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Songstresses1Songstresses from the Edge are singers, composers, & instrumentalists who are performing original art songs by themselves as well as premieres by leading New York composers. Spearheaded by cellist, composer and vocalist Jody Redhage, their next venture is this coming Saturday, Aug. 29 at 8:00 at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn.

Jody will be playing a solo set of new compositions she’s commissioned for voice, cello & electronics, including:

  • Christian Carey- “Song” and “Otherwise” (words Jane Kenyon)
  • Lainie Fefferman- “Slash Plus” for voice, cello, & clarinet
  • Daniel Felsenfeld- “From Sleepless Nights” (words Elizabeth Hardwick)
  • Missy Mazzoli- “A Thousand Tongues” (words Stephen Crane)
  • Molly Thompson- “Rhapsody’ (words Cynthia Huntington)

Also on the program is a set of original duo compositions by Daisy Press & Jody (duos for voices, cello & electronics), sets by Molly Thompson and Kamala Sankaram, and a guest appearance by clarinetist Eileen Mack.

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
8:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn
124 Henry Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
www.fpcbrooklyn.org
2/3 to Clark St. is the closest train

$10

With performers Jody Redhage, Daisy Press, Molly Thompson, Kamala Sankaram & Eileen Mack

Music by Redhage, Press, Thompson, Sankaram, Christian Carey, Lainie Fefferman, Daniel Felsenfeld, & Missy Mazzoli.

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La Strada
La Strada
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Jody Redhage

For the third year in a row, I will be volunteer curator of a stage of music at Union Square in conjunction with the September Concert, a fantastic organization that produces and promotes musical events for peace all over NYC and the world on September 11th.

This year, in addition to the Union Square stage, I am also producing a more intimate evening concert at South Oxford Space in Brooklyn, thanks to my wonderful friends at American Opera Projects, one of the resident organizations at the space.

Both concerts are free. For the open air Union Square concert, just come on down. For the indoor South Oxford Space show, I recommend that you order your free tickets in advance. You can also just show up – more than likely there will be space! This concert is being held under the auspices of American Opera Projects’ Helping Hands program. Directions to the space are here.

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Saxophonist Sam Sadigursky

The evening show has the theme/title: “Home Grown: a Harvest of Fresh Music for Peace.” It includes performances of mostly original music by Brooklyn- and New York City area-based classical and jazz musicians and also features fresh organic produce from local farms.

LINE UP UNION SQUARE, South side of square on 14th street, Manhattan
12 noon Oran Etkin / Abdoulaye Diabate Duo
1pm Zach Brock Trio
2pm Sing-a-long of song “Give Us Hope.”
2:05pm The DAAD Quartet featuring Can Olgun – piano, Martin Schulte – guitar, Johannes Felscher – bass, and Peter Gall – drums.
3pm Rob Mosher’s Storytime
4pm Jody Redhage and Fire in July
5pm La Strada

LINE UP SOUTH OXFORD SPACE, 138 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
8pm Pianist John McDowell and violinist Emmanuel Vukovich
8:45pm The Words Project w/Sam Sadigursky, Christine Correa and Dan Tepfer
9:30pm DAAD Quartet featuring Can Olgun – piano, Martin Schulte – guitar, Johannes Felscher – bass, and Martin Kruemmling – drums.
10:15pm Frank Carlberg Trio w/Christine Correa and John O’Gallagher

Questions? Contact me!

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The fabulous Amy Conn and John Zuckerman
The fabulous Amy Conn and John Zuckerman

I just returned from an extended work/pleasure trip to Chicago where I attended the newest installation of the Chicago Cultural Center’s Summer Opera program, founded in 1999 and continuing under the impeccable and stellar leadership of producer Helen Vasey. Helen has produced three operas since I left – Rossini’s il Signor Bruschino in 2007, Bizet’s Djamileh in 2008 and Handel’s Acis and Galatea in 2009. Since I moved to New York City in late 2006, my travel schedule unfortunately has not until now allowed me to catch the operas in ’07 or ’08. I’m usually quite a harsh critic, but I felt that this production of Acis was an unqualified triumph and a stunning success! I really loved the production by Joanie Schultz and thought that the performances were uniformly excellent, including the lead roles, taken on by Amy Conn and John Zuckerman, and the fabulous performance of the New Millennium Orchestra under the direction of Francesco Milioto. large

Here is a review by Andrew Patner which appeared recently – I’m honored that he mentioned me but the real credit goes to the superb Helen Vasey who has really made this program her own and continued in fine fashion with high artistic and creative standards. Bravi to all involved!

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Frank Carlberg and Christine Correa

From the first moment of the arresting vocals by Christine Correa on pianist/composer Frank Carlberg‘s opening track “We get crazy” from The American Dream, his newest CD release, you know you’re in for something unusual, energetic, quirky yet… deep.

One of Carlberg’s signature talents is masterfully setting poetry to music. Richard Kamins of the Hartford Courant found that Carlberg did “…a masterful job blending the music and words, the results sounding so organic. The melodies wrap around the words with ease and the solos never seem obligatory. His music is melodic, challenging, intelligent, and fiercely original. Many projects that attempt to blend poetry with creative music sound stilted but, over his career, Carlberg has proven that one can take these two art forms and make something quite special.”

Frank’s just been touring in Europe and Maine and is back in Brooklyn for an appearance of The Frank Carlberg Quintet (Frank Carlberg, Mike Formanek, Devin Grey Trio) on August 1st at 8:00 PM at the Douglass Street Music Collective, 295 Douglass St., in Brooklyn.

Read more about Frank here – bio PDF and check out some of his great press here – press PDF.

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Areyzaga_Michelle_9038Chicago-based soprano Michelle Areyzaga is a revelation – pure beautiful tone, lovely stage presence, wonderful acting and just a pleasure to behold and to be around. She was my “muse” when I was in Chicago and she starred in three summer operas that I produced in 2002, 2003, and 2006.

Two performances remain of Donizetti’s Elixir of Love at DuPage opera on July 24 and 26. Michelle recently wrote: “I’m currently in rehearsals for a really great production of Elixir of Love at DuPage Opera Theatre. This is romantic comedy paired with glorious music. My leading man is John Sumners whom you may remember as my Rodolfo in La Boheme a couple of summers ago. And Michael La Tour (my favorite!) is directing. we are really enjoying our work and I think you will love the finished product! I hope you will join me if you can.”