Tibet House US 32nd Anniversary Benefit Concert Celebrating The Year of the Earth Dog,

This was a fun one!

Featuring Philip Glass, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Jon Batiste, Tenzin Choegyal, Stephen Colbert, Jason Isbell, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, New Order’s Bernard Sumner, Nathaniel Rateliff, featuring the Scorchio Quartet and Patti Smith Band.

Silver Sun Foundation Residency

The Woods Await!

The mission of the Silver Sun Residence program is to offer creative professionals and change makers an opportunity to develop new work in a tranquil environment. Located in Woodstock, NY it certainly was a respite to the business of an 8 show Broadway week. I was at the Residency under the umbrella of The Secret City. One of my favorite organizations, The Secret City presents ecstatic community art celebrations featuring storytelling, visual art, guest performers, a live band, a community choir, and playful interaction. I ended my residency week participating in the annual Secret City Woodstock Revival- A town wide festival celebrating art, community and the unique creative spirit of Woodstock. Below, I’m singing and playing in the woods on the beautiful Comeau trail….please watch.

NBC TODAY SHOW!

The cast and band of Oklahoma! performed this morning a medley of Cain’t Say No and Oklahoma! live in Bryant Park for the NBC Today Show! It was an early morning, but tons of fun to play outside for the Ok! fans.

The cast and band of Oklahoma! on NBC Today!
Waiting to perform… Damon and those chaps!
Silly antics in the bass clef.

TONY award WINS for OKLAHOMA!

Oklahoma! took home best revival of a musical at the 2019 TONY Awards! We played a medley of Cain’t Say No and Oklahoma for a packed Radio City Music Hall. So exciting to be backstage waiting to go on with all the other shows…And Ali Stroker rightly took home the TONY for best featured actress in a musical! Woohoo! Ali has become a major role model for us all!

‘ThisTree’ Premiere at the  Prototype Festival

‘ThisTree’ is happening NOW at the Prototype Festival
at HERE arts in New York City, January 6-12, 2019
directed by Ellie Heyman

ThisTree, Culture Mart, 2017 Photo by Paula Court

ThisTree….Dappled late-afternoon light bathes a clearing in the hand crafted forest. Sounds of nature gently reverberate. Radical cellist/singer Leah Coloff emerges, trailing a 25 ft. cape of tattered denim. Tracing the secrets of her family history, Coloff, a cross pollination between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Patti Smith, glides between idyllic childhood memories, unanswered questions and her wild ride through fertility treatments. ThisTree weaves autobiographical storytelling, Regular 8 home movies, and Coloff’s signature blend of blues, rock and non-traditional cello playing, supported by an all-female band, to investigate the vantage point of being the last branch on the family tree.

Produced for PROTOTYPE by HERE, a co-production of Beth Morrison Projects and HERE. Commissioned and developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program and a developmental residency at Bethany Arts Community. It is being supported by HERE’s Fund for Women Artists, generously created by Jennifer Suh Whitfield and Benjamin Whitfield.

Read more about the PROTOTYPE Festivalhttps://nyti.ms/2SC3F7q

Oklahoma! at St. Ann’s Warehouse!

Directed by Daniel Fish this dark version breaks open this classic musical to reveal  how current and relevant its themes are in present times. The band, led by Nathan Koci, who also plays accordion and drums, is Eleonore Oppenheim on bass, Sarah Goldfeather on violin, Joseph Brent on mandolin, Hilary Hawke on banjo and Brett Parnell on guitars, and I’m playing cello.
Read the NY Times review!

HERE Artist Residency Program

 I am delighted and honored to have been chosen to be a part of the HERE Artist Residency Program. I will be developing a multi-media theatrical piece exploring the themes present in my most recent  collection of songs called ThisTree.  ThisTree as a performance piece will sew together song, family stories, animation, home movies and handmade objects to explore identity, memory, legacy and loss,  propelled by the question – “What do we leave behind when our family tree has died?”

 HERE commissions and develops new hybrid works over a 1- to 3-year period. As part of the HERE community of artists and audiences, the 15 resident artists show works-in-progress, develop workshop productions, and mount full–scale productions. Through the residency programs, HERE seeks to not only grow innovative artistic work, but also give artists the awareness and skills—in areas such as audience relations, budgeting, grantwriting, and touring—they need to continue to grow their careers.

 HERE has developed such acclaimed works as Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues; Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique; Basil Twist and Joey Arias’ Arias with a Twist; Hazelle Goodman’s On Edge; Young Jean Lee’s Songs of The Dragons Flying To Heaven; Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle’s all wear bowlers; Faye Driscoll’s837 Venice Boulevard; Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge and original musical and dance works created and directed by HERE Co-Founder and Artistic Director Kristin Marting.

The Source: 2014 Next Wave Festival

Fishman Space Oct 22-Oct 25, 7:30 pm

A huge wall-projection from “The Source,” with a correspondingly tiny live performer in the foreground.
KIRSTEN LUCE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

In this multimedia oratorio by composer Ted Hearne, four singers inhabit a fever-dream assemblage of media to explore the hysteria surrounding Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning.
The primary-source libretto was culled from Iraq/Afghanistan War Logs.  One of the most intense,beautiful and terrifying pieces I have been a part of.  The  NY Times review describes the power and simplicity of this multi-media experience. http://nyti.ms/1tAjjQb

Composed by Ted Hearne
Libretto by Mark Doten
Directed by Daniel Fish

Vocalists:

Mellissa Hughes     Soprano
Samia Mounts         Soprano
Isaiah Robinson     Tenor
Jonathan Woody    Bass-Baritone

Ensemble:

Nathan Koci                Music Director/ Conductor/ Keyboards
Courtney Orlando     Violin
Anne Lanzilotti          Viola
Leah Coloff                  Cello
Greg Chudzik              Bass
Ron Wiltrout              Drums

Produced by Beth Morrison Projects