As Spafford continues their spring tour in Colorado, they’ve now announced their summer tour dates which include two more New York shows. The Arizona-based jam band will get a full view of the Empire State with shows scheduled in a variety of areas as well as an upcoming one at New York City’s Brooklyn Bowl on April 20.
Spafford’s summer tour pays special attention to the East Coast and Midwest with the tour starting in Michigan with performances slated in Ludington and Paw Paw. It then heads out to Illinois, New Hampshire for the Northlands Music Festival, and multiple New York stops.
The first one is on June 12 at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall. Three days later, Spafford is set to play Colony in Woodstock, a New York town with a rich musical history all its own. Â The band then wraps up their time in NY with a stop on Long Island at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett. See below for a full list of upcoming Spafford shows. The tour includes multiple stops and cities the band has yet to play.
Tickets for all Summer Tour dates are on sale at spafford.net.Â
2024 DATES
3.16 Frozen Dead Guy Days – Estes Park, CO 3.20 The Broadberry – Richmond, VA 3.21-23 5 Points Music Sanctuary – Roanoke, VA 3.24 Lincoln Theatre – Raleigh, NC 3.26 Tally Ho Theater – Leesburg, VA 3.28-29 Woodlands Tavern – Columbus, OH 3.30 Madison Theater – Covington, KY 4.18 XL Live – Harrisburg, PA 4.19 The Warehouse at FTC – Fairfield, CT 4.20 Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY 5.24-26 CaveJam – The Caverns, TN
6.6 Stix – Ludington, MI
6.7 Moontown Brewing Co. – Whitestown, IN
6.8 Warner Vineyards – Paw Paw, MI
6.9 Danenburger Family Vineyards – New Berlin, IL
6.12 Water Street Music Hall – Rochester, NY
6.14 Northlands Music and Arts Festival – Swanzey, NH
Afrobeats artists Shallipopi and Odumodublvck have announce a co-headline ‘Nigeria’s Most Wanted Tour 2024’, the first-ever joint tour in Afrobeats history. The nine-city tour includes a stop at Irving Plaza on Thursday, May 2.
Shallipopi (Crown Uzama), also known as Pluto Presido, stands as a testament to the boundless potential of creativity and the rapid influence of social media in the music world. Hailing from Benin in Nigeria, Shallipopi has crafted a unique niche for himself as an exceptionally talented singer and trendsetter.
It was 2023 that witnessed his meteoric ascent, as he unleashed his hit single “Elon Musk.” The song became an instant sensation, catapulting him into the spotlight and setting the stage for a series of subsequent triumphs. Hits like “Sharpiru” and the electrifying remix of “Elon Musk” further solidified his status as a musical force to be reckoned with.
Marking another milestone in his extraordinary journey, he launched his record label -“Plutomania Records” in October of 2023 with two signees – Zerrydl & Tega Boi Dc who have both featured on previous projects with him. Shallipopi’s fusion of raw talent, unrelenting determination, and unwavering dedication positions him as a true trendsetter.
Odumodublvck, born Tochukwu Gbubemi Ojogwu, has emerged as a prominent voice in Nigerian Hip-Hop, seamlessly blending drill, grime, and Afrobeat influences. His viral 2023 single, “Declan Rice,” showcased his shapeshifting flows, paving the way for his critically acclaimed mixtape “EZIOKWU” on NATIVE Records/Def Jam.
Despite his diverse musical aesthetics, Odumodublvck emphasizes the universality of his songs, aiming to connect with a broad audience. Originally a soccer enthusiast from Abuja, Odumodublvck absorbed Ghanaian music from his father’s collection and later drew inspiration from artists such as Sisqó, Sean Paul, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, and JAY-Z. Stylistically influenced by 50 Cent and inspired by JAY-Z’s journey to superstardom, Odumodublvck navigates the music scene with determination.
Their joint single, “Cast” was released in November 2023 and peaked at #1 on TurnTable Top 100 and at Top 10 on Billboard US Afrobeats.
Shallipopi & Odumodublvck’s individual projects “Presido La Pluto” and “EZIOKWU” also peaked at #1 on the TurnTable Top 100 Albums lists with #1 hits “Elon Musk” and “Ex-Convict” from Shallipopi and “Blood On the Dance Floor” feat. Wale & Bloody Civilian + “Declan Rice” from Odumodublvck.
Connecticut-based indie-jam quintet Goose has announced their return to Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre, for four performances over April 7-10. These shows will mark the highly anticipated live debut of the Goose’s newest addition, drummer Cotter Ellis.
In February, Goose introduced Ellis as their new drummer, simultaneously releasing Ted Tapes 2024, an album comprising instrumental improvisations recorded during Ellis’s audition process. These sessions have given fans an exciting taste of the fresh energy and creative dynamism Ellis brings to the band.
Goose at SPAC – photo by Zak Radick
This month, Goose surprised their faithful and rapidly expanding fan base with the premiere of Chateau Sessions Pt Ion their YouTube channel. This hour-and-forty-five-minute video, captured in-studio with two moving cameras, offered fans a sneak peek at the new lineup performing a handful of catalog staples and fan-favorites.
Following the success of the first video, the band released Chateau Sessions Pt II on the evening of March 11. This second installment, running nearly 75 minutes in length, continues to showcase the unique chemistry between the band members and their new drummer. Audio versions of Chateau Sessions Parts I and II are now available for streaming or purchase via the band’s Bandcamp and Nugs.net pages.
With tickets to all previously announced tour dates in high demand, the band is working diligently to eliminate the secondary market and to ensure concert tickets end up in the hands of fans. As such, there will be no general on-sale for The Capitol Theatre shows. Instead, tickets will be made available exclusively via a lottery request system.
The request period starts today, March 12th at 12 pm ET, and ends on Saturday, March 16th at 5 pm ET. Lottery winners will be notified and charged for their tickets no later than the evening of Tuesday, March 19th. Following the end of the lottery request period and prior to emails going out to lottery winners, team Goose will examine every entry for suspicious activity and cancel entries from known scalpers.
For more information on Goose’s upcoming shows, remaining ticket availability, and to enter the Capitol Theatre ticket lottery, please visit www.goosetheband.com
GOOSE – TOUR 2024
APRIL
7-10 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre
MAY
24-26 – Chillicothe, IL – Summer Camp Presents Solshine: A Music & Arts Reverie
JUNE
4 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory
5 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory
7 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
8 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
10 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse
11 – Kansas City, MO – The Midland
12 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
14 – Swanzey, NH – Northlands Music & Arts Festival (Two Sets)
Returning to Accord, NY on Saturday, June 29, Follow the Arrow festival finds host Marco Benevento bringing in an eclectic lineup for the third installment, including Mike Gordon joining Benevento for a joint performance.
Follow the Arrow will also feature Os Mutantes, W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend to Cause Harm), Ghost Funk Orchestra, and special guest Sam Cohen. Ghost Funk Orchestra and Benevento pair up for a tour this spring as well.
Marco Benevento will also perform with both his solo project as well as the Benevento Family Band.
Follow the Arrow 2022 – Photo by Em Walis
The performance with Mike Gordon marks the first since since 2006 that he and Benevento have played together as a duo. They have also performed together in the past with G.R.A.B. (Gordon, (Joe) Russo, (Trey) Anastasio, Benevento) as well as shows with Gordon joining the Benevento-Russo Duo.
Women have made many contributions to classical music as both composers and performers, yet their work often receives far less attention compared to their male counterparts. This spring, the Geneva Music Festival will host its annual Spring Benefit Concert and silent action on International Women’s Day, with a program that spotlights these oft-forgotten contributors to classical music.
The Geneva Music Festival was founded in 2011 by Geneva, New York violinist Geoffrey Herd as a weekend of chamber music in his hometown. Now in its 14th season, the festival has grown to a nearly month-long event that draws thousands of attendees from across the Finger Lakes region. Each year, the Festival continues its mission of inspiring people with world-class chamber music and engaging diverse audiences in its outreach programs.
On March 8, the Carr-Petrova Duo will perform a concert featuring works for viola and piano by female composers in Froelich Hall on the Hobart and William Smith Campuses.
The concert program, entitled “HERS” is a collaboration of pianist Anna Petrova and violist Molly Carr. Playing together since their student days, they subsequently formed a duo and have traveled the world. Petrova said, “When one creates this kind of partnership, the most important and compelling thing is the musical partnership and the personal partnership. We’d played with many other people before, but she and I just clicked on a musical and personal level very well; it was a natural fit.”
Pianist Anna Petrova and violist Molly Carr
Synthesis and serendipity are the themes behind many of the pieces on the program. Composer Vivian Fung created a piece based on the music of Hildegard Von Bingen, which had its debut during the pandemic, with musicians recording their individual parts remotely and then sending the recordings to be compiled together. Carr and Petrova reached out nearly simultaneously to ask Fung about crafting a piece based on Von Bingen’s work, and Fung rearranged her orchestral piece for viola and piano. “It was serendipitous, meant to be,” said Petrova.
“Andrea Casarrubios’s piece was commissioned in 2021 and we approached Vivian Fung during the pandemic as we started brainstorming composers we wanted to play. Molly was the one who started to forge the idea of all female composers, and it all started to come together into a program.” “HERS” came out of this organic synthesis between friends.”
The last piece on the program is a “staple of the viola repertoire and a very beautiful piece of chamber music. It forged the path of the viola becoming a solo instrument; with pieces like the Clark sonata, the viola was seen as an instrument that can take the spotlight.” While it’s more common to find duos written for piano and violin, Petrova and Carr believe the viola has much to offer. “In terms of playing with the instrument, I really love the viola, its color and voice. It has an almost human voice, very heartfelt and visceral. I’ve never felt like I’m giving up something.”
“’HERS’ is something that we’ve pieced together for a few years now. During the pandemic we actually lived together for about nine months; during those nine months we took a road trip and in the car we were enjoying singing together all our favorite songs. Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ was one of the songs we really loved and the idea of commissioning a piece inspired by that song came up. We really wanted to play something from the pop genre that was different from the usual classical repertoire, but that could still stand its ground on the classical stage. That is how ‘Halo’ was created – with the incredible imagination and compositional skills of Brazilian jazz pianist and composer Henrique Eisenman who weaved a beautiful fantasy on a theme by Beyonce.
The Geneva Music Festival’s biggest fundraising event of the year, the Spring Benefit Concert and Auction, is now live and runs through March 9 at 12pm. Browse through an array of items, from captivating paintings to exclusive Finger Lakes experiences, guaranteed to delight all. Help Geneva Music Festival reach their fundraising goal and continue bringing exceptional music to the greater Finger Lakes community. Start bidding here.
The auction goes live during the Spring Benefit Concert intermission with auctioneers Don Wertman and Susan Henking leading the proceedings, offering a chance to bid on your favorite items.
The Geneva Music Spring Benefit Concert will be held March 8, 2024 in Froelich Hall on the Hobart and William Smith Campuses. Tickets are $75 per person, and the ticket price includes a reception with light fare and biodynamic wines from the celebrated Hermann J. Weimer Winery. To find out more, and to purchase tickets, visit here.
Phish has finally announced their summer tour dates and the band will return to Bethel Woods for a third time after previous visits in 2011 and 2022.
The band’s return to the home of Woodstock will see shows played on August 9, 10 and 11 – the last ones of the tour before their Mondegreen Festival in Delaware the following weekend.
The summer tour kicks off with three nights at Great Woods in Mansfield, MA from July 19-21. It also sees the band returning to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT a few days later. The Midwest gets a lot of attention this summer with weekend gigs planned for both Alpine Valley in Wisconsin and Deer Creek in Indiana with shows in St. Louis and Grand Rapids, MI also on the docket. Phish then returns to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts for a third time after a monumental three-day run in 2011 that helped sparked the band’s return from hiatus and a pair of weekend shows in 2022.
Official Phish at Bethel Woods 2011 poster
Phish Summer Tour 2024 ticket lottery registration is currently underway via tickets.phish.com. Entries must be received by Monday, March 11 at 12 p.m. ET. Tickets then go on sale to the general public starting on Friday, March 15 at 10 a.m. ET. Each multi-night run has a corresponding multi-night ticket available. Buy Phish tickets through Ticketmaster.com.
Phish 2024 Tour Dates
APRIL
18 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere
19 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere
20 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere
21 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere
JULY
19 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
20 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
21 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
23 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
24 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
26 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre
27 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre
28 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre
30 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
31 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
AUGUST
2 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
3 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
4 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
6 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
7 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
9 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
10 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
11 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
15 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
16 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
17 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
18 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
29 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, CO
30 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, CO
31 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, CO
SEPTEMBER
1 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, CO
On February 24, the Binghamton Philharmonic performed a crowd-pleasing pops concert – with a twist. In “Pops at the Forum,” rather than sticking to the timeworn pops formula of show tunes and light classics, Maestro Daniel Hege led the orchestra in a satisfyingly dynamic mix of opera excerpts, overtures, film music, and even rock.
Percussionists Steve Mathiesen, Elaina Smales, Sam Lazzara, and Joel Smales
The show spotlighted the talents of several of the Philharmonic’s world-class musicians. Principal cellist Hakan Tayga, along with percussionists Julie Licata, Steve Matthiesen, Sam Lazzara, and the father-daughter team of Joel and Elaina Smales, provided dramatic solos in Tan Dun’s atmospheric “Crouching Tiger” Concerto. Principal flutist Karen Bogardus and oboist Evan Ocheret phrased their solo lines sinuously in Fauré’s delicate Pavane in F-sharp minor. The orchestra’s trumpet section – Frank Campos, Ben Aldridge, and Jud Spena – brought the heat in Leroy Anderson’s toe-tapping “Bugler’s Holiday.” And the whole audience whistled along enthusiastically to the “Colonel Bogey” March (known to some as the “Comet” song!).
Meg Cronin and Haiden Scanlan
Other highlights of the show were Wagner’s famous Ride of the Valkyries, the brass-heavy “Fanfare on Amazing Grace” by living African American composer and Upstate New York native Adolphus Hailstork, and a hard-driving orchestral arrangement of the Led Zeppelin classic “Kashmir,” with Sam Lazzara rocking out once again on solo drum.
Lisa Reynolds, Lois Zuck, and Dan Reynolds
As usual, it was a pleasure to see many children and teens in the audience; one young Hakan Tayga fan seated directly in front of this reviewer played air cello along with the soloist’s every note. The rest of the audience was just as appreciative, leaping to its feet spontaneously at the close of the concert. “Pops at the Forum” was a wonderful addition to the Philharmonic’s season line-up, and a great way to while away a winter day!
Katelyn Jackson, Elaina Neubert, Megan Lewis, Allayna Bidwell, and Ava CiriglianoJudi Hess and Vikki Collazo
This March, two-time GRAMMY Award-winning Albany Symphony present the most celebrated instrumental work of the Baroque era, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. In addition to this classic violin concerto, The History of Red, a new vocal work by Reena Esmail will feature Soprano Molly Netter, and the nature-inspired work Murmurations, by Derek Bermel.
The pair of concerts will take place on Saturday, March 16 at 7:30pm and Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
David Alan Miller, Music Director of Albany Symphony and Grammy-winning conductor.
The Four Seasons was composed in the early 1700’s and is the best known of Vivaldi’s works – a revolutionary work of musical tone-painting, based very literally on sonnets Vivaldi wrote to depict the seasons. Vivaldi’s imagery throughout the work includes flowing creeks, singing birds, a shepherd and his barking dog, buzzing flies, storms, drunken dancers and warm winter fires.
Albany Symphony Music Director, David Alan Miller, has invited four remarkable young violinists, specialists in authentic Baroque-style performance who recently graduated from the Juilliard School’s acclaimed Historical Performance program, to perform the four concertos that make up the “Four Seasons.” They include Ravenna Lipchik, Edson Scheid, Amelia Sie and Shelby Yamin, who will all be performing on authentic Baroque instruments.
We are so excited to present Vivaldi’s masterpiece as he himself may have heard it. Our four soloists are all brilliant interpreters of Baroque style, and we are very excited to welcome them. We’re also thrilled to present brilliant new works by two longtime friends of the Symphony, Reena Esmail and Derek Bermel. Reena’s work features Molly Netter, a remarkable vocal artist we’ve been eager to present. I promise this will be an absolutely delicious way to spend a cold winter’s evening or afternoon at the legendary Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
David Alan Miller, Music Director of Albany Symphony.
The Symphony will perform Reena Email’s The History of Red, inspired by the first time the composer heard Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 at the Ford Theater in Los Angeles with her parents. Hearing this piece at age 14 was a pivotal moment in her decision to become a composer. The History of Red is a work for soprano and orchestra in which the singer grapples with the world around her. Chickasaw poet and writer Linda Hogan’s beautiful text is clearly the voice of an adult woman, aware not only of her current world, but of the entire, complex history of her ancestors. She is an Indian-America composer whose work bridges the worlds of Indian and Western Classical music and holds degrees from The Julliard School and the Yale School of Music.
I wrote this piece as the pandemic was raging around the world, as the effects of decades of racism hit a new fever pitch in the US, and as we headed into the 2020 presidential election with so much trepidation. My own complicated history, and the history of this time, is also embedded in every note of this piece.
Composer Reena Email
Featured vocalist Canadian-American Soprano Molly Netter is highly sought after as a soloist, with engagements including her debut with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer at Carnegie Hall, the premiere of Katherine Balch’s Illuminate with the California Symphony, as well as solo appearances with both the Fort Worth and Johnstown Symphonies for Handel’s Messiah.
The program also features Derek Bermel’s Murmurations, composed in 2015, which depicts vivid imagery through music. When Bermel listens to and watches a string orchestra perform, he is reminded of a flock of birds. They glide and dive in formation, soaring together or splitting into layers of counterpoint before regrouping into a single unit. According to Bermel, during a year living in Rome, he was often treated to the graceful spectacle of a starling murmuration. Their stunning, geometrical displays of aviation prior to settling down for the night are a humbling sight. In Murmurations, he attempted to map onto a musical structure some of the behavior he observed in the starlings’ flight.
Satellite Collective will present Satellite Tribeca, at Satellite Gallery, over May 9-21 for two weekends of premieres and events from artists across all disciplines, plus new prints, projections, film and photography from featured artists Kevin Draper and Lora Robertson.
Formed in 2010, Satellite Collective features members of the New York City Ballet, visual artists, writers, and composers from across the country. Since then, Satellite has produced 14 seasons of multi-disciplinary work in New York City with an imposing cross section of the city’s young talent. Satellite has evolved since its inception, spinning off several dance and arts nonprofits, and incubates artists collaborating as equals. The company designs performances, arts exchanges, and publications that bring talented artists from all disciplines to work together.
Satellite is working in a new kind of venue for the collective. We are bringing the athletic performance and production values of our performing arts work into a gallery space. Here, we have the opportunity to engage in longer conversations with our audience and more prominently feature the compelling visual artists driving Satellite’s collaborations.
the Satellite Collective team
Satellite Tribeca is designed to foster intimate moments in a classic New York gallery space. In addition to new prints and projections from featured artist Kevin Draper and new film and photography by featured artist Lora Robertson, the Tribeca Show will consist of two busy weekends of new music, dance, discussion, and visual art, and film presented by Satellite Collective. Satellite Tribeca will include direct art experience with panels, performances, visual art, screenings, and a view into how creativity informs collaboration.
KEVIN DRAPER
Satellite Tribeca will also reveal the New York premiere of Sad Blimp Twins, a pair of forty foot long blimps coming to New York for the first time as Satellite’s official mascots. Sad Blimp Twins are a pair of aerostats designed to fly from tall masts and act as cinema screens for public performances. They first flew on the lawn of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and will premiere in New York inside the gallery at 101 Reade Street. At full inflation, the blimps are fourteen feet in diameter and nearly forty feet long. Designed by Kevin Draper, they act as reminders of distant technologies of observation.
To purchase a “Festival” ticket, giving access to multiple events go here. For more information, go here.
Satellite Tribeca Program
Thursday, May 9, 7:00 – 8:00 pm
SITE SPECIFIC DANCE
NYC Premiere of BODYSONNET’S “please come alone”
From creator-performers Moscelyne ParkeHarrison and Mio Ishikawa of BODYSONNET, “please come
alone” is a series of solo dance performances exploring what it means to be alone, and to come together. In the piece, performers participate in exercises to explore their artistic and narrative values as they devise movement solos. Each performer’s process will culminate in a twenty-minute movement score that shares the same music score and includes movement references to the other solo. The soloists rehearse apart from each other, thus experiencing each other’s work for the first time in performance.
The work was originally performed in The Berkshires, MA in June 2021, and workshopped further with
MFA drama students at Yale University in winter 2021 with Dramaturg Hannah Gellman.
Friday, May 10, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
GIANT PRINTS ON CANVAS, PHOTOGRAPHS ON METAL, and BLIMP MASCOTS
Reception for visual artists Kevin Draper and Lora Robertson and New York premiere of “Sad Blimp Twins”
Kevin Draper’s show “The Cartoon Before The Movie” features large scale prints on paper and canvas created with aerospace 3D software and innovative hand printing techniques. Beginning with nostalgic imagery of an older New York, the imagery looks out toward space, along the avenues of Central Park and the sidewalks of Park Avenue, and sees a future of artificial intelligence and buildings seeking autonomy. Images feature bold industrial colors and a unique, expressionistic use of the architectural drafting language.
Lora Robertson’s show “Agony In The Scrub Pines” features large, complex photographic compositions reproduced on smooth sheet metal. Robertson works with digital cameras produced as part of the Hubble telescope program, and the intense focus on color and light is almost pre-Raphaelite in complexity. With her digital tools Robertson translates the naturalistic settings and historical lighting techniques into photographs that are easily mistaken for paintings until a closer view shows how these have been brought into the present with a wily eye for metaphor and visual easter eggs.
“Sad Blimp Twins” are a pair of forty foot long blimps coming to New York for the first time as Satellite’s official mascots. They first flew on the lawn of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and will premiere in New York inside the gallery at 101 Reade Street. At full inflation, the blimps are fourteen feet in diameter and nearly forty feet long. Designed by Kevin Draper, they act as reminders of distant technologies of observation. Satellite intends to continue development of Sad Blimp Twins and their use as mobile cinema screens.
LORA ROBERTSON
Friday, May 10, 7:30 – 9:00 pm
SPOKEN WORD, SOLO PIANO AND ACCORDION, AND VIOLIN-PIANO DUO
NYC Premiere of Stelth Ulvang’s “The Heartbeats of Stars, In Which Aliens Love Louis Armstrong,” a spoken word and music collaboration with Satellite Collective, and violin-piano duo Upstream debuts with co-compositions for piano and violin. Refreshments served.
Stelth Ulvang premieres “The Heartbeats of Stars” inspired by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan’s data capture of love that left our galaxy on Voyager’s gold record. This solo performance for piano and accordion is a meditation on the many orbits in two lives, and the many points of intersection between them.
And Upstream, with 2023 Leonard Bernstein Award Winner Will Healy, debuts violin-piano duo Upstream with George Meyer, performing a live program of co-compositions for piano, cello, viola, violin by these Juilliard-trained composers, reaching into hip-hop, bluegrass, and jazz.
Between and among world tours, Stelth Ulvang of the Lumineers has crafted spoken word and developed scores and theme songs for Satellite Collective films. He first appeared with Satellite on the stage of BAM Fisher.
LORA ROBERTSON
Thursday, May 16, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
BALLET SCORE FOR STRINGS AND NEW INDIE CLASSICAL
NY Premiere of “Liar Lear King” ballet score for strings by Ellis Ludwig-Leone. Performed live, with a performance of his “Past Life” for violin, cello, and piano. And three compositions by Will Healy, 2023 Leonard Bernstein Award Winner and Founder, SHOUTHOUSE. “Root Position”, “Chimes”, “Mariners” performed live with violin, viola, cello, and piano; and reception for visual artists Kevin Draper and Lora Robertson
“Liar Lear King” premiered in 2022, co-produced by Grand Rapids Ballet with choreography by San Francisco Ballet Alum and Oregon Ballet Theater Artistic Director Danielle Rowe, score by Brooklyn-based composer and indie classical phenom Ellis Ludwig-Leone, and film and scenery by Kevin Draper and Lora Robertson. In the runup to the New York premiere of the full ballet, the full thirty minute score will be performed live at Satellite Gallery, 101 Reade Street, with Ludwig-Leone conducting. “Liar Lear King” explores themes of narcissism and bullying, and their impact on our families.
Juilliard-trained composer and bandleader Will Healey will present solo piano work inspired by his Opus in development, Orbit – a piece that lays out a musical galaxy in which heavenly bodies interact, evolve, and eventually reach consciousness. Healy served as Music Director for the premiere of Aaron Severini’s score for “Echo & Narcissus” with Satellite Collective at BAM Fisher in 2018. This new work draws from Healy’s compositional experiments with hip-hop, jazz, and classical music.
Filmmaker’s Symposium: The toughest, wildest, and least talked-about challenge of independent filmmaking is finding the money. Join a group of award-winning filmmakers as they share the horrors and triumphs of getting their films green-lit. Hosted by Nikhil Melnechuk, and featuring directors working across the indie film landscape, Abby Kollek, Sylvia Ray, Manon Gage, DJ Daughtry, BODYSONNET, and more! Followed up by a sneak preview and discussion of the inventive animated short Shakespeare adaptation “Liar Lear King” by Lora Robertson and Kevin Draper. Drinks will be served.
KEVIN DRAPER
Saturday, May 18, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
ARTS PANEL w/FILM AND LIVE BALLET
“The New York of Gordon Matta-Clark: Alive in the City Today”
Feature Performance: “Central Park, Earlier In Time”, inspired by Satellite Collective’s “Echo & Narcissus”
Panel moderator Paulina Ascencio Fuentes lives and works between Guadalajara and New York City. She has worked with the Gordon Matta-Clark archives and the Estate on several research projects and exhibitions. Her research outlines transdisciplinary modes of knowledge production and transmission.
This intimate panel discussion will focus on creative collaborations between the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and Satellite Collective, Site:Lab, and other arts organizations in the US and UK. Panelists will explore how Gordon Matta-Clark’s vision and work in the 1970s can inform 21st Century multimedia performance, dance, and contemporary art. Following the panel, Satellite presents the New York premiere of Central Park, Earlier In Time, a dance work with projection incorporating the drawings of Gordon Matta-Clark. This work is in development for stage presentation.
In his short but prolific career, Gordon Matta-Clark centered collaboration at the core of his artistic practice. Ensconced in the downtown art scene of the 1970s, he not only incorporated film, dance, performance and food into his own work but also regularly participated in other artists’ projects such as performing in Joan Jonas’s film Song Delay, designing set ideas for Mabou Mines, or dancing with the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
Collaboration being central to Gordon Matta-Clark’s legacy, the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark works with contemporary artists in the generation of new pieces in dialogue with his ideas. Satellite Collective is inspired by similar collaborative methods brought forward into a digital age. Although the art economy has radically changed since the 70s and 80s, the city remains a powerful source of raw material for commentary and transformation. How can engaging in a dialogue with an artist of the past inspire new work that addresses our present moment?
The evening will include a screening of a Gordon Matta-Clark short film with introduction by Co-Director of his Estate, Jessamyn Fiore and a feature performance of live ballet and projection. Using Gordon Matta-Clark’s drawings as source material, Satellite artist Kevin Draper has translated them into three-dimensional space bringing Matta-Clark’s images into a futuristic New York.
Panelists include: Jessamyn Fiore, Co-Director, Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark; Artists of SITE:LAB, and Kevin Draper and Lora Robertson, Satellite Collective.
Feature Performance : “Central Park, Earlier In Time”
The Southern Tier Singers’ Collective (STSC) will presents “Arches In Sound” at St. Patrick’s Church in Binghamton on Saturday, February 24 at 7:30 PM,
The Southern Tier Singers’ Collective is an organization of highly skilled singers presenting artistically polished performances of distinctive choral repertoire. Founded in the fall of 2018 by William Culverhouse, STSC is based in Binghamton and draws singers from as far as Ithaca, Oneonta, Elmira, and northeast Pennsylvania.
STSC was formed in order to offer a wide variety of vocal ensemble music in multiple configurations, ranging from an intimate one-singer-per-part madrigal ensemble, to a chamber choir of 32 accomplished singers. The groupings employ a variety of rehearsal models, but aim to accommodate the busy lives of the region’s most highly skilled singers by avoiding recurring weekly rehearsal commitments, opting instead for a project-based cluster-rehearsal approach.
The performance on Saturday, February 24 will be Ralph Vaughan Williams’s soaring Mass in G Minor for double choir, which will form the centerpiece of the concert, which also features the late Romantic English choral works of CV Stanford and Renaissance polyphony of Raphaella Aleotti in the marvelous acoustics of Saint Patrick’s Church.
St. Patrick’s Church is located at 9 Leroy Street, Binghamton. The concert is free but donations are accepted. More info can be found here.
