Bernadette Peters from Hello, Dolly!, and Follies fame will host the 10 Anniversary High School Theatre Festival for NYC public schools on March 25 at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.
The Shubert Festival celebrates six outstanding high school student productions from the 2023-24 school year, selected from more than 20 productions across the city by professional theatre artists and theatre educators. Throughout the festival’s ten-year history, school productions from all five boroughs have performed at the event.
The Broadway Festival is hosted by Bernadette Peters – author, actress, and singer famously known for her role in a broadway star-packed movie tick, tick…Boom! alongside Academy Awards nominee Andrew Garfield. Apart from theatre and music, Peters was presented with the Animal Medical Center Brooke Astor Award in 2018 in recognition of her lifetime dedication to animal welfare, which includes the “over 2,000 adoptions” she has made at Broadway Barks events.
Other guest Broadway presenters will include James Caverly, Miguel Cervantes, Charlotte d’Amboise, Jeanna de Waal, Treshelle Edmond, Drew Gehling, Tamar Greene, Anika Larsen, Apollo Levine, Julian Elijah Martinez, Gary Perez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Seth Rudetsky, Brandon Uranowitz, and Kara Young.
This year, student presentations will present excerpted scenes and musical numbers, including Titanic by Professional Performing Arts High School from Manhattan, Joseph, And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Lexington School For The Deaf from Queens, Mamma Mia! By Curtis High School from Staten Island, Zanna Don’t! by Repertory Company High School For Theatre Arts from Manhattan, Titanic by Frank Sinatra School Of The Arts from Queens, and Urinetown by Brooklyn High School For The Arts from Brooklyn.
The Shubert High School Theatre Festival highlights the vital lives and theatrical skills of collaboration, artistry, discipline, focus, literacy, student voice, self-awareness, presence, and empathy, in addition to showcasing the outstanding theater currently being produced in NYC public high schools. The evening’s main focus is how a dedicated theater program may benefit students and school communities by encouraging them to consider theater and the arts as possible career options.
This year’s annual theatre education experience for NYC students is presented by The Shubert Foundation and the NYC Department of Education Arts Office and for more information fans can visit www.shubertfoundation.org.
Stella Blue’s Band is excited to announce the fifth annual Free Dead in the Park concert to benefit Riverkeeper, presented by The Capitol Theatre and RYTHM Cannabis, at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park in New York City on Tuesday, May 14.
Free Dead in the Park began in 2018 when Stella Blue’s Band first played in the bandshell to commemorate the 50anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s epic free concert with Jefferson Airplane and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In the years following, the show has benefitted Riverkeeper and its mission to protect, clean up, and advocate for the Hudson River and surrounding ecosystems.
“Free Dead in the Park is our family reunion and it gets better every year,” said Steve Liesman, the band’s rhythm guitar player, a member of Riverkeeper’s board, and the senior economics reporter for CNBC. “It’s an honor to follow in the footsteps of the Dead in beautiful Central Park while helping support the vital cause of cleaning up the Hudson River.” An exclusive commemorative T-shirt featuring a photo of Bob Weir onstage taken by photographer Jay Blakesberg will be given to everyone who becomes a Riverkeeper member at the event.
Stella Blue’s Band, founded in 2009, recreates the experience of being at a Grateful Dead show – lighting up the tri-state area for more than a decade with its six-piece line-up, including two drummers, strong, soulful vocals, and high-energy performances.
Photo by Zapshots Photography.
“We’re thrilled to be back supporting Free Dead in the Park and Riverkeeper and bringing together the power of good music and collective action for the environment in the heart of New York City,” said Peter Shapiro, owner of The Capitol Theatre.
Riverkeeper protects and restores the Hudson River, and safeguards drinking water supplies through community partnerships, science, and law. They improve water quality, restore habitat for an abundance of life, and address the impact of climate change on waterways. Founded in 1966 as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, Riverkeeper became the model for more than 320 Waterkeeper organizations and established globally recognized standards for waterway and watershed protection.
“Listen to the river sing sweet songs with the Stella Blue’s Band at one of Riverkeeper’s most beloved events, Free Dead in the Park,” said Tracy Brown, President of Riverkeeper. “Join environmentalists and music enthusiasts in celebrating and supporting the preservation of the Hudson River.”
The New York Philharmonic has announced their 2024-2025 season of events. The season is packed with hearty, unique, and diverse talent with Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel leading three weeks of subscription concerts.
Gustavo Dudamel
The New York Philharmonic presents a wide range of new compositions, including 13 World, US, and New York Premieres this season. This consists of five World Premieres, two US Premieres, and six New York Premieres. These premieres encapsulate the diversity and broad perspectives of the Philharmonic’s community.
For the first time, Dudamel leads New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer. The Philharmonic explores programming from a variety of musical perspectives. Pianist Yuja Wang appears in contexts that reflect her musical interests, including her first NY Phil appearances in which she leads the Orchestra from the piano.
Also new for the upcoming season, New York Philharmonic musicians were invited to act as an Artistic Partner, curating a program that reflects their varied musical interests, and also celebrates the Orchestra’s brilliant history.
The Philharmonic examines music of the African diaspora in America from the latter half of the 20th century through the present day. Artistic Partner International Contemporary Ensemble presents the beauty of Afromodernism. The program is curated by artistic director George Lewis; and a Young People’s Concert.
Over the 2024–25 season the New York Philharmonic shines a spotlight on two French composers who transformed the musical landscape and left enduring legacies. The Pierre Boulez Centennial and Ravel’s 150th Anniversary are two programs that pay deep tribute to the French composers.
The upcoming season sees several debuts from conductors and soloists alike. Along with this, there are many returning friends and favorites. The New York Philharmonic welcomes all those returning and the unfamiliar faces as well.
For more information on the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming 2024-25 season, click here.
Esteemed music venue Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs announced a stellar lineup of musicians for the month of April, with Raul Midon, Michael Eck, Vanessa Collier, and The Special Consensus among the featured acts.
CaffeLena has presented New York State with extraordinary music in an intimate setting since the 1960s. It is widely recognized as the longest continuously operating folk music venue in the United States. Bob Dylan performed for two consecutive nights at the cafè in 1961, a year prior to the release of his debut album.
The venue’s mission is to keep a diverse set of programs and artists, regardless of fame, to present to the community. Caffe Lena is where musical discovery begins on all fronts. All shows held in-person in Lena’s historic listening room are also streamed live to living rooms around the world.
Caffe Lena’s April shows are not ones to miss. The itinerary is complete with various well-known artists with utmost talent. Various genres like bluegrass, jazz, folk, blues, poetry, funk rock and more are set to light up the intimate venue with energy, love, and art. Artists like Michael Eck see the stage for heartfelt performances signifying great milestones.
Vanessa Collier
Michael Eck celebrates his 60th birthday with release of sixth album, fermata, and a performance at Caffe Lena, 8 p.m. Friday, April 19. Eck will be joined by an all-star ensemble, including bassist/vocalist Bob Buckley, guitarist Sten Isachsen, and elusive vocalist Rosanne Raneri.
Michael Eck
Caffe Lena’s Top Shows For April
April 2, 7 PM Live Stream: Storytelling Night Featuring Julia Biaculli
April 3, 7 PM Poetry Open Mic Night featuring Susan Jefts
April 4, 8 PM Ruthie Foster
April 5, 8 PM The Special Consensus
April 6, 8 PM Peter Mulvey with Opener Zachary Lucky
April 7, 7 PM House of Hamill
April 9, 7 PM Songwriting with Eliza Gilkyson
April 19, 8 PM Live Stream: Michael Eck
April 26, 8 PM Vanessa Collier
April 27, 8 PM Bright Series: The Clements Brothers
April 28, 7 PM Intersectional Voices: Raul Midon
For more information on Caffe Lena’s April shows and to purchase tickets, click here.
Multi-faceted alt rock band Slow Fiction have released their enticing new single “Monday” ahead of the band’s live performance at No Fun venue in Troy on March 27
Brooklyn based band Slow Fiction consists of five members that bring together amazing performances, distinctive songwriting and innovative vocals delivered by their lead vocalist Julia Vassallo. Their new single “Monday” is a first single from the band’s upcoming EP record Crush set to be released on May 24 via So Young Records.
Emerging within a music community shattered by lockdowns, Slow Fiction was woven together from a tapestry of friendships from hometowns and college connections. As boundaries disappeared and audiences expanded, the band became closer, utilizing the changes to play around with their content and achieve ever-greater and more powerful heights.
Inspired by the raw, sweeping fuzz of bands like Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain, the finished composition is a sonically explosive piece of work. A familiar guitar sound from the 2000s meets cutting edge modern angst to produce a sound that is both nostalgic and enticing. The band was liberated as their confidence increased through their live performances, and they used all they had learned to start working on “a lot more cohesive and bigger sounding” project.
Slow Fiction is fast making a name for themselves as one of the most captivating and intriguing live performers coming out of New York’s thriving scene at the moment. Their new EP goes over and above to demonstrate their potential by combining nostalgic overtones with unquestionably heavy emotional content and stark realities. The band is slowly becoming one of the most intriguing artists to come out of the current music scene because of their skillful blending of personal suffering with a wide range of musical inspirations and dreamy, euphoric tones.
Following the announcement of their new EP Crush, and the release their new single “Monday” which was accompanied by a visualizer that features a footage taken out the window of a NYC subway, the band has also announce a slew of upcoming tour dates, including a stint at SXSW and shows supporting Hinds and Sprints.
To learn more about the band and pre-save their new EP, fans can visit here and Tickets for their tour can be found here.
The New York State Blues Festival is returning to Syracuse this summer and Little Feat has been announced as this year’s headlining act. The admission-free festival is set to take place from June 13-15 at Chevy Court on the New York State Fairgrounds.
In addition to a ton of blues music, a variety of food vendors will be onsite with wine and beer also being sold. Retail and craft vendors will also be set up market-style as well.
The New York State Blues Festival is one of the largest free blues events in all of the Northeast. The annual three-day musical celebration, showcases a collection of regional and national artists from multiple genres, all with roots steeped in tradition and vision, and arranges them for a continuous river of music. See below for a full schedule of all of the artists performing this year.
The festival is free to attend, with all ages welcomed. Parking in the Brown Lot at New York State Fairgrounds is available for $10 per car and $5 per motorcycle. ADA parking is in the Emerald Lot. Proceeds from the parking fees help to offset expenses and to keep the New York State Blues Festival admission-free.
For more information on VIP packages, RV sites, and hotel reservations, please visit the festival website.
New York State Blues Festival 2024
Main Stage
Thursday June 13
4pm – GATE OPENS***
5:30 – 6:45pm – HANNA PK
7:15pm – 8:30pm – BYWATER CALL
9:00pm – 10:30pm – LILâ ED & THE BLUES IMPERIALS
Friday June 14
3:00pm – GATE OPENS***
4pm – 5pm – THE SHYLOCKS
5:30pm – 6:45pm – MATT TARBELLâS BUILT FOR COMFORT
From April 11-13, Caroga Arts will welcome back its world-class musicians for its exciting Spring Residency Concert series, featuring performances of major chamber music works.
The Spring Residency concerts are completely free of charge, but donations are encouraged to support arts programming in the community. The mission of Caroga Arts Collective is to reimagine the Caroga experience through the power of the arts, founded in 2012 by Kyle Price when he invited friends to his grandmother’s house on Caroga Lake – where they presented a week of free concerts, calling themselves the Caroga Lake Music Festival (CLMF). Today, Caroga Arts presents over 50 performances and community events annually bringing world-class artists from various genres of music, visual art, poetry, and film to the Southern Adirondacks.
On Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12, Caroga Arts welcomes Aaron Schwartz (violin), Stephanie Price-Wong (viola), Ken Kubota (cello), Kyle Price (cello), and Chi Wei Lo (piano), performing music by Arensky and Brahms, plus a mix of jazz and pop favorites. The performance is at 7 p.m., but audiences are encouraged to come early at 6:30 p.m. for a special Season Preview where Executive & Artistic Director, Kyle Price, will unveil the thrilling 2024 Caroga Lake Music Festival lineup. April 11th’s show takes place at Karpeles Museum in Gloversville and the other at the Cobleskill United Methodist Church.
You can also catch saxophonist Eddie Barbash, former member of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s house band, with the Caroga-based KASA Quartet on the road at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens on April 13 and Ravinia Festival at Highland Park, IL. For tickets, visit here.
For more information about Caroga Arts, visit here.
Few rappers boast the resume of Nas. After all, with a career spanning over three decades, 14 studio albums — 8 of which have gone multi-platinum — the Queens native is one of the few rappers with the resume to make a claim as hip hop’s GOAT. The 16-time Grammy nominee continues to stave off father time, remaining as prolific as ever. With a catalog bevy of hits, classic hip-hop cuts and poignant story-telling, Nas remains in demand. In turn, the legendary rapper, mogul, actor, executive producer and co-founder of Mass Appeal Records will make his way to Albany’s Palace Theatre in a showcase dubbed “An Evening With Nas.”
An Evening With Nas: What to Know
The hip hop legend returns to the Palace Theatre on Friday, July 19 in a performance that is sure to feel like a homecoming for the Magic rapper. All in all, the capital region maintains an intense appreciation for classic hip hop and the boom bap sound. Moreover, New York’s upstate region spearheaded the return of the raw, gritty New York City sound that permeated during hip hop’s golden era.
However, Nas isn’t here to relive old glories. Having recently released Magic 3 — completing two simultaneous three-album runs with Hit-Boy — he remains a prominent force in the hip hop diaspora. Therefore, while fans will surely await classic cuts like “N.Y. State of Mind,” “I Gave You Power,” and “One Mic,” there will be those just as eager to hear cuts from Nas’ latest run. From his Grammy-winning King’s Disease and its subsequent series to the trilogy of Magic tapes, “An Evening with Nas” will present fans with nonstop content. Above all, Nas remains at the heart of the genre for loyalists and guests alike.
Tickets for “An Evening With Nas” at the Palace Theatre in Albany go on sale Friday, March 22 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster. Moreover, tickets are also available for purchase at the Palace Theatre Box Office (located at 19 Clinton Ave). Box Office hours are Monday â Friday Noon to 5 p.m. as well as select days and hours.
The Eighth Step at Proctors is presenting the dynamic folk group Jamcrackers at 7:30 pm on Saturday, March 23.
Jamcrackers is Adirondack folksingers Dan Berggren, Peggy Lynn, and Dan Duggan on harmony vocals, guitar, and virtuoso hammered dulcimer. Performing a mix of original and traditional songs and tunes, the uber-talented trio brings strong songs, tight harmonies, and lively tunes to the stage through Peggy and “the Dans’ ” energy and warm voices.
National hammered dulcimer champion Dan Duggan is known for his wizardry on the instrument and his flat-picking guitar licks. Peggy Lynn sings in her bluesy alto about strong women and life in the North Country, and Dan Berggren’s songs and stories give voice to the spirit of hard-working folks and inspire care of our beautiful planet.
Caffé Lena states: “They sing of nature, strong women, healthy communities and peace, backing their rich vocal blend with world-class hammered dulcimer, banjo, and guitar,” while the Adirondack Museum praises their “Beautifully crafted songs, powerful vocals, and tight arrangements.” They at once bring us back to the days of mountain men, strong mountain women, settlers, and Gilded Age visitors, and take us forward to tomorrow’s issues shaping the future of our beloved mountains and beyond. The trio’s original and traditional music echoes the timeless beauty of the still-remote, forever wild pine and lake-studded wilderness.
Tickets are $27 advance / $29 day of show / $45 Gold Circle (Priority Seating and 6:30 Meet & Greet onstage), available through The Eighth Tix/Info Line at (518) 434-1703 (Visa/MC/Disc/AmEx), online, through Proctors Box Office (518) 346-6204.
Béla Fleck reflects highly on his years-long collaboration with late pianist Chick Corea, sounding like a bashful student musician, still in awe of the jazz legend whose impact transformed him as a teenager in the ’70s. The duo’s album, Remembrance – out May 10 via Thirty Tigers – serves as a moving final document of the profound creative and personal rapport Fleck and Corea have showcased previously on 2007’s Latin Grammy-winning The Enchantment.
Released just over three years after Corea’s passing, Remembrance serves as an addendum to Corea’s legacy, highlighted by three previously unreleased Corea compositions as well as five short free improvisations, or impromptus, that Fleck has infused with written music.
Recorded both live in concert, over the duo’s final tour dates in 2019, Remembrance was crafted by trading sound files amid the Covid pandemic. Running a stylistic gamut, the album features Corea’s unreleased tunes “Enut Nital” (“Latin Tune,” spelled backwards), and “Continuance,” an older work that resurfaced in the duo’s setlist, as well as new Fleck compositions, including “The Otter Creek Incident” and “Juno,” a winsome tribute to his son, the channeling Thelonious Monk and Scarlatti, and challenging exercises such as “Small Potatoes,” which evokes Corea’s work in the jazz avant-garde.
When the 18-time Grammy Award-winning banjoist reflected on his time collaborating with Corea, Fleck said, “I just feel so lucky to have played with him in such an intimate way, and to have gotten to know him so well.”
The title track, a Corea composition “Remembrance,” is one of the last pieces of music Chick ever recorded. “It’s just one of those perfect Chick Corea tunes,” Fleck says. “It sounds to me like a New Orleans funeral march, even though it has a Latin component, like everything he did tended to.”
Corea’s death in 2021 devastated the jazz community, who saw the pianist as a constant international presence, a vibrant musician who never ceased touring and recording. “It was a deep shock,” says Fleck, who also released an inspired live project with Corea, Two, in 2015. “It was one of the special relationships in my life. He was just so kind to me, and so helpful, and I learned so much from him.”
“We pushed this duo to a new place before we ran out of time,” says Fleck, who produced Remembrance. “We have here another cool look at Chick Corea, at the different ways that he can play that we wouldn’t have had. There’s a lot of great Chick Corea out there, and this is different.”
“I know it sounds unlikely. But it really happened. Once upon a time, I played banjo in a duo with Chick Corea.”
“He found the good in everything. I’m just so glad to be a part of this — glad I could be with him, and glad there’s more to share.”
Chick Corea & Béla Fleck Remembrance track listing
1. The Otter Creek Incident (Béla Fleck)
2. impromptu III: march hare
3. Enut Nital (Chick Corea)
4. impromptu II: mock turtle
5. Bemsha Swing (Thelonious Monk, Denzil Best)
6. Lucky Bounce
7. impromptu I: cheshire
8. Remembrance (Chick Corea)
9. Juno (Béla Fleck)
10. Scarlatti Sonatas (Domenico Scarlatti, arr.. By Corea, Fleck)
11. impromptu V: jabberwocky
12. Small Potatoes
13. Continuance (Chick Corea)
14. impromptu IV: gentleman fish
“With Béla, our duet has become so simpatico, and comfortable–comfortable spiritually. And not meaning that we’re not adventuring musically, but I know that whatever we’re going to do is going to be musical.”
Chick Corea, speaking about Bela Fleck, in 2015
Béla Fleck Tour Dates
April 3 Buffalo, NY Kleinhans Music Hall ^
April 4 Oakville, Ontario Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts ^
April 5 Kingston, Ontario Kingston Grand Theatre ^
April 6 Stowe, VT Spruce Peak PAC ^
April 9 Ottawa, Ontario Centrepointe ^
April 10 St. Catharines, Ontario Partridge Hall ^
April 12 State College, PA The State Theatre ^
April 13 Goshen, IN Goshen College ^
April 14 Lexington, KY Lexington Opera House ^
April 24 Skokie, IL North Shore PAC *
April 25 Kohler, WI Kohler Memorial Theatre *
April 26 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre *
April 27 Wilkesboro, NC MerleFest *
April 28 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Jazz Festival *
May 4 New York, NY Carnegie Hall (Béla Fleck: Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody)
June 13 Groton, MA Groton Hill Music Center #
June 14 Kingston, NY Ulster PAC #
June 15 Hartford, CT The Bushnell #
June 16 Kennett Square, PA Longwood Gardens #
June 18 Boulder, CO Chautauqua Amphitheater #
June 20 Telluride, CO Telluride Bluegrass Festival (house band)
June 21 Telluride, CO Telluride Bluegrass Festival #
