THE DECLASSIFIED, THE ITTY BIDDIES, Community Sing and More Set for Carnegie Hall's Family Programs, March-April 2013
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This spring, Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) continues to bring outstanding live performances to community venues throughout the five boroughs of New York City with its free Neighborhood Concerts. For 37 years, the Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concerts have featured performances by top artists across multiple genres of music, including classical, jazz, and world music. At Carnegie Hall, parents and young people can enjoy affordably-priced Family Concerts, recommended for ages 5-10, providing a unique opportunity to introduce children to live performances of music from around the world. Pre-concert activities will take place one hour before each performance and are free to all ticket holders. In addition, WMI presents a number of free family-friendly programs throughout New York City as part of the McGraw-Hill Carnegie Kids series. Carnegie Hall FAMILY CONCERT: THE DECLASSIFIED Sergei Prokofiev "March" from The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33 Discover what makes music cook with The Declassified, an exciting new collective of some of the world's best and brightest young professional musicians dedicated to world-class artistry, revelatory audience engagement, and innovative programming. Tickets: $9, $15 NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: FALU Hailing from the Jaipur musical tradition, Falu's genre-defining "Indie-Hindi" vocal style has been called "ethereal and transcendent" by Billboard Magazine. With a mix of original songs in English flavored with classic Indian ragas and Bollywood numbers, Falu is widely recognized for seamlessly blending her signature modern rock style with an impressive vocal talent. Thanks to New York City Council Member Leroy Comrie for making this concert possible. NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: SO PERCUSSION Using unexpected instruments like coffee cans, conch shells, and a cactus, the Brooklyn-based quartet So Percussion ventures out of the box by playing a range of new music by classical composers and popular artists. Whether performing in a concert hall or a rock venue, So Percussion is right at home projecting sheer excitement in its performances, which have been called "astonishing and entrancing" by Billboard Magazine. MCGRAW-HILL CARNEGIE KIDS: SHINE AND THE MOONBEAMS Family music's first soul band Shine and the Moonbeams captures the fun, sweetness, and simplicity of youth in a groovy R&B package. With compassionate verses on important subject matter such as standing up to bullies and celebrating individuality, kids and adults will identify with Shine's insightful lyrics and soulful melodies. NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: ROGÉRIO BOCCATO QUARTETO Brazilian percussionist Rogério Boccato's After Bossa Nova Project breathes new life into music by great composers from the post-bossa-nova generation, such as Toninho Horta, Egberto Gismonti, Milton Nascimento, and Edu Lobo. With uncontainable, inventive performances grounded in fluid interaction between musicians, his quartet extracts motifs from lesser-known songs to use as a springboard for on-the-spot group compositions. NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: VERY BE CAREFUL Rousing fans to boogie and shake to the sounds of a Colombian coastal beat, Very Be Careful is alive with rhythmic, pulsating grooves that pull dancers to their feet and splash smiles across the faces of listeners. With a Caribbean soul and a Californian heart, this ultimate good-times bar band embraces its Latin roots with a devotion to the vallenato folk music of its Colombian ancestors, and mixes in a contemporary funk feel. NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: CLAUDIA ACUÑA Chilean singer-songwriter Claudia Acuña sings mainly in Spanish, but her soulful, crooning alto transcends all language barriers with its powerful sense of freedom and heartfelt emotion. Born in Santiago, Chile, this cognac-voiced siren lives in New York City but remains fiercely committed to her rich heritage. A real success story, Acuña worked the coat check at the Blue Note for almost a decade before headlining the bill at the famed jazz venue. Now she's making it big on jazz giant Branford Marasalis's label, Marsalis Music. NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: THE TOOMAI STRING QUINTET MANUEL PONCE Tres canciones mexicanas (arr. Andrew Roitstein) The fun and fresh Toomai String Quintet is all about connecting with its audiences. It's making its mark on the classical music scene through its engaging concerts in untraditional venues around the country, performing classical and modern repertoire, as well as music from all corners of the world. The Toomai String Quintet and special guest vocalist Alina Roitstein serve up a program of classical Cuban and Mexican music, along with fresh arrangements with salsa, Latin jazz, and mariachi flavors. MCGRAW-HILL CARNEGIE KIDS: THE ITTY BIDDIES The Itty Biddies are a trio of sweet songstresses with cool, clubby roots that will lift audiences out of their seats from the first note. Their show takes audiences on a journey of imagination of story and song, from an African safari to the big skies of Texas and back on the subway in New York City. The Itty Biddies' soaring vocals, paired with ukulele and bass has been called "the smoothest 45 minutes in kiddie concert history" by Time Out New York Kids, and will have both adults and kids singing and dancing all the way home. NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: ENSEMBLE ACJW JOHN HARBISON Wind Quintet Innovative and boundary breaking, Ensemble ACJW is an inspirational collective of young professional musicians on a two-year fellowship with Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School. When these extraordinarily talented fellows aren't teaching in New York City public schools, they're presenting edgy, provocative concerts that are revolutionizing how musicians perform and engage with their audiences. Carnegie Hall FAMILY CONCERT: POLYGRAPH LOUNGE Combining a variety of unusual, zany instruments-including a didgeridoo, theremin, and melodica-along with choreography for the whole audience, Polygraph Lounge guides families through virtuosic improvisation and song using musical magic. Tickets: $9, $15 NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: JASPER STRING QUARTET The exquisite Jasper String Quartet takes ensemble unity and expression to a whole new level of refinement, delivering incisive and powerful readings of formidable classics and fresh new works. The string players are decorated with a variety of prizes and just recently completed a residency at Oberlin Conservatory. This fun-loving, innovative quartet is also deeply involved in educational outreach programs with schools and the community-during their Banff Centre residency, they launched "guerilla chamber music" concerts in unusual settings all around Alberta, Canada. COMMUNITY SING: THE PEOPLE SING AND DANCE WITH THE BROADWAY ALL-STAR VOICES Imagine being on a lit-up Broadway stage-now get ready to sing and dance with real Broadway all-stars! Composer Thomas Cabaniss, musical director of Chicago: The Musical Leslie Stifelman, and choreographer Melissa Rae Mahon (pictured at right) will guide you through the show-stopping, electrifying numbers of your most beloved Broadway musicals. Community Sing events are part of the Neighborhood Concert Series. The Weill Music Institute creates broad-reaching music education and community programs that play a central role in Carnegie Hall's commitment to making great music accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Woven into the fabric of the Carnegie Hall concert season, these programs occur at Carnegie Hall as well as in schools and throughout neighborhoods, providing musical opportunities for everyone, from preschoolers to adults, new listeners to emerging professionals. With access to the world's greatest artists and latest technologies, the Weill Music Institute is uniquely positioned to inspire the next generation of music lovers, to nurture tomorrow's musical talent, and to shape the evolution of musical learning itself. The Weill Music Institute's school and community programs and online initiatives annually serve more than 350,000 children, students, teachers, parents, young music professionals, and adults in the New York metropolitan area, across the US, and around the world. For a complete schedule of Community Programs and Family Programs, visit: carnegiehall.org/Education/Community-and-Family. |
