Event Calendar
Christmas with Tom & Trixie:
Is That All There Is?
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Nothing says “Christmas” like a drag queen and an ex-porn
star! And that’s why famed Hudson Valley drag sensation Trixie
Starr and Tom Judson (a.k.a. GayVN Award winner “Gus Mattox”)
have teamed up to create what promises to be the holiday cabaret spectacular
of 2010. (photo by Holly Northrup)
Judson, who has appeared on Broadway in Cabaret and on tour in
42nd Street, will be at the piano, playing holiday songs and singing
traditional cabaret favorites. A seasoned performer in his own
right, Judson has been touring in his one-man show Canned Ham
(selling out this past summer in Provincetown, MA.)
Ms. Starr is well known to audiences up and down the Hudson Valley as hostess extraordinaire (Trixie’s Whorehouse dance parties, Trixie’s BINGO Madness soirees and as the proprietress of “from Trixie’s Oven”, purveyor of fine baked goods in select coffee shops in the area. Trixie is the driving force and President of the Hudson Pride Foundation, the first official gay and lesbian organization in Columbia County, and planners of the Hudson Pride parade. Trix is also the President of CAPB, the Capital District's fabulous gay bowling league and bowls every Sunday night in Schenectady. She keeps busy.
The show will include a variety of holiday and popular songs, audience singalongs and even a fundraising BINGO game at intermission. And at each show Tom & Trixie will be joined by a fabulous local guest star to add even more gaiety to the evening.
“Christmas with Tom & Trixie: Is That All There Is?”
will be full of fun and imbued with the holiday spirit. So come
all ye faithful, ye faithless and everything in between to the
musical, mirthful must-see holiday show of 2010!
Tickets are $20 each, and can be purchased at
the door the night of the show, or in advance by calling 518-822-1438
to ensure that we don't sell out before you arrive. A portion
of each ticket sold will benefit the Hudson Opera House. Limited
quantities are available, so purchase your tickets now!
Plays in Progress
Short Play Festival
A Benefit for the Hudson Opera House
Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.
Plays In Progress, a group of professional playwrights, actors,
directors and designers who live in the Hudson area, present
an evening of brand new plays by its award-winning playwrights.
The Festival will feature six short plays by Jesse Waldinger,
Kate McLeod, Steve Schmitt, Steven Somkin, John Fiorillo, Lucile
Lichtblau, performed by a cast of actors well known to Hudson
Valley and Berkshire audiences as well as short poems by Marnie
Andrews. Meet the writers, actors and directors to discuss the
plays afterwards over wine and light refreshments. $15,
$12 HOH members donation.
True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Paul Mesner Puppets
Thanksgiving Weekend!
Saturday, November 27, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. & noon
Performances take place at John L. Edwards School,
Hudson.
Think you know the real story behind the huffing and puffing?
Think again. There's only one individual who knows the
true story about one wolf, three houses and three little
pigs: Alexander T. Wolf. In this revealing, no-squealing
adaptation of Jon Scieszka's popular book, A.Wolf has
a chance to tell his side of the story. For ages 3 and
up. $5 children / $10 adults
Paul
Mesner, puppeteer, author and performer studied
at the International Institute of Puppetry in Charleville-Mezier,
France, and then moved to Kansas City where he founded
the Paul Mesner Puppets. His lively performances present
classic stories recast in contemporary terms. Audiences
across the United States have delighted in the craftsmanship,
dynamic presentation and joyful blending of humor and
education in all his productions.
Directions to the John L. Edwards Elementary School
From Warren Street Follow Warren Street beyond HOH and make
a left on North 4th Street. Turn right onto State Street then
an immediate left onto Carroll Street/Short Street. Parking
for the elementary school is in the lot to the right of the
Hudson Area Library. The JLE Elementary School is directly
behind the Hudson Area Library.
Sponsors
include The Inn at Hudson
and 
Aunt Leaf
Friday, December 10, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.
Performances take place at Stageworks /
Hudson.
A century-old haunting. A young girl who won't speak.
An old woman with skin like tree bark. A dead man whistling
on the lawn. A nightly ritual. Written by Barbara Wiechmann
and directed by (Hudson resident) Jeffrey Mousseau,
Aunt Leaf explores the creative and destructive nature
of imagination, inspired by the rich tradition of folklore,
art and literature of the Hudson River Valley. A story
about stories, Aunt Leaf features three performers taking
on various characters in a multi-layered ghost story
enhanced by striking projections by visual artist (and
part-time Red Hook, NY resident) Robert Flynt. For ages
9 and up. $10 children / $15 adults.
This production features performers Alan Benditt, Paul Bernstein and Rachael Richman. Set is by Sarah Edkins. Costumes are by Amelia Dombrowski. Lights are by Ayumi "Poe" Segusa. Original music is by J. Hagenbuckle.
Aunt Leaf was created and developed as part of the
HERE Arts Center, NYC, Artist in Residence Program and
premiered at HERE in January 2010. Additional funding
was provided by New Dramatists; the Manhattan Community
Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council; the Children's Theatre Foundation
of America; Huisking Foundation; Axe Houghton Foundation
and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Jeffrey Jene Magic Show
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.
Award-winning magician Jeffrey
Jene presents a family magic show with dazzling
magic and illusions, perfect for all ages! Mr. Jene's awards
include the Houdini Trophy for Excellence in Stage Magic, and
the Houdini Award for Best Close-Up Magician. Sponsored
by the Hudson-Mohawk
Section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America.
Free.
Jeffrey Jene's introduction to the incredible world of magic
and illusion began at the age of six, when he first saw a magician
perform at a Christmas party. Many years later his interest
in sleight of hand was rekindled. In 1994 when he was presented
with the Houdini Trophy for Excellence in Stage Magic, and again
in 1995 with the Houdini Award for Best Close-Up Magician. Today,
Jeffrey Jene resides in upstate New York, where he continues
to develop and present his astonishing miracles.
contemporaneous
Breaking Sound Barriers
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
This emerging ensemble presents works that break barriers
of style, genre, influence, and sound. The Fifth String
Quartet of Philip
Glass opens the concert, and from there builds
in intensity with a piece by composer Marc
Mellits, and a grooving dance by Jordan
Nelson, among others. The concert culminates
with Julia
Wolfe's vibrantly eclectic Believing.
Free.
Philip Glass (b. 1937): String Quartet No. 5 (1991)
Juraj Kojs (b. 1976): Travnica I (2010)
Jesse Brown (b. 1987): Through the Motions (2009)
- Intermission -
Mason Bates (b. 1977): Blue Berceuse (2007)
Marc Mellits (b. 1966): Zubrowka (2006)
Timothy MacKay (b. 1990): Aqui te amo (2010)
Lainie Fefferman (b. 1982): Ed (2009)
Jordan Nelson (b. 1984): Groove Tendency (2006/2010)
Julia Wolfe (b. 1958): Believing (1997)
Sting, Stang, Stung!
Swinging the Music of Sting
Rosemary Loar
Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Rosemary Loar
has reinvented the music of Sting, one of the pop world's iconic
songwriters. With wit and sensitivity, Loar advances the view
that Sting is the Cole Porter of this generation, a man who is
not afraid to write lyrics that are intelligent, or that are simple,
profound and universal. Loar breathes new life into the music
of Sting with inventive interpretations of such classics as "Fields
of Gold" and "Message In A Bottle". The music ranges from swing
to samba and jazz/pop to crooning torch. She has enlisted the
talents of some of the best arrangers in cabaret and the results
are swinging, fresh and heartfelt. The program include a visceral
pairing of "Mad About You" with Noel Coward's "Mad About the Boy."
Ms. Loar has been a cabaret artist for over 20 years. She has
sung in New York City at Birdland, The Iridium, The Metropolitan
Room, The Laurie Beechman Theater, Town Hall (as part of the
Cabaret Convention), Symphony Space, Upstairs at Sardi’s
with the Joe Traina Quintet (tribute shows to Arlen, Van Heusen
and Gershwin), Hotel Pierre (tribute show to Kander and Ebb)
in LA at the Gardenia, Luna Lounge and MBar, in Chicago at The
Tambourine Room and last summer she made her German cabaret
debut in Munich at Roy’s. Rosemary’s Broadway debut,
You Can’t Take It With You starring Jason Robards and
Colleen Dewhurst, provided her a perfect introduction to theatrical
comedy. Her first Broadway show was followed by National Tours
of Godspell and 42nd Street, Encore, the celebratory tribute
to Radio City Music Hall, and a spot on an HBO television special starring
Mary Martin and Ethel Merman.
Subsequent Broadway shows include CATS (critically acclaimed
for the role of Grizabella), Chess, Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close, and the hit revival of Once
Upon A Mattress starring Sarah Jessica Parker. She was awarded a Phoebe Award for her portrayal
of Ivy Rowe in the original musical, Fair And Tender Ladies. Rosemary also created the role of Gladys
Fritts in the off-Broadway musical, Radio Gals. She was featured in the Drama Desk nominated
ensemble piece The Audience. Most recently Ms. Loar played Grandma Who in the national tour
or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. She was featured in the indie film The Query and Dorothy Parker
film The Sexes. Rosemary can be heard on the cast albums of Chess, Sunset Boulevard, Once Upon
A Mattress, and of the movie, The Emperor’s New Groove.
Rosemary is also no stranger to the concert stage. She was the featured vocalist for the PBSTV production, New Year’s Eve With Guy Lombardo, which
was a staple of the winter holiday season for 4 years. She performed at Town Hall with Garrison Keillor’s
Prairie Home Companion and at Carnegie Hall (concert version of the Broadway show Chess).
She was a featured soloist for the prestigious Lyrics and Lyricist series at the New York City 92nd Street YMCA. Ms
Loar has sung with the North Carolina, Orlando, Nelson Riddle and Peter Duchin
Orchestras. Internationally she performed The Andrew Lloyd Webber Tribute in Sardina, Italy and Berlin,
Germany. Rosemary is also a rock/pop composer and has released 4 CD’s of her original music on
the Atlor Music label.$15, $12 HOH members.
Brel & Piaf
An Evening
With Micheline
Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. From concert halls around the globe, including two sold out shows at the Sydney Opera House-- live, one night only at HOH, the captivating Micheline, in a program featuring songs by Jaques Brel (both in English and French) and Edit Piaf. Featuring Micheline Van Hautem (vocals) and Guus Westdorp (piano). $15, $12 HOH members.
Micheline Van Hautem, born and raised in Ghent, Belgium, stepped out into the vast world of music ten years ago, armed with only her voice and her guitar. Her first stop was New York. To set her apart from other grand performers in the city, she sang songs primarily in French, in particular Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf. It wasn't long before she found herself performing sold out concerts with her band Mich en Scene at The Florence Gould Hall in Manhattan. As a result of the CD, Songs of Jacques Brel (2001), recorded with Mich en Scene in The Netherlands, she toured extensively in local theaters from New York to Amsterdam and was invited as a guest for radio and TV shows. Performing live led her to Edinburgh - where she was honored with the prestigious Herald Angel Award - then on to Australia, where she and accordionist Frederik Caelen performed to packed audiences. During their second international tour, they received standing ovations, twice selling out the Sydney Opera House. In Europe, selling out the Concert Hall in Amsterdam.
CD Release Concert
Lady Moon
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. Please join us for CD release concert for Hudson's own Lady Moon. $15.
Dessert and Jazz Benefit
To Benefit HOH
Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. Please join us for a Dessert and Jazz Benefit for HOH featuring Tim Doyle on piano (possibly Julia, too!) Champagne and Wine and Desserts by Sarah Lipsky. $25 donation.
Stories of Adventure,
Travel and Tricksters from Around the World
Len Cabral
Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Through humor, movement, song and poetry, Len Cabral has given new life to old stories for over twenty-five years. Len will share stories from his Cape Verdean heritage, folk tales from around the world as well as personal stories. So bring the kids and come sit for a Spell and listen to stories being told by an east coast raconteur. Free and open to the public.
Rags Blues and All That Jazz!
Peter Muir
Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Join us as HOH offers a Jazz concert with pianist Peter Muir, a virtuoso piano recital exploring the roots of American music. See workshop listings for a Music and Wellness workshop earlier in the day.
Dr. Muir draws from his large and exceptionally interesting repertoire, ranging from his individual take on well-known traditional items such as folk blues, to long-forgotten works, the result of his extensive researches into the music of the era. Repertoire includes: instrumentals by Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James Scott, and Fats Waller; popular songs by major songwriters such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, along with lesser known ones such as Isham Jones and Walter Donaldson; and a wide selection of gospel, blues and proto-blues material.$15, $12 HOH members.
Bon Appetit!
Theater. Opera. Chocolate.
8 shows only!September 10/11 & 15/16/18 & 22/23/24, 2010 -- All shows at 8:00 p.m.
See, hear, taste Julia Child's arrival in France in 1948, and how she discovered her life's passion. Featuring Lee Hoiby's Opera, Leonard Bernstein's recipe song cycle La Bonne Cuisine and a taste of chocolate cake from local pastry chefs! A collaboration with Walking the Dog Theater, Diamond Opera Theater/Hudson Opera House. Directed & Conceived by Benedicta Bertau of Walking the Dog Theater. Performances take place at the Basilica Industria/Hudson, 110 S. Front Street, Hudson, NY - just beyond the Hudson AMTRAK station.. Buy Tickets for BON APPETIT! Photo above by Daniel Region.
Daniel Kelly Emerge Trio
Friday, September 17, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.Award-winning composer and pianist Daniel Kelly is an innovative musical voice in NYC jazz and improvised music scene. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Michael Brecker, Don Byron, Lauryn Hill, Oliver Lake, and John Zorn. He has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Iridium and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Daniel’s most recent CD, Emerge, features three-time Juno winner, Chris Tarry on bass and one of NYC’s most in-demand drummers, Jordan Perlson. “...powerfully moving.” - Time Out New York $15 per person, $12 HOH members.
Transition & Aszmara
Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.HOH presents Transition Ensemble: afusion of Jazz with modern and traditional music of the Middle East, with Souren Baronian (Reeds) and Haig Manoukian (Oud), and Swiss singer and percussionist Cornelia Kraft. Ensemble members have performed in New York’s jazz-clubs like the Bottom Line, the Blue Note, the Village Gate, and Carnegie Hall. At HOH, Transition joins with the oriental dancer Aszmara, who combines Modern Dance with traditional Arab and Turkish dance. “...vivid...intense.” - Jack Anderson, The New York Times. $15 per person, $12 HOH members.
Faunal Respirations
Installation / Performance by Ryder Cooley
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Ryder Cooley will create a phantasmal world inhabited by drawings, animals, sounds, props and projections in the 2nd floor theater at HOH. An ambient performance with live music on singing saw, accordion, voice and ukelele. Visitor can arrive and depart at any point during this performance. This will be the third installation designed by Ryder for the historic 2nd floor theater of the Hudson Opera House. The first performance, Phantom Serenades, was created for Winter Walk in 2006, and a subsequent performance, Sea Shanties and Aviary Songs, was presented for Winter Walk 2007. C. Ryder Cooley is an inter-discliplinary artist, musician and performer. Weaving together chimeric images with found props and forgotten objects, she creates cinematic performances and installation spaces. Currently she is based in Hudson, NY and plays in the band Fall Harbor.
moira smiley & VOCO
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 7:30p.m.HOH commissioned Song Overheard with poet Joan Murray and composer Robinson McClellan. Performed by Moira Smiley and her ensemble (Emily Eagen, Moira Smiley, April Guthrie, Ariella Forstein) with four-part vocal harmony, cello, accordion and banjo. Named #1 a cappella group in the U.S. and recently featured on NPR's Harmonia.
About the Artists
Moira Smiley has won an international reputation as a soloist, and also for her work with such ensembles as Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and the New World Symphony. VOCO, who've been heard on NPR's Harmonia, were voted best a cappella group in America in 2007. For this concert, they'll accompany themselves with accordion, cello, and body percussion. Robinson McClellan's works have been performed at the Vatican, the Tel Aviv Museum, Windsor Castle, and elsewhere. His many commissions include the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Joan Murray is author of poetry collections from W. W. Norton, Beacon Press and Wesleyan. She's been Poet in Residence at Olana and the NY State Writers Institute and a repeat guest on NPR's Morning Edition.
Performance takes place at St. James Church, 129 Hudson Avenue, Chatham, NY. $15 per person.
Hudson Jazz Faculty/Student Concert
with Armen Donelian and Marc Mommaas
Special Concert Guest, Jim McNeely
Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 3:00p.m. A faculty and student concert presented as part of the Hudson Jazz Workshop, produced by Hudson Jazzworks. The workshop attracts a pool of multi-generational talent from local, regional and international areas as far away as Denmark, Japan and Armenia, and includes professionals, amateurs and beginners just embarking on artistic careers. In this concert, they perform their works-in-progress for the public and are joined by their teachers, pianist Armen Donelian and saxophonist Marc Mommaas.
Special Concert Guest is the the Grammy-winning pianist, arranger, bandleader, recording artist, teacher, author and composer-in-residence of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Jim McNeely. For more information contact Armen Donelian at 518-822-1640 or info@armenjazz.com. $10, $8 HOH members. Read more...
The DownTown Ensemble
Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 8:00p.m.The DownTown Ensemble will perform open form works by Carla Bley (upstate resident) that will be realized as if they were to be interpreted as downtown new music and not specifically as jazz pieces. This is to stress their existence as music and as part of a tradition that was found in downtown NYC in the 70's into the 80's, even though the intersection between the worlds of jazz and of other American experimental music wasn't often taking place then. Also, the program will feature a performance of John Cage's Indeterminacy performed by William Hellermann, narrator and Joseph Kubera, pianist (on a prepared piano). Indeterminacy is perhaps John Cage's most popular recording. The DownTown Ensemble has chosen to perform it to underline the fact that it is more than a vehicle for its composer, but can be understood as composition in the normal sense of being a piece available for performance by other performers. $15, $12 HOH members.
http: hudson teen theatre project:
Scene Work for Teens
with Carol Rusoff
Mine! Ours!
Performance Schedule: Friday, June 25, 8:00 p.m. &
Sunday, 27, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Http: hudson teen theatre project, back by popular demand, will perform ''Mine! Ours!" at HOH.
"Mine! Ours!" is a witty collection pf scenes and one acts performed with gusto and polish by the Teen Tuesday scene work collaborative.
Http, now in it's seventh spring/summer season, trains teens to work as a theatre ensemble. They perform "at home" at the Hudson Opera House and at community venues as a community service and enrichment. They have adapted myths, legends and folk tales from around the world, performed scenes and plays from dramatic literature of the world and improvised material from their own ideas. Led by theatre artist Carol Rusoff. This program is made possible in part by the Columbia Opportunities Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention & Services Project of Greene & Columbia Counties.
Finisterra Piano Trio
Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 8:00p.m.HOH presents the acclaimed Finisterra Trio in a program of The Hymn Tune Project, featuring ten premieres commissioned by The Phoenix Concerts. Each new work will take as its starting point a traditional work and will be paired in concert with the original work that inspired it, performed by the Trio along with Phoenix vocalists Gilda Lyons and Elaine Valby.
The Seattle-based trio is one of the most recognized chamber ensembles in the Northwest, with a rapidly growing audience across the U.S. The group has been featured on NPR and has been heard in Lincoln Center, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Seattle's Benaroya Hall and on many major studio album projects. $15, $12 HOH members.
Music From China
Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 2:00p.m.HOH presents and afternoon of music by Music From China, a New York-based ensemble that specializes in both traditional and contemporary Chinese music. Music From China is a chamber ensemble that performs a dual repertoire of traditional and contemporary Chinese Music. The group was founded in 1984 by Director Susan Cheng and is under the artistic direction of erhu virtuoso Wang Guowei. What began as a mission to introduce audiences to the best of Chinese musical culture evolved into an affinity for the eclectic that embraces both traditional and new music. This interactive family performance will delight and enchant participants of all ages. $7 per person or $20 for the entire family!
Columbia County Children's Vocal Ensemble Concert
Friday, June 4, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.The Columbia County Children's Vocal Ensemble is an auditioned chorus for treble voices rehearsing weekly at HOH directed by Sheri Bauer-Mayorga. Piano accompaniment by Lincoln Mayorga. Concert takes place at the Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street at Courthouse Square, Hudson. For more information about Sheri and the ensemble, visit their website here. $7 adults or $15 family.
Uncle Rock!
Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.Inspired by American favorites like the Ramones, Neil Young, and Johnny Cash, Uncle Rock (aka Robert Burke Warren) uses music as a means of bringing folks young and old together. His interactive family performance will have everyone dancing. Uncle Rock draws inspiration from Maurice Sendak, The Beatles, Woody Guthrie and Shel Silverstein, taking his acoustic "rock of all ages" to clubs, libraries, bookstores, schools, and theaters. Many of the catchy, rhythmically propulsive songs were born at his day job as a teacher's assistant for preschoolers, where he landed after four years as a stay-at-home dad. Uncle Rock delivers plenty of celebratory, goofy singalongs, but the material doesn't shy away from shadowy elements of life, often showing how music can help one to face the dragon in the closet. Uncle Rock's CDs of family music have won critical praise from The L.A. Times, The New York Times, and Cookie Magazine, to name a few. He has been in the Top 10 of Sirius Satellite Radio's Kids Stuff and Pandora Internet Radio. Tickets for the performance are $7 per person or $20 for the family!
After
the performance, get your photo taken with Uncle Rock thanks to I
Smile Studios! Proceeds benefit HOH's community youth
programs. 
Solo Cello
Jason Duckles
Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 8:00p.m. Cellist Jason Duckles, founding member of the Amelia Piano Trio, will play a solo concert featuring two Bach suites (both based on Baroque Dances) juxtaposed with with contemporary works written in the past 20 years. The suites for solo cello by Bach are some of the greatest works ever written for the instrument. He will also play Pulitzer Prize winner John Harbison's Suite for Solo Cello, a contemporary work based on the classic form of the Bach Suites. Also included in the program is Bells Ring Summer, a study of the pealing bells of a distant church, written by Augusta Reed Thomas.
Jason has also enjoyed touring as part of YoYo Ma's Silk Road Project, which brought him from Las Vegas to Kazakhstan. Jason has been a member of the Avalon String Quartet, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and has appeared frequently as the cellist for the Mark Morris Dance Group which tours throughout the United States and Europe. Jason is a world-class musician, and his passion for music and his boundless desire to educate and entertain make this a not-to-be-missed concert! $15, $12 HOH members.
Diamond Opera Theatre
Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.reception with the artists at 7:00 p.m.
A benefit performance for Diamond Opera Theatre with waltzes by Johannes Brahms, Neue Liebeslieder Walzer, op. 65, along with selections from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (Mikado, Pirates, Yeomen).
Artists include Courtenay Symonds, soprano, Mary Deyerle Hack, mezzo soprano, Andrew Fuchs, tenor, Keith Spencer, tenor, Cynthia Powell, music director/pianist, and Allison Sniffin, pianist. $25 includes benefit reception prior to the performance.
contemporaneous
Dream Sequence
Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Contemporaneous
is a youth-run new music ensemble presenting emerging composers.
In its inaugural season, contemporaneous made its debut on the campus
of Bard College with performances at HOH, and in NYC. The concert
at HOH features music of four of the most distinguished professional
composers living and working today including Ingram Marshall, Paul
Moravec, Nicholas Omiccioli, and Igor Stravinsky. The concert is
free.
RE:Vision
Forward Motion Theater
Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. Forward Motion Theater brings RE:Vision to HOH. RE:Vision is a collaboration of live performances weaving multimedia and dance. The evening features seven independent works by artists combining choreography, live mix video, film, dance, spoken word, costume, and music. RE:Vision builds on FMT's successful EyeWash series that premiered at HOH. $15, $12 HOH members, $10 students.
Artists include: video artists Wetcircuit and Mikhail Torich, musician Aerostatic, and choreographers Urban Wash Dance Company and Blind. Five artists collaborate creating an evening of seven independent works Forward Motion Theater is a New York City-based dance-theater-media company founded in 1995 by choreographer Eric Dunlap and media artist Holly Daggers.
The mission of FMT is to explore the combination of movement and technology through both live performance and digital media. Works with themes ranging from science fiction, spirituality, and the mutability of the human form are realized through innovative stage and lighting effects and formalized composition. Current projects include both live theater and new performance venues through video and the web.
Wetcircuit is Holly Daggers, a New York City-based VJ and Media Artist who creates and composes visual media in real time. Performances include concert VJ for Busta Rhymes, James Brown, Page McConnell, Moby, and T.I., and was voted a Top 20 VJ worldwide by DJ Magazine, UK. She has designed interactive video installations for the Museum of Modern Art and Chelsea Art Museum. Holly collaborates with musicians and choreographers presenting her media performances in both art gallery and theatrical settings, and has opened her shooting studio to create dance on video as a hybrid performance venue.
Aerostatic is Terry Golob and Michele Darling. Based in Brooklyn, NY, Aerostatic utilize artifacts of sound generated by digital and analog processing in conjunction with a variety of interactive technologies, to compose and design audio environments for film, installations and music performance. Their work has been featured in shows and festivals in the United States, England, Argentina and Australia.
Urban Wash Dance Company is a fusion of dance and technology married to social and political consciousness. Movement vocabulary is derived from multidisciplinary sources enhanced by a high degree of athleticism. Urban Wash Dance Company is made up of dancers, video artists, DJs, and organized by Rebekah J Kennedy, Artistic Director/Choreographer. Performances and choreography have been featured throughout the United States.
Mikhail Torich is an international music video director, cameraman, photographer and visual artist shooting in Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States.
Blind is dancer and choreographer Eric Dunlap. Based in New York City, Eric toured internationally as a principal dancer with Alwin Nikolais / Murray Louis Dance. He has worked with various companies such as Peter Pucci Plus Dancers, Rebecca Sten/Perks Dance Music Theater, Sarah Skaggs Dancer/Higher Ground Projects, Pilobolus, and Pink Inc., appeared on NBCs Today Show and is currently a member of the New York City Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Eric graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts and is a black belt in Aikido.
Adam Neiman
Chopin Hour
Close
Encounters with Music
Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Hailed as one of the premiere pianists of his generation, Adam Neiman will demonstrate the special place Chopin holds in his instrument's repertoire and how the composer revolutionized the world of piano, presenting particular challenges to the performer as he pushed piano technique to a level unsurpassed at the time. $25, includes light refreshments.
American pianist Adam Neiman has performed as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Belgrade, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Umbria, and Utah, as well as with the New York Chamber Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. He has collaborated with such conductors as Jiri Belohlavek, Giancarlo Guerrero, Carlos Kalmer, Uros Lajovic, Yoel Levi, Andrew Litton, Peter Oundjian, Leonard Slatkin, and Emmanuel Villaume.
An acclaimed recitalist, Neiman has toured throughout North America, playing in the major halls of La Jolla, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington D.C., and at Caramoor and Ravinia. His European recital tours have brought him throughout Italy, France, Germany, and Japan, where he made an eight-city tour culminating in his debut at Tokyo's Suntory Hall.
Born in 1978, Neiman has captured the attention of audiences and critics alike since his concerto debut at 11 in Los Angeles' Royce Hall. Clavier Magazine wrote: "Adam Neiman gave a performance that rivaled those of many artists on the concert stage today...his playing left listeners shaking their heads in disbelief." At 14 he debuted in Germany at the Ivo Pogorelich Festival, and at 15 he won second prize at the Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy, the youngest winner in the competition's history. In 1995 Neiman also became the youngest ever winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award. The following year he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and went on to make his Washington D.C. and New York recital debuts at the Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street Y. The Washington Post remarked, "A collection of Chopin's Waltzes and Nocturnes danced and stormed, and Prokofieff's Second Sonata enthralled with a dazzling display of inner voices rather than a mere display of muscle. This was playing of wisdom and light befitting an artist in the autumn of his career." Young Concert Artists additionally bestowed upon Neiman the Michaels Award and presented him in a critically acclaimed solo recital at Alice Tully Hall.
In addition to his career as a concert pianist, Adam Neiman devotes time to composition. He has written works for solo piano, voice, chamber ensemble, and symphony orchestra. He frequently performs his works in recital, and his newest chamber work, Two Elegies for Clarinet and Piano, will be premiered in Mexico at the International Festival Cervantinos with Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinetist. In addition, he has composed the score for a documentary film entitled "Forgiveness" by the Emmy Award-winning director Helen Whitney, due to air over two nights on PBS.
The Sunday afternoon event at HOH is complemented by Chopin and His Circle CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC'S MAHAIWE PAC PERFORMANCE Close Encounters With Music continues its 18th season Saturday, April 24, 6PM with Chopin and His Circle, celebrating the bicentennial of Chopin's birth. The program offers a spectrum of works by Chopin's friends and mentors, as well as his own sublime Ballades and Nocturnes. Joining artistic director Yehuda Hanani at the Mahaiwe performance are pianist Adam Neiman, violinist Stefan Milenkovich, and cellist Amy Gillingham. Close Encounters with Music is offering offering Hudson Opera House Members a special discount of $5 off for Chopin and His Circle and $5 off for the Chopin Hour and a special total price of $40 for both. If you'd like to attend both concert and conversation, contact 800-843-0778 or e-mail to cewmusic@aol.com to reserve tickets. The password is Piano.
The Man Who Planted Trees
Puppet State Theatre Company from Scotland
Co-presented with Stageworks/Hudson
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m. A captivating adaptation of Jean Giono's environmental cult classic. A French shepherd sets out with his dog to plant a forest and transform a barren landscape. An unforgettable story that shows the difference one man (and his dog!) can make to the world. A unique blend of comedy, puppetry and inspiring storytelling. For adults and children ages 7 & up. Performances take place at Stageworks/Hudson 41 Cross Street, Hudson. $15 adults, $10 youth.
Puppet State Theatre Company was founded in 2003 by Richard Medrington, who has worked as a professional puppeteer since 1984. In 2006 he teamed up with Rick Conte and Ailie Cohen to develop an adaptation of Jean Giono's The Man Who Planted Trees. Aided by stage/office manager Elspeth Murray and administrator Jennifer Williams, the first three years of touring saw the show performed more than 800 times. In 2009, they appeared for the fourth time at the Edinburgh Fringe and were honoured to be part of the new Made in Scotland Showcase. Touring to date has involved performing in all corners of the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands, Bermuda, Malaysia, and the USA. Awards include the Eco Prize for Creativity 2007, Total Theatre Award for Story Theatre 2008, Victor Award for best show at the International Performing Arts for Youth Showcase in Cleveland, Ohio and Best Children's Show at the Brighton Festival 2009. In October 2009, Puppet State was part of Scots on Broadway and performed to great acclaim at the New Victory Theater in New York.
Click here to register today.
Gare du Nord
Duos of Parisian Influence
duo parnas
Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Join Madalyn Parnas, violin & Cicely Parnas, cello as they
present their CD, Gare du Nord. This recording for duo
parnas features works by Martinu, Milhaud, Gliere, Fennelly,
and Honegger. $15, $12 HOH members, includes light refreshments.
Violinist Madalyn Parnas has firmly established her place on the
concert stage as both a brilliant and charismatic soloist, and a
gifted chamber musician with a rare and exceptional sensitivity.
This young artist has performed more than thirty concerti with orchestra,
making her debut at age twelve and collaborating with the great
master musician and conductor Jaime Laredo last season. With equal
passion Madalyn has devoted her energy to the study and performance
of chamber music. Collaborating for twelve years with sister cellist
Cicely as duo parnas.
Cellist Cicely Parnas is one of the finest young artists performing
today, easily recognized for her uniquely sincere musical voice
and highly individualized sound. Her exquisite tone and spontaneous
creativity are fueled by a limitless generosity and fearlessness
making for exciting performance. Cicely began studying the cello
at age four, and made her orchestral debut at nine. Since then Cicely
has performed over two dozen times as guest soloist with orchestra,
including the New York String Orchestra conducted by master musician
and conductor, Jaime Laredo, and David Alan Miller's Albany Symphony.
Three of Cicely's concerto performances have been presented on WQXR's
"McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase" in New York. Cicely has also
claimed six 1st prizes in national and regional soloist competitions.
The duo has made extraordinary achievements include winning 1st
prize in international chamber music competition at Carnegie Hall,
releasing two internationally acclaimed CDs, and performing 21st
century compositions written for them by award-winning composers
and earning rave reviews. Of one such work presented at Symphony
Space, a New York Times review read, "The duo parnas gave the piece
an electrifying reading, couching it in a lush tone and executing
its complex interplay with pinpoint precision." In 2007, Madalyn
and Cicely began working with the distinguished artist Peter Serkin
as the Parnas/Serkin Trio. Their debut concert followed in the 08/09
season, and since then numerous concerts have riveted audiences.
Click
Here to Register Today!
The Red Lions
Friday, April 2, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.The Red Lions is an indie-chamber rock band, a creation of singer-songwriter Eric Margan. Through a number of evolutions from its beginning in 2005, The Red Lions has always been and remains, by Margan's design, the palette of sounds this young artist requires to paint his highly imaginative musical pictures. Members include Eric Margan, vocals, guitar, Rick Spataro, guitar, keyboard, Scott Kellerhouse, bass, Jim Bertini, drums, and features Madalyn Parnas, violin, and Cicely Parnas, cello. The Red Lions continue performing regularly in the Northeast while they are preparing to record a second disc including Margan's new songs and more.$15, $12 HOH members.
Eric Margan began formal musical training on the flute at an early age, and shortly thereafter began experimenting musically on the guitar, piano, and bass on his own time and in his own way. At fourteen he formed his first band - a three-piece rock group in which he was co-songwriter, bassist, and singer. Margan also played bass in a number of jazz ensembles and combos throughout his high school years until he entered the College of Saint Rose on full-scholarship majoring in Music Industry. It was then and there he focused on his passion of songwriting and recording, but he also earned top academic honors, studied and mastered the double bass, continued playing the flute, the bass guitar, the piano, singing, and playing in bands. His time spent on the double-bass performing in classical chamber orchestras and chamber ensembles, became for Margan part of the sound construction that would become uniquely his niche: the indie-chamber rock sound. A master of orchestration and a gifted writer of poetry, Margan is now writing sophisticated and engaging songs, orchestrating each with a unique combination of sounds, and breathing life into each with his inspired and sensitive lyrics. But the centerpiece of all his music is Margan's talented band, The Red Lions.
Incident Report No. 31
Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 6:00 - 9:00p.m.HOH, WGXC & Incident Report present Incident No. 31: Julie Lequin One Night Performance of Top 30, with special guests Tom Morini, Jeremy Kelly on Saturday, April 10, from 6 - 9 pm. The performance of Top 30 combines live presentation with video projection.
Julie Lequin (born in Laval, Quebec in 1979) is a French Canadian artist. She received a BFA from Concordia University (Montreal, PQ) in 2001 and an MFA from Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA) in 2005. Julie's multidisciplinary practice interweaves personal history with fictionalized events and circumstances in a manner that constantly blurs the line between the artist as individual and the artist as self-consciously constructed persona. Julie's first book and DVD project was published in 2007 by 2nd Cannons Publications. In 2008, Julie was awarded a fellowship from the California Community Foundation and residencies at Yaddo, Art Omi, and Macdowell Colony. In 2009, she exhibited at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum in California, White Columns and Horton & Liu gallery in New York City. Julie is currently based in Quebec where she is working towards her next solo exhibition at the Darling Foundry in Montreal.
Thomas Kiko Morini is a two-year resident musician of Hudson, NY. From Bogota, raised in Carmel, educated in Great Barrington and set out amongst the lively characters of Hudson. His music is inspired by theatrical integration, socialist fundamentals, and the progressive and active expression of love and spirituality. He is a volunteer for WGXC and has recently helped the station to organize the entertainment for the New Year's Masquerade event. He will be working this summer on a collective musical/theatrica/mixed medium performance art project to be presented over a full weekend at the Basilica Industria in July. This project will be open to community ideas and installations. He encourages all curiosity to be discussed. Puravida.
Jeremy Kelly (b. 1980) is an electro-acoustic musician and instrument builder. Blending guitar pieces that have been compared to Six Organs of Admittance, Sandy Bull, James Blackshaw and John Fahey with modular synthesizer, found sound, looping and homemade electronics to create deep, immersing soundscapes. Jeremy has several releases available on his own Night Goat imprint, Digitalis Industries, Tape Drift Records and Reverb Worship, with forthcoming albums on House of Alchemy, Stunned Records And Digitalis. He will be joined by long time collaborator Geoff Maciolek (modular synthesizer, theremin and electronics), and a few special guest performers.
read more...
Suite Solitude
Anthea Kreston
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. A concert with Anthea Kreston featuring the earliest known work for solo violin (Biber's Passacaglia) as well as several newly commissioned works by composers such as Daron Hagen's Suite for Solo Violin and Augusta Read Thomas' Incantation. $15, $12 HOH members.
Program
Fantasia No. 7 - Georg Philipp Telemann(1732)
Between Dog and Wolf - Gilda Lyons(2010)
Four - Anne LeBaron(2009)
Passacaglia - Heinrich Biber(c. 1676)
Incantation - Augusta Read Thomas(1995)
Suite for Violin - Daron Hagen(1984)
Violinist Anthea Kreston has received numerous awards for her chamber collaborations including honors at the Melbourne and Banff International Competitions, the Grand Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and Top Prize in the Munich ARD International Chamber Music Competition. The San Diego Reader said of her "...Anthea is a soloist of the Heifetz- Shaham-Vengerov caliber, whose musical instincts could make even a mere bagatelle thrill the soul and stir the senses to a frenzy." She made her solo debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and tours actively with her piano trio, The Amelia Piano Trio. Anthea has won awards from Chamber Music America for her groundbreaking work with abused children and AIDS patients in Hartford, CT. The Amelia Piano Trio has enjoyed a busy performance schedule since its forming. One of the brightest young groups in America, the Trio was honored as a recipient of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. She has also enjoyed touring as part of YoYo Ma's Silk Road Project, which brought her from Las Vegas to Kazakhstan. Anthea holds a B.A. in Women's Studies from Cleveland State University and a performance degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. She is a professor of violin and viola at the Hartt School of Music. Anthea is actively involved with alternative music; she played in the Cleveland based rock band "Daria" for several years, and frequently performs with her violin and percussion duo, "Sweet Thunder". Anthea can be heard on the labels New Tangent, Naxos, Cedille Records, Channel Classics, and Traditional Crossroads.
program sponsored by
Kelli Rudick
with Alexander Turnquist
Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. Born in the states but raised in Israel, Kelli Rudick spent endless hours playing in the echoing sound of the bomb shelter just outside the family's house on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. In 2007 Kelli released 'No One Knows You're Foreign', a distinctive work introducing her unique way of accentuating emotionally complex compositions by drawing percussive rhythms from the fretboard and body of the guitar while coaxing chordal melodies and harmonics from the strings. Kelli Rudick has collaborated with notable artists including Nick Zammuto of the aleatoric electro-folk duo The Books, Alon Leventon of the project Drops of Conciousness and the electro-indie group Zigmat, and recorded and toured with internationally acclaimed guitarist Kaki King. She's scored music for Queer Eye For The Straight Girl, 'The L Word' fashion show, and the films 'A Night in the Sunlight' and 'Absolutely I Do'. Kelli has toured throughout the United States and Europe, and has played extensively in her adopted hometown including shows on the main stage of The Knitting Factory, the Blue Note, Galapagos, the Cutting Room, a month-long residency at the Living Room, and headlining a full house fronting her five-piece band at Joe's Pub in New York City.
Alexander Turnquist is a multi-instrumental musician who creates instrumental music inspired by the beautiful moments of everyday life that can be often lost. $15, $12 HOH members.
Pigeon Party!
Big
Wooden Horse Theatre, England
Thanksgiving Weekend!Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 10 a.m. & Noon
Mo Willem's Pigeon is back and ready to party! Squeezing all the fun of the first three Pigeon books into one raucous production, this lively show for children 3 and up is full of fun, feathers, laughter and excitement and features original music and lots of audience participation. Performances take place at the Montgomery C. Smith Intermediate School Theatre, Hudson. $5 children, $10 adults.
Hudson to China
Concrete
Temple Theatre
Friday, December 11, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.
Hudson to China is a spectacle with projections, puppetry, theatre, and live-music. It parallels three different beings seeking a way to China: a statue of Henry Hudson that stands in the Bronx, who believes he has finally found his route to China; a young man, Harry, who dreams of success by literally conquering what he fears: (China & its economy), and Hua, a Chinese immigrant, who longs for home. Hudson to China is an adventure in which the experiences become the destination. On the journey the voyagers, and we, the audience, will lose our way, finding it just to lose it again, echoing Henry Hudson's voyages and our own lives, searching for the mythical Orient. For adults and ages 12 & up. $12 adults, $10 youth.
Lille
Kartofler Figuren Theatre, Germany
RUMPELSTILTSKIN
Thursday, February 4, 2010, 6:00 p.m. Storyteller and puppeteer, Matthias Kuchta adapts this classis Grimm fairytale. Adults and kids alike will be enchanted as the large-scale handmade puppets tell the story of a greedy king, a sad girl and the man who offers her an odd bargain in exchange for his help. Performance is sponsored by the John L. Edwards PTA and Carol Gans and takes place at the John L. Edwards Primary School, Hudson. Free.
Images of Women in American Song
Music of the 30's and 40's
Bard College Conservatory of Music
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Sopranos Ariadne Greif and Megan Taylor, mezzo-soprano Katarzyna Sadej and pianist Liang-Yu Wang present a program of popular and classical American music from the 1930s and 1940s. Highlights range from pop tunes associated with the Andrews Sisters to recital pieces by Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein and John Cage, to theater songs by Kurt Weill. The performers are in the Bard Graduate Vocal Artists Program, directed by Dawn Upshaw. Free and open to the public..
Paul Carlon
and the McCarron Bros. Jazz Quartet
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
NYC-based saxophonist and composer Paul
Carlon returns to HOH with the McCarron
Brothers, a quartet consisting of Paul on saxophones,
guitarist Mark McCarron, bassist Doug Largent, and drummer Russ Meissner.
The McCarron Brothers recently released their debut album, Way Down
in Brooklyn, on Deep Tone Records. Fans of Paul's larger Afro-Latin
infused group, the Paul Carlon Octet, a regular performer at the Hudson
Opera House over the past three years, will recognize in the McCarron
Brothers some similar creative elements: a fascination with roots
music, a strongly adventurous improvisatory spirit, and a defined
group sound. $15, $12 HOH members.
Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide
A work-in-progress performance by Judith Sloan
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Actor, producer and teacher, Judith Sloan has done it all when it comes to exploring the world through the streets of New York City. Sloan spent 20 years teaching at schools and jails. Using music, poetry, and vivid character portrayals, Sloan's solo performance breaks down assumptions that often divide seemingly conflicting worlds. A project of Ear Say, written and performed by Judith Sloan, directed by Michael Dinwiddie. $15, $12 HOH members.
The process of developing YO Miss was featured in a recent New York Times article: "Ms. Sloan's art and teaching cross-pollinate: She uses immigrant stories that she and her husband have compiled -- dozens of them are included in a 2003 book, Crossing the Blvd -- to demonstrate how to shape narrative and to get students talking about their lives. And the students flood her with new material." New York Times, April 2009 article.
Bio: Judith Sloan is an actress, audio artist, oral historian, writer and educator whose documentaries and essays have been produced for New York Public Radio, National Public Radio, and the Third Coast International Audio Festival. Her solo performances have been produced in theatres, universities, and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad including: The Public Theatre, The Theatre Workshop (Scotland), The Smithsonian Institution, the Jewish Museum (NY) etc. Awards include: 2009, and 2008 First Place, Missouri Review Audio Competition, Narrative Essay; 2005 BAXten Artist Award; 2005 Special Merit Award for Crossing the BLVD piece National Federation of Community Broadcasters; and 2004 Brendan Gill Prize. She is the co-founder, with Warren Lehrer, of EarSay, Inc, (www.earsay.org) an artist-driven non-profit organization bridging art and human rights in documentary and expressive forms. Their Crossing the BLVD project, a multimedia exploration of the lives of recent immigrants and refugees, (book, W.W. Norton) audio CD, interactive website and traveling exhibition (www.crossingtheblvd.org), won the 2004 Brendan Gill Prize, among others. Sloan is an Adjunct Professor at Gallatin School at NYU and directs EarSay's Cross-Cultural Dialogue Through the Arts project focusing on transforming trauma into art. Sloan has received grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Queens Council on the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, among others.
Diana Jones
Friday, October 23, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.Diana Jones' music is formed by the themes that have run through her life: love, loss, and redemption. Adopted as an infant and raised in New York, Diana left home at the age of 15 in search of her roots. Unlike most of her friends, Diana was attracted to the music of Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, as well as contemporary artists Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. It wasn't until she was reunited with her birth family and the music of the Eastern Tennessee hills some years later, that she discovered why that music had always moved her.
After establishing a solid folk career in the late 90s in the fertile Austin music scene, Diana returned to the northeast seeking time to heal from the loss of her beloved grandfather, Robert Lee Maranville, who as a young man performed with Chet Atkins among others. It was during this time of healing and isolation that Diana started writing from a deeper place, and after some serious woodshedding, she emerged with some of the most honest songs of her life. From the mournful lament of a dance hall girl, to the stomping melodic rant of a young woman's burial instructions, each of Diana's original songs from her latest CD, Better Times Will Come, draws life from the rich cross currents of old timey, country blues and mountain music.
"Better Times Will Come," the follow up to her critically acclaimed 2006 recording, 'My Remembrance Of You,' has already drawn diverse praise and recognition ranging from raves in the UK press to the New York Times and a connection with Joan Baez, who recently covered "Henry Russell's Last Words" on the Grammy-nominated 'Day After Tomorrow'. $15, $12 HOH members.
Diamond
Street, a new opera
music by Harold Farberman
libretto by Andrew Joffe
Thursday, Friday & Saturday October 1 - 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
First Commissioned Opera to be Premiered at Hudson Opera House: Diamond Street to be Performed in Un-restored Performance Hall
As a cornerstone of their ongoing Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Celebrations, the Hudson Opera House has commissioned a one-act opera by renowned composer Harold Farberman and librettist Andrew Joffe. This will be the first commissioned work for both HOH and Diamond Opera Theater, the co-producer, which will perform it. The project was made possible with commissioning funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.
"We are enormously gratified to have initiated this project," said Gary Schiro, Executive Director of the Hudson Opera House. "Harold Farberman's first opera was commissioned by Lincoln Center, and his most recent one was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize so we feel tremendously grateful to be engaged with such an esteemed composer. Andrew Joffe is one of today's most admired librettists. This new work is musically brilliant, with a downright hilarious story."
Diamond Street, which runs about one hour, is set in the late 19th-century. It is based on Hudson's storied past as a red-light district providing "entertainment" for Albany politicians and visitors from the region and afar. The opera is scored for five singers and a ten-piece ensemble. It features the mezzo-soprano Hudsonian Mary Deyerle Hack in the role of Big Maisie, a madam on Diamond Street.
The
opera will also be the first production in the opera house performance
hall in more than 40 years. The interior is still unrestored,
which will enhance the show's Victorian ambience. "There really
was nowhere else where we could conceive of producing this" said
Fayal Greene, HOH Board member and president of the Diamond Opera
Theater Board. "The first scene of the opera even takes place
at City Hall, which is what this building served as until 1962,
so it is the perfect venue. It's a great honor for us to be part
of the theater's artistic reincarnation." read more including artist bios and press release...
and a video with Trixie Starr from GayHudson.com
Seating will be limited to 100 for each of the three performances, on October 1st (Thursday), 2nd and 3rd (Saturday - SOLD OUT). Saturday's performance will be capped off by a champagne Benefit Reception with the artists. Tickets are $25 each, or $50 which will include the benefit.
Saturday is SOLD OUT, though limited Tickets are available for Thursday and Friday and can be purchased by calling the Opera House at 518-822-1438.
Armen Donelian Trio
Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.7:30pm Pre-concert Talk: Meet the Artists
Jazz pianist Armen Donelian, bassist David Clark, and drummer George Schuller perform selections from their new CD, Oasis. Earlier in the day, the trio will present a Jazz Workshop at 11 a.m. "A pianist with a crystalline touch, but a penchant for avant gardism." - The New York Times. "An oasis of honest, multi-faceted, breathing music." - AllAboutJazz-New York. "Quickly establishes a high level of musical discourse and never falters from it." - Jazz Times.
Made possible by a Decentralization Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, administered through the Twin Counties Cultural Fund in Columbia County by the Columbia County Council on the Arts, and by support from The Abode of the Message and The Hudson Opera House.Tickets, $10 adults, free for youth.
Spencer Day Ensemble
Performance has been moved to the Hudson Opera House
Friday August 21, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Spencer Day, a uniquely American singer/songwriter, returns to Hudson along with his ensemble to promote the release of his new album, Vagabond. The new album is being released by West Coast's premiere jazz label, Concord Records. With a blend of jazz, pop, soul and folk, his smooth baritone voice interprets his original compositions with compassion and a touch of humor. Day's work reveals the influences of such diverse composers as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, John Lennon and Paul Simon. Spencer has appeared on national television and performed at venues including Joe's Pub and at Tanglewood Jazz Festival.
The performance is co-presented with the City of Hudson and is free and open to the public. Due to weather, the performance has been moved to the Hudson Opera House. Come early, limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
Just So Stories
Castle Hill Theatre Company
Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. HOH presents Castle
Hill Theater Company and Rudyard Kipling's
classic Just So Stories, including how the elephant got
his trunk, the leopard his spots and how the first letter
was written. The show features live African drumming and
giant puppets. Perfect for all ages! $7 children,
$9 adults. Family rate: $25.
Jazz
Performance
Armen Donelian,
Marc Mommaas
and David Liebman
Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. A faculty and student concert presented as part of the Hudson Jazz Workshop with Armen Donelian, Marc Mommaas and David Liebman. For more information contact Armen Donelian at 518-822-1640 or info@armenjazz.com. Tickets are $5 per person.
I Got Sick, Then I Got Better
Jenny Allen
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. A funny and wrenching riff on one woman's adventures after
falling down the medical rabbit hole. Comic and writer Jenny
Allen (the New Yorker, The New York Times), treated for
ovarian cancer in 2005, has been shaping and performing
her monologue under the guidance of directors James Lapine
and Darren Katz for the past two years.$15, $12
HOH members.
Jenny Allen
is a writer and performer. Her profiles, essays and reviews
have appeared for years in many magazines, including The
New Yorker, The New York Times, New York, Vogue, Esquire,
and More. Recent essays appear in "Disquiet, Please!"
a new anthology of humor pieces from the New Yorker, and
in "Feed Me," a collection of essays about women
and food. She is the author of a book of fables for grown-ups
called "The Long Chalkboard," illustrated by her
husband, Jules Feiffer. She helped originate the '80's comedy
group Serious Bizness and has performed in productions of
Jules' Blues and in readings of Spalding Grey: Stories Left
to Tell. She produces and performs stand-up comedy evenings
in Manhattan. I Got Sick Then I Got Better was first performed
on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 2007; since then James
Lapine has been collaborating with Allen and with Darren
Katz on shaping and expanding the material, under the aegis
of New York Theatre Workshop, which will produce the show
this fall in New York. She has two children, Halley, 24,
an actress, and Julie, 14, a ninth grader, as well as a
stepdaughter, Kate. Read
more here
Music and Dance of India
Falu and Sonal Bhatt
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
Indian dancer, Sonal Bhatt returns to HOH along with singer Falu (left) and musicians, Gaurav Shah, harmonium, indian flute (bansuri), and Aditya Kalyanpur, tabla. Having performed as part of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project and at Carnegie Hall, the ensemble explore connections between India's traditional art forms and modern interpretations. Stay for a post performance talk and demonstration after the show. A great family performance for all ages, not to be missed! This East Meets West performance is co-presented with Operation Unite. $15, $12 HOH members. Read more here
Dance Solo
Sonal
Eastbound
Falu, Gaurav, Aditya
Intro to instruments, music and dance
Duet: Sonal and Aditya
Duet: Falu and Aditya
Savan
(Falu, Gaurav, Aditya, Sonal)
The Story of Krishna including songs, storytelling, and dance
(Falu, Gaurav, Aditya, Sonal)
Jagne Jadwa
vocals by Gaurav (Falu, Gaurav, Aditya, Sonal)
Radha nu nam
vocals by Falu (Falu, Gaurav, Aditya, Sonal)
Garba
(ensemble with audience participation) (Falu, Gaurav, Aditya, Sonal)
Ragisthani Folk Song
Falu (Gaurav, Aditya)
Bhangra
Falu (Falu, Gaurav, Aditya, Sonal)
Allah hu
(ensemble with audience participation)
The DownTown Ensemble
Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. The DownTown
Ensemble returns to HOH with a program featuring works
by NYC's top new music performers including Brian Dewan,
accordian, Bill Hellerman, voice, Yvette Perez, vocals/keyboard,
and Peter Zummo, trombone. $15, $12 HOH members.
Songs From the Hudson River
Joy Askew and Pulse Ensemble
a fusion of contemporary classical, jazz, and popular music
Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Songs from the Hudson River, a collaboration with the
wonderful singer-songwriter Joy Askew, is presented as part
of the Hudson Quadricentennial Celebration. Joy is a dynamic
and accomplished singer-songwriter who has performed with
Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Joe Jackson, as well groups
and recordings under her own name. The historical and fictional
life of communities on and around the Hudson River inspire
each of the songs by the members of Pulse - Darcy James
Argue, Jamie Begian, Hudson resident Joseph C. Phillips
Jr., JC Sanford, Joshua Shneider, and Yumiko Sunami.$15,
$12 HOH members.
The melding of Pulse's cross-genre aesthetic with Joy's
emotionally direct musicality and theatrical stage persona
has created wonderful art pop songs that resonate immediately
with audiences. All the performances are with Joy and a
Pulse ensemble featuring Dan Willis (woodwinds), Lis Rubard
(horn), (violin), Will Martina (cello), Jesse Breheney (bass),
and Diana Herold (percussion) as well as Jamie Begian (guitar)
and JC Sanford (piano) on a few of the pieces. The composers
of Pulse have been honored by BMI, ASCAP, SOCAN, the National
Endowment of the Arts, the International Association for
Jazz Education, Down Beat magazine, Meet The Composer, and
the American Composers Forum. Their music has been performed
at concert halls, music clubs, universities, and conservatories
throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Additional information
about Songs from the Hudson River can be found on the Pulse
blog, www.pulsecomposers.typepad.com.
Piano Concert
Raj Bhimani
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
program info
Pianist Raj Bhimani's concerts are "virtuosic, heartfelt
and eloquent," writes New York Times Critic Michael
Kimmelman. Mr. Bhimani returns to HOH with a concert that
includes works of Brahms, Brenet, Poulenc, and Roussel.
Raj Bhimani is an active performer, teacher, and adjudicator. He has presented solo and chamber music recitals in the United States, France, Italy, Portugal, Canada, and India, and can be heard regularly in and around New York. Performances of his have been broadcast on Indian National Radio and Television, Portuguese National Radio, and also on WQXR and WHUS Radio in the United States. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College in California, and a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory in Maryland. He had the good fortune to study in Paris for three years with noted French pianist Nicole Henriot-Schweitzer, and in New York has had a long association with Seymour Bernstein. He also values the assistance he has received from Claude Frank and Andre Laplante. Mr. Bhimani teaches in the Music School of the 92nd Street Y in New York and also maintains large private teaching studios in Bronxville, New York, and in Manhattan. He has also taught at New York University and in the Music Preparatory Department of Concordia College, and gives lectures and workshops on piano pedagogy, the performance of French piano music, and other topics.$15, $12 HOH members.
Lenneke Ruiten, Soprano
Thom Janssen, Piano
Saturday, May 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
HOH teams up with Brooklyn
Friends of Chamber Music to bring an exceptional concert
with Dutch performers, Lenneke
Ruiten, soprano, and Thom
Janssen, piano, presented as part of the Hudson Quadricentennial
Celebration. The duo will perform works by Brahms, Schubert,
Rachmaninoff, Faure, Duparc and works by contemporary composer
Jonathan Dove.
Lenneke Ruiten studied voice with Maria Rondel
and Meinard Kraak, and went on to study opera in Munich at the Bavarian
Theatre Academy and Lieder with Helmut Deutsch at the Munich University
of Music and Performing Arts. She specialized in German Lieder in
Austria, and in French songs in France. In 2001 Lenneke Ruiten won
first prize at the Erna Spoorenberg Vocalists Presentation, and
in 2002 she was awarded the first prize, the press prize, the audience
prize, the prize for the best Dutch participant and the youth jury
prize at the International Voice Competition. Lenneke Ruiten has
performed in throughout Europe and at the Rheingau Musik Festival,
West Cork Chamber Music Festival, and the Delft Chamber Music Festival.
Thom Janssen studied piano with Jaap Spaanderman,
Jan Wijn and Herman Uhlhorn and majored in music theory
as well as piano. Thom Janssen gives solo recitals and performs
with various ensembles and orchestras. For several years
he was a member of the Basho ensemble, which specializes
in contemporary music. He held a position as musical leader
with Opera SKON for some time, accompanying the company
on various tours throughout Europe with operas including
Die Zauberflote, Carmen and Die Kluge. He also prepared
a number of successful educational productions for the North
Holland Philharmonic Orchestra.$15, $12 HOH members.
Light & Shadow
The Phoenix Concerts
Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. Core members of Manhattan's The
Phoenix Concerts join together with HOH for an evening
of contemporary chamber works. Internationally noted composers
Daron Hagen (piano), Paula Kimper (guitar), and Gilda Lyons
(voice) perform their own recent works with the powerfully
soulful vocalist Elaine Valby. $15, $12 HOH members.
East Meets West
The Ramayana
A Wayang Kulit Shadow Puppet Play
Tamara and the Shadow Theatre of Java
Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at the John L. Edwards Elementary School Tamara
presents a performance of Wayang Kulit shadow puppet performance
of the ancient Hindu-Javanese story "The Ramayana"
for family audiences. Performance takes place at the John
L. Edwards Elementary School, Hudson. Tickets are $5 per
person, $10 family
The Amelia Piano Trio
Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. HOH presents the Amelia
Piano Trio - pianist Rieko Aizawa, violinist Anthea
Kreston and cellist Jason Duckles. These extraordinary musicians
return to HOH to perform accompanied by Betti Xiang, erhu
and Wang Guowei, pipa, two musicians the ensemble had met
as part of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project which brings together
Eastern and Western musicians to perform newly commissioned
works and Western works inspired by Asia. Wang Guowei is
an internationally renowned Erhu soloist, and leader of
"Music from China." The program at HOH will include
the Debussy Trio, influenced by the Indonesian Gamelan,
Mozart (arranged for Erhu, Violin, and Cello), contemporary
Chinese duo for Cello and Erhu based on river villages,
and the Ravel Trio. This East Meets West performance
is made possible with the support of the National Endowment
for the Arts.Tickets cost $15, $12 for HOH members.
The Art of Song Deconstructed
Diamond Opera Theatre
Saturday March 14, 2009 at 4:00 p.m.
Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52: A heavenly song cycle, sung by a quartet including Courtenay Symonds (at left), Andrew Fuchs, and DOT Artistic Directors Mary Deyerle Hack and Keith Spencer. The quartet will be accompanied by pianists Cynthia Powell and Allison Snoffy.
After the half-hour performance, Diamond Opera Theater Artistic Director Mary Deyerle Hack will lead the audience, singer(s) and accompanist(s) in a discussion to "deconstruct" the program, discovering why certain pieces were chosen and how the singer fits the songs to his or her voice. It's insightful, sometimes humorous and illuminating.
Be sure to mark your calendar. The performance is free, it's fun, and will give you, the audience, a chance to find out through discussing the performance just what makes a song a standard of each culture's most melodic expression.
This event is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered through the Twin Counties Cultural Fund in Columbia County by the Columbia County Council on the Arts.
Jay Ungar & Molly Mason
Friday, February 27, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
If you love American roots music, don't miss this exciting evening of fiddling and singing with Jay Ungar & Molly Mason. This concert will warm the hearts of people of all ages. Reservations recommended. $20, $17 HOH members.Call for your tickets today, limited tickets
available!
Women
Patricia Naggiar
Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Patricia Naggiar returns to HOH for a return performance. Patricia was a news
producer and documentary filmmaker for over 30 years. For her one
woman show at HOH, she tells about her life and shares stories about
some of the rich and famous she has interviewed. $12, $10 HOH members.
DIVA
Sofie Krog Teater, Denmark
Friday, February 20, 2009 at 8:00 & 10:00 p.m.
Theft! Trickery! Death! Puppets???? Denmark's Sofie Krog Teater brings its production of DIVA to HOH. Every night the Diva enchants her audience, but far below the stage is the secret lair of a mad scientist with dangerous plans. This funny, surprising, imaginative and award-winning theatre piece has toured the world and is not to be missed. Limited seating and two performances only, 8pm and 10pm. $20, $17 HOH members.
The Duo Parnas
Duos for Violin and Cello
Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
Cicely (Cello) and Madalyn (Violin) Parnas will present works by Haydn, Martinu, Ravel and Handel-Halvorsen from their upcoming CD, Gare du Nord as well as a pieces from their previous CD, Parnas Double. The duo will be performing in at Music Mountain, the NYC Composer's Circle Concert and at the ACA at Symphony Space in NYC. Madalyn and Cicely recently tied for 1st place at the New York ASTA Soloist Competition, and Madalyn was selected as semi-finalists in the National ASTA Soloist Competition to be held in Atlanta. For the performance at HOH, Cicely will also play Sonatine for Unaccompanied Cello by Bruce Craig Roter, professor from the College of St. Rose. This piece was published in 1997, and was never performed. Cicely will be presenting the world premier at HOH! A reception with the artists will follow the performance.
Tickets are $10 per person, or $20 for a family. Seating is limited, and reservations are recommended.
The Art of Song Deconstructed
Diamond Opera Theatre
Saturday February 14, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. February 14, 2009 - That's Amore!: We'll celebrate Valentine's Day with the return on tenor Patrick Layton, who shone in last season's production of Red Carnations. He will be joined by his wife, mezzo-soprano Catharine Layton, in songs of love in all its glory - and challenge!
After each half-hour performance, Diamond Opera Theater Artistic Director Mary Deyerle Hack will lead the audience, singer(s) and accompanist(s) in a discussion to "deconstruct" the program, discovering why certain pieces were chosen and how the singer fits the songs to his or her voice. These discussions are insightful, sometimes humorous and always illuminating.
Be sure to mark your calendar for these Saturday concerts. They're free, they're fun, and they will give you, the audience, a chance to find out through discussing each performance just what makes a song a standard of each culture's most melodic expression.
This event is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered through the Twin Counties Cultural Fund in Columbia County by the Columbia County Council on the Arts.
Eric Mintel Quartet
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Attention jazz lovers! The Eric Mintel Quartet performs new arrangements of classic jazz standards, along with original songs. Dave Antonow, bass, Nelson Hill, alto sax, Dave Mohn, drums, and Eric Mintel, piano. $15, $12 HOH members.
Pyeng Threadgill
Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.Jazz singer Pyeng Threadgill comes to HOH with a performance of songs from her newest album, Portholes To A Love & Other Short Stories. Pyeng attributes her vocal/musical aesthetic to her love for all styles of music from around the world. Her training as a teacher in the Alexander Technique (a practice for removing unwanted tension in the body) has greatly affected her journey as a singer. Ms. Threadgill sees her general outlook on life and Portholes To A Love as being part of the same African Diasporic worldview that understands the interconnectedness of all things.
Pyeng Threadgill's music has been heard regularly on radio, in front of audiences as varied as New York's iconoclast downtown venues Nublu and Joe's Pub, The Montreal Jazz Festival, Detroit Institute of The Arts, The Sun Side Jazz Club in Paris and more and even on the big screen. In 2006 Threadgill was asked to be a featured player in the documentary film starring Youssou N'Dour entitled "Retour A Goree" by director Pierre Yves-Borgeaud. Portholes To A Love & Other Short Stories has already earned her a fellowship from The New York Foundation for The Arts in Music Composition. Using impressionistic guitars, hard set grooves, keyboards, and swaggering horns, it is clear Pyeng Threadgill is a compelling storyteller and bandleader. $15, $12 HOH members.
Madera Vox
Chamber Jazz Ensemble
Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. Oboist Nicole Golay, bassoonist Cornelia McGiver, pianist Sylvia Buccelli, soprano Kelly Ellenwood and percussionist-composer David Gluck are Madera Vox, a chamber ensemble combining traditional repertoire with original works. With masterworks of Bach and Poulenc, and innovative arrangements of the Beatles to jazz composer Chick Corea, as well as newly commissioned pieces, Madera Vox weaves together an engaging performance, not to be missed! $15, $12 HOH members.
The Art of Song Deconstructed
Diamond Opera Theatre
Saturday January 10, 2009 at 4:00 p.m.
Storytime with soprano Jennifer Valle, accompanied by Carmine Aufiero, piano. A short recital of songs written in the voices of fantasy characters, from the glamorous Viennese Merry Widow by Franz Lehar, to children's songs by Francis Poulenc , La Courte Paille, to music for a water sprite, an elf and a Serpent.
After this voyage through the world of imagination, the audience is invited to enjoy a conversation with the singer and pianist, led by Diamond Opera Theater Artistic Director Mary Deyerle Hack, about how and why these delightful songs are chosen and performed.
The performance is free and will be followed by an informal reception with the artists.
Jennifer Valle, soprano, has performed leading roles with Dicapo Opera Theater in New York and with other companies in the U.S. and Italy, as well as on radio and television. She has won many honors, awards and scholarships. Her next role is the Countess in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at Dicapo Opera Theater later this month.
Carmine Aufiero, piano, is a conductor who has performed with such companies as Dicapo Opera Theater, Chelsea Opera and was pianist and Assistant Conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra's production of Janacek's Osud with Leon Botstein. He studied at Bard with Harold Farberman and Robert Abramson. In 2009 he will conduct Dicapo, Manhattan and Chelsea Operas.
This event is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered through the Twin Counties Cultural Fund in Columbia County by the Columbia County Council on the Arts.