah Boy: An Evening Of Original Music was directed by award winning Marc Tumminelli. Marc was awarded for the direction of Andrew Barth Feldman’s Park Map, as well as the club acts for multiple Broadway stars including: Erika Henningsen, Micaela Diamond and Farah Alvin. Additionally, Tumminelli is the founder and director of Broadway Workshop, NYC’s top training program for young actors.
To raise money for autism research, Feldman founded his own musical theater company, Zneefrock Productions. His performances have been glorified by many including The New York Times. After witnessing his role in, Dear Evan Hansen, on Broadway, the times claimed “Andrew Barth Feldman made me forget where I was, who I was, that I was anything other than part of the world onstage. Feldman’s previous cabaret show, Park Map, also won the BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award for Best Show. Next, he’ll be starring alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the movie No Hard Feelings.
During the production, you will find yourself astonished by the magical capabilities of the Midnight Theatre. There will be 270-degree projection-mapped visuals, D&B surround sound and more. Coming up, the dazzling 160-seat theater will also host podcast tapings with Impractical Jokersstars Q, Murr and Sal, Midnight Theatre Football Club, The Moth Storyslam Open-Mic, psychic channeling with Craig Mcmanus, comedy shows and more. Tickets for all events available here.
Midnight Theatre is a new, intimate performance venue in the heart of New York’s West Manhattan at 75 Manhattan West Plaza. As a guest expect to be met with unique experiences of magic, music, comedy, theater, and performance art by the ever-evolving, 160-seat theater. Inside the glamorous Midnight Theatre is an equally elegant and lively restaurant and bar, Hidden Leaf.
Prior to the shows, guests can dine at pan-Asian restaurant and lounge Hidden Leaf, created by chef/restaurateur Josh Cohen (Chez Ma Tante, Lilia, Saint Vitus). In addition to a kitchen helmed by Chef Chai Trivedi (Pranna, Tamarind, Buddakan, Eventi Hotel), guests can expect a romantic and playfully chic dining room that serves polished, table-sharing, pan-Asian cuisine. Aperitivo bar Midnight Cafe is also open. Here you’ll find a high-energy, fun experience, soundtracked to 70’s Italian disco.
You can find tickets for Barth Mitzvah Boy: An Evening Of Original Musichere.
“Barth Mitzvah Boy: An Evening Of Original Music” Guests:
Alex Boniello (Dear Evan Hansen, Spring Awakening) Zack Calderon (The Wilds on Amazon Prime) Amanda Rose Gross Paul Hogan Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things, Parade at New York City Center) Gian Perez (Sing Street) Shereen Pimentel (West Side Story, Into the Woods at New York City Center) Sam Primack (Dear Evan Hansen) Will Roland (Dear Evan Hansen, Be More Chill, Billions) Heath Saunders (Great Comet, Company) Sadie Seelert Samantha Williams (Dear Evan Hansen, Caroline or Change)
EMPAC, located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, has unveiled their Spring 2023 season of performances. This series of events is a special opportunity to experience synthesizing productions that integrate artistic practices, and fuses both art and technology. Starting in January and running through May, artists in residence at EMPAC premiere shows that span dance, visual arts, performance-installations, multimedia concerts, new music, film, and hybrid theatrical productions.
Since its first commission in 2006, the EMPAC curatorial program has supported the commissioning, production, and presentation of ambitious performances and artworks that span time-based visual art, music, theater, and dance. The program’s polyvocal curatorial approach resonates through each project, generating time-based artworks that are diverse in content, method, technology, and audience experience. Alongside the curatorial program, researchers at Rensselaer use the infrastructure of EMPAC to expand the discourse at the intersection of digital technology and the human condition through a broad range of research projects in science and engineering that include cognitive computing, immersive visual and auditory environments, and physical computing.
This spring season at EMPAC hosts some of our largest and most intimate projects to date, all of which stretch sensory exploration and technical research in the arts in new ways. As we continue to welcome audiences back to EMPAC, our curators and engineers are excited to connect the people of our region to this polyvocal program of expansive new works by our artists in residence, many of which have been in development for several years at the Center.
Vic Brooks, EMPAC Associate Director of Arts and Senior Curator of Time-based Visual Art.
EMPAC (The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) grants artists the creative sovereignty to pursue collaborations with others working not only in the fields of visual and performing arts, but also in science, new media, and technology. T
he Spring 2023 season showcases programs by worldwide artists that binds disciplines, medium, and subject matter–sculptors working with composers, visual artists with sound artists, a music/documentary-theater hybrid with an 18-person live orchestra, and a large-scale dome installation currently being designed to host performances with integrations of immersive VR, projection, and spatial audio. With the assistance of new and evolving technology developed by EMPAC, artists explore political, social, and global issues. Alongside this search, artists are also attentive to how new art forms can open imaginative spaces for rethinking the future.
On January 11, Daina Ashbee,a Canadian choreographer, recognized and admired for her innovativeness will make the US Premiere of her first group show J’ai pleuré avec les chiens(Time, Creation, Destruction)at EMPAC in Troy, NY.. You can expect a transformative experience about the rebellious potential of the human body in performative spaces, which has already been staged in a handful of major cities outside the US. Two more performances follow at Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in New York City (January 13 & 14).
January 23 brings the live performance Cuando las nubes eran las olas / When the clouds were the waves by two EMPAC artists in residence, the Venezuelan-Ecuadorian artist Ana Navasand Venezuelan composer Mirtru Escalona-Mijares. The production explores the afterlives of the Venezuelan modernist art movement during a time of political and economic turmoil for the country. They pay homage to Alexander Calder’s panels in the Aula Magna, the main auditorium in the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, and the commonalities the Aula Magna shares with the EMPAC concert hall, where the show will be installed and performed.
At Empact, the first program, A Kind Of Ache by music curator Amadeus Julian Regucerawill be delivered on January 27. The production will be an hour-long performance by the contemporary, experimental chamber music duo The Living Earth Show. This duo is on a mission to emphasize the voices, perspectives, and bodies of non-white and queer artists that mainstream classical music traditionally exclude. Sarah Hennies, a composer and percussionist whose works explore queer and trans identity, composes the original score. Terry Berlier, who investigates queerness and ecologies in her art, designs a sculpture-turned-instrument that the duo and Hennies will perform on. This is the kick-off to The Living Earth Show’s multi-season residency with EMPAC, with another engagement slated for Fall 2023.
On February 25, the world premiere of Paper Pianosby Mary Kouyoumdjian, an Armenian-American composer and documentarian and Nigel Maister, a South African- American director and writer will be performed live on EMPAC. The production will be delivered by the acclaimed 18-person Alarm Will Soundorchestra with projections by Syrian visual artist Kevork Mourad. The evening-length music and documentary-theater hybrid explores the dislocation, longing, and optimism of refugees and the experiences of those who provide services to them.
Bora Yoon, a Korean-American electroacoustic composer, vocalist, and sound artist, and Joshue Ott,a creative technologist who designs custom softwares, apps, and interactive visual and audio experiences for concert halls, join forces to premiere their multimedia concert SPKR SPRKL, on March 18. Yoon and Ott use EMPAC’s Wave Field Synthesis Array to produce a visually and sonically stimulating composition based on a new imminent album by Yoon.
Later in the season, Transtraterrestrial, a prequel and premiere of The Unarrival Experiments – Unconcealment Ceremonies(April 6), a long-term collaboration between EMPAC and queer/nonbinary/trans multidisciplinary artist Sage Ni’Ja Whitson, is installed in the EMPAC building. The installation features embodied performance, integrations of immersive VR, projection, and spatial audio in a custom-built 40’ x 15’ dome covered in painted organic matter. The performance dome structure was developed by Whitson through discourse with architects, engineers, and astrophysicists. In dialogue with Yorùbá Cosmology, astrophysics, and research on the “blackest black,” this iterative artwork is designed to magnify the dark, centering the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy through a black, queer, and trans embodied lens. For the fifth year, EMPAC is collaborating with graduate students from Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) on a public exhibition. This year focuses on the black body in Detroit techno music, and is inspired by the work of scholar and music artist DeForrest Brown, Jr. The project engrossed recordings from the artist’s new album Techxodus, which operates as a musical successor to the ideas in his recent publication Assembling a Black Counter-Culture (2021). The world premiere of DeForrest Brown’s Speakers That Speak To Youat EMPAC (April 28) makes use of EMPAC’s extensive spatial audio capabilities and is curated by Katherine Adams, Liv Cunibert, Mary Fellios, Abel González Fernández, and Sidney Pettice.
On May 8, 2023, the Canadian bilingual, multidisciplinary live art ensemble and winner of an EMPAC open call with CINARS, Theatre Junction, will be at EMPAC for a residency and work-in-progress showing. The production will guide an audience through four distinct rooms that feature live video feeds and live actors. The work is being developed at EMPAC and will premiere in Montreal in the Fall of 2023.
EMPAC’s Spring 2023 season also includes public tours, screenings, and conversations with film director Ayo Akingbade, artist Armando Guadalupe Cortés, artist/DJ M. Elijah Sueuga, and EMPAC’s Senior Curator for Theater/Dance Ashley Ferro-Murray, among others; and events presented in collaboration with iEAR Presentsand the Sanctuary for Independent Media.
The free Music at Noon concert series is back, set to take place at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Jan. 10 with The Bluebillies.
The Bluebillies
Since 1988, on the second Tuesday of each month from October to May, the free Music at Noon concert series has presented exceptional musicians with diverse musical styles. On Jan. 10, the Bluebillies start off the concert series. The group performs its unique blend of country, bluegrass, and folk music with traditional style, sound, and spirit. Husband and wife team Mark and Melody Guarino have been singing together since 1984, with their mission being preserving the rich heritage of country music.
The Bluebillies produce a series of traveling Old-time Gospel Music Revues each season, host their own gospel music open mic each summer, and have released three records; Adirondack Angels in 2016, Gal From Ioway in 2014, and Train to Paradise in 2013. Also happening before the performance will be a workshop featuring Deb Cavanuagh introducing traditional American instruments from the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Students will sing along, dance, move and perform traditional American folk songs such as “I’ve Been Working on The Railroad,” “The Erie Canal, Froggie Went A’Courtin’,” and other favorites. The workshop will be from 10-11 a.m., with the performance starting right after.
Other Music at Noon performances coming up is Bleecker Consort on Feb. 14, Natalia Shevchuk on March 14, Akina Yura on April 11, and Findlay Cockrell on May 9. Tickets to these performances can be found here.
The Seneca Savings January JazzFest has been renamed to the Winter Jazzfest because the event will be moved to February this year to accommodate the longer NFL football schedule.
The January JazzFest has been a fixture in the Syracuse area midwinter music scene since 2011, held at Mohegan Manor, Baldwinsville’s multi-story music venue. The event provides a full day of jazz and related musical styles, with fine food and drinks served. The event is also the annual fundraiser for CNY Jazz Central, the region’s primary provider of jazz in public and in schools since 1996.
The name is now changing to the Winter JazzFest because the event will be held on Feb. 5 from 1-8 p.m. “We’re adjusting to the longer NFL football schedule, plain and simple,” according to Larry Luttinger, CNY Jazz founder and leader. “We’ve always held this event on Pro Bowl Sunday, and when the NFL playoffs expanded last year, we felt the negative effects. So here we are, same great day of music, now in February.”
This year’s lineup features the nine-piece horn group Brass Inc playing funk, blues, and contemporary hits on the second floor of the venue. Rising star Vanessa Vacanti and the Jazz Mafia will be on the main floor, and Rick Montalbano and Julie Falatico will be in the downstairs bistro. The event always concludes with a celebrity jazz session. A special jazz menu and full drink selection will be available throughout the day.
Brass Inc.
Speaking about the lineup, Luttinger says ““We’re going with a more fun dance party vibe this time around. Definitely come ready to party with your best dancing shoes on.” People will be able to pop in and out of the event with their wristbands to catch whoever they want to see that day. Proceeds from the festival will support the scholastic activities of the CNY Jazz “Educational Pipeline” of scholastic programs including the SummerJazz Workshop and CNY Jazz Youth Orchestra.
Tickets for the annual Winter JazzFest are on sale now for $25, with day of show tickets being $30.
