Coming September 6:
Monk Rowe Trio
Monk Rowe, saxophone
John Hutson, guitarist
Tom McGrath, percussionist
About the Performers:
Monk Rowe is a 1972 graduate of SUNY Fredonia and played in the saxophone section of the Fredonia Jazz Ensemble for four years. During those years he composed original music for the FJE and he continues to write for jazz ensembles, chamber groups and orchestras. Monk has been the Joe Williams Director of the Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College since its inception in 1995. In this capacity, he has conducted videotaped interviews with over 325 jazz artists across the country. With his wife Romy, he has recently authored a book entitled Jazz Tales from Jazz Legends, drawing on the resources of this oral history collection. He works in the field of aesthetic education and served as the Artistic Director of the Utica Arts in Education Institute. Monk has recorded a CD of original music entitled Jazz Life and a solo keyboard CD, At the Piano.
John Hutson was born in Indiana and attended college in Boston. College graduation was followed by five years of constant musical performance in and around the Boston area. A visit to L.A. turned into a 19-year stay during which John further honed his musical skills by graduating with honors from The Guitar Institute of Technology. Following graduation, John racked up many hours in the studio working with the likes of George Benson and Freddie Hubbard. The years in southern California ended when John relocated to the Utica area and his musical progress continued. John is a skilled recording engineer and a guitar teacher, where he engages students in the “blues you can use” approach to playing. His versatility makes him an in-demand player throughout Central New York
Percussionist Tom McGrath has performed in a variety of musical settings, from theatrical stages, intimate music clubs and state-of-the-art performance spaces. Since the summer of 2005, he has taken up residence in Central NY State where he continues a busy performance schedule, playing with some of Central NY’s finest, including Monk Rowe, John Hutson, Tom Townsley, Don Goodness and the Do Good Big Band. Tom has also released two recordings of original music: Ten Shades of Blue and Pictures at the Family House. He has performed both live and/or in the studio with numerous songwriters and instrumentalists including the folk duo Minus Ted, Walter Egan, Carmin Turco, the Queen of Soul (Aretha Franklin), and the graceful and kind, Odetta.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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Coming September 13:
Gallery Talk - Central New York Watercolor Society
local artist society
About the Artists:
The Central New York Watercolor Society (CNYWS), organized in February 1982, consists of outstanding talented artists who have achieved the Central New York Watercolor Society (CNYWS) recognition for their work in the Watercolor Medium. The purpose of this Society is to foster the advancement of the art of watercolor painting and to inform and educate the general public through exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, critiques, publications and other networks showing the best work currently being accomplished in the medium. It also encourages the study of watercolor by art students and others engaged in painting.
Learn more about this exhibit on the Edith Langley Barrett Fine Art Gallery web site. Learn more about CNYWS at centralnewyorkwatercolorsociety.org
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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Coming September 20:
Janet McNally, young adult fiction
About the Author:
Janet McNally wanted to be a writer since she was tiny, and always read everything in sight. She earned an MFA in fiction from the University of Notre Dame, where she never attended a football game (sorry) but had fantastic professors and classmates. McNally twice been a fellow in fiction with the New York Foundation for the Arts (in 2008 and currently, in 2015), and her stories and poems have appeared in publications including Gettysburg Review, Boulevard, Mid-American Review, Ecotone, Crazyhorse and Best New Poets 2012.
In 2014 her book of poems Some Girls was chosen by Ellen Bass as winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize, and was published in August 2015. Her young adult novel Girls in the Moon was published by HarperTeen (HarperCollins) in the fall of 2016. She says “Yes, I seem to have a thing for using the word ‘girl’ in titles. What can I say? Girls are great.” Girls in the Moon will also be translated into German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
McNally lives in Buffalo, New York, with her husband and three little girls, and teaches creative writing at Canisius College.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Macfarlane Auditorium
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Coming September 27:
Karlinda Caldicott,
harp
About the Performer:
Karlinda Caldicott, a resident of Saratoga Springs, New York, is Principal Harpist with the Catskill and Schenectady Symphony Orchestras, and appears periodically with Symphoria, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and Orchestra Pro Musica, as well as several pickup orchestras for various events throughout the Capital Region. In the chamber music arena, she is the leader of the North Country Harp Band (a trio of lever-harp players) has a long-time flute and harp duo, Iridescence, with Jan Vinci (Senior Artist-in-Residence at Skidmore College), and is a frequent guest artist with The Musicians of Ma’alwyck. Karlinda has performed with Michael W. Smith (2007 Christmas Show), Josh Groban (2007), Clay Aiken (2006, 2007), The Three Irish Tenors, Barry Manilow, Yes, Doc Severinsen, Roberta Peters and Gladys Knight and the Pips, and has played in the pit orchestra for such touring shows as Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby (Jan. ’06) and Camelot with Michael York (Feb. ’07). She is adjunct harp instructor at SUNY Oneonta, Hartwick College, The College of Saint Rose, and RPI, with several private students as well (of all ages and interests).
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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Coming October 4:
Sassafras Lowrey, fiction
About the Author:
Sassafras Lowrey got hir start writing as a straight-edge queer punk zinester in Portland, Oregon, and grew up to become the 2013 winner of the Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award. Along the way, Lowrey changed coasts, genders, and several other things besides. Hir first book, the Kicked Out anthology (www.KickedOutAnthology.com), gathered voices of current and formerly homeless queer youth alongside policy makers and activists, and was honored by the American Library Association and the Lambda Literary Foundation. Hir debut novel, Roving Pack (www.RovingPack.com) chronicles the underground lives of gender-radical queer youth searching for identity, community, and belonging. Roving Pack was honored by the American Library Association and won a Rainbow Book Award for Transgender Fiction. Lowrey also edited Leather Ever After, Honorable Mention winner of the National Leather Association Writing Award. Sassafras' latest book, "Lost Boi" (Arsenal Pulp Press) is a queer/punk retelling of the classic Peter Pan story and is now available everywhere!
Hir work has received acknowledgement and awards from the Astraea Foundation Lesbian Writers Fund, Poets & Writers, and Queer Heroes of the Pacific Northwest. Sassafras has toured widely, giving readings, workshops, and keynotes at colleges, conferences, bookstores, festivals, and squats ranging from Atlanta to Berlin to Oakland to Amsterdam. Lowrey has contributed to numerous anthologies and publications. Sassafras lives and writes in Brooklyn with her partner, and their beloved menagerie of dogs and cats.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Macfarlane Auditorium,
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Coming October 11:
Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet
About the Performers:
The Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet presents exciting, eclectic programming spanning five centuries, including original arrangements, as well as works commissioned, and premiered by the FLGQ. The Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet is the assemblage of four accomplished guitar soloists, Joel Brown, Brett Grigsby, Sten Isachsen, and Paul Quigley whom have performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Past performances include, the Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College Guitar Festival, (World Premiere, Holland), Skidmore College, and the Sandisfield Arts Center.
Joel Brown’s actively eclectic performances as a soloist and chamber musician have included appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood, the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, the Caramoor Festival, and the Killington Festival. Internationally, he has played at the Barbican in London with soprano Dawn Upshaw, in British Columbia at the Music in the Mountains Chamber Music Festival, in the Czech Republic at the Mikulov Guitar Festival as concerto soloist with the Martinu Chamber Orchestra. Notable appearances in the United States include Carnegie Hall with Dawn Upshaw, recitals on both coasts with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Brown has also performed on NBC’s Today, CNN’s Showbiz Today, on NPR, and on the BBC. He is a Senior-Artist-in-Residence in classical guitar at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York and is Chair of the Skidmore Music Department.
Sten Isachsen has appeared as concerto soloist with the University at Albany Orchestra and the Ithaca College String Quartet. Possessing a Bachelor and Master of Music in Guitar Performance from Ithaca College, he has studied guitar with Frederick Hand, Ed Flower and Joel Brown, and has participated in master classes with Manuel Barrueco, Sergio and Odair Assad and Benjamin Verdery. Isachsen is a founding member of the Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet, which has commissioned works from composer Anthony Holland. He is also a member of the Musicians of Ma’alwyck. Isachsen is member of the faculty at Schenectady County Community College and owner of North Albany Studios, a rehearsal studio complex and recording facility. He is also engineer and producer at Bender Studios a recording facility in Delmar, NY.
Brett Grigsby has performed as both soloist and chamber musician over the past 15 years. Notable performances include solo concerts at the 92nd St Y, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, an all Bach program at Steinway Hall, and at the esteemed concert series at St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City. As chamber musician, Brett has performed with both his guitar duo, A Piacere, and as a member of various guitar quartets performing at the International Festival Domaine Forget in conjunction with the National Jazz Ballet Company of Montreal. A 1992 Skidmore graduate, Grigsby received his Masters in Guitar Performance from the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He has performed in master class settings for Roberto Aussel, Hubert Kappel, Andrew York, Bruce Holzman, Nigel North, and The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Brett has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, The College of St. Elizabeth, and Kean University. He is currently on the faculty at Skidmore College.
Paul Quigley has performed with the Glens Falls Symphony, the College of Saint Rose Camerata, and at the Saratoga Arts Center Theatre, Troy Music Hall,The Riverside Church Christ Chapel series, Bowdoin College Summer Chamber Music Festival, Lang Concert Hall at Hunter College, The Spanish Institute, Shakespeare & Company, and the Oberwald Concert Series in Basel, Switzerland. Additionally, Paul was a featured performer on the Queen Elizabeth II World Cruise as well as the Queen Mary II and Crystal Symphony ships. A graduate of Schenectady County Community College and the Manhattan School of Music, Paul earned the A.S., BM and MM degrees in guitar performance and recently completed coursework for the New York State Music Certification Program at the College of Saint Rose. Paul has performed in masterclasses for Magnus Anderson, Eliot Fisk, David Russell. David Tanenbaum, David Starobin, Luis Zea, and Duo Suonare. Paul Quigley is currently on the faculty of Schenectady County Community College, The College of Saint Rose and SUNY Adirondack where he teaches classical and electric guitar.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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[NOTE: SPECIAL TIME AND LOCATION]
Coming October 13:
Donika Kelly, poetry
About the Author:
Donika Kelly's debut collection, Bestiary (Graywolf Press 2016), was selected by Nikky Finney for the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and long listed for the National Book Award. She holds an MFA in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, and in 2013, she received a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University, where she specialized in American literature and film studies. Donika is a Cave Canem graduate fellow and a June Fellow of the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in various journals including Tin House, Indiana Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review. Donika is an Assistant Professor at St. Bonaventure University, where she teaches creative writing.
SPECIAL EVENING READING: Event begins at 6:30 P.M.
SPECIAL LOCATION: Barnes and Noble, New Hartford, NY
Location information →
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Coming October 18:
Sar Strong, piano and Shem Guibbory, violin
Mozart, Bach, StravinskyAbout the Performers:
Sar-Shalom Strong is well known to east coast audiences as both a soloist and a collaborative pianist. He has had the privilege of collaborating with international artists such as flutists Judith Mendenhall and Gary Shocker, trombonist Joseph Alessi, violinist Sarah Crocker, singers Helen Boatwright, Peter Vandergraaf, and Sanford Sylvan, as well as multitudes of the fine musicians who live and perform throughout upstate New York. He has been involved in the premiere of many new works, and also appears on programs for Civic Morning Musicals, the Skaneateles Festival, A Little Summermusic, The Oasis Center of Syracuse, Hamilton College, and Utica College. He has performed orchestral keyboard with virtually all the orchestras in the area, most notably for almost ten years with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of both the Jewell Piano Trio and the Southwick Trio. Recorded performances with Society for New Music on Innova Records and with soprano Janet Brown on Russetbush Records have met with considerable acclaim. He is currently Lecturer in Piano and Coordinator of Staff Pianists for Hamilton College, and previously associated with Colgate and Syracuse Universities. He is also active as an adjudicator and vocal coach.
Shem Guibbory started to play as a substitute in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at the age of 21, sitting on the last stand of the 1st violin section for a performance of Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten with Karl Bo?hm conducting. Since then, he has been privileged to be a part of hundreds of amazing performances. More recent memorable performances include Pe?lleas et Me?lisande with Simon Rattle, Die Walküre with Donald Runnicles, Rodelinda with Harry Bicket, Tristan und Isolde with Daniel Barenboim and Parsifal with Daniele Gatti. With Director Margaret Booker and playwright Robert Schenkkan he has created a new music/theater work A Night at the Alhambra Cafe? (2010) and is currently developing another work entitled Accidental Heroes. Mr. Guibbory’s personal recording credits include solo and chamber music on ECM, Gramavision, Opus 1, DG, Albany, Bridge, MSR Classics and CRI. He has performed as a soloist with a number of fine orchestras including the New York Philharmonic. For over three decades he has served as a faculty member of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East, serving as their Music Director for nine consecutive seasons.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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[NOTE: SPECIAL TIME / LOCATION]
Coming October 23:
Eduardo C. Corral, poet
Writer/Poet
About the Author:
Eduardo C. Corral earned degrees from Arizona State University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His debut collection of poetry, Slow Lightning (2012), won the Yale Younger Poets Prize, making him the first Latino recipient of the award. Praised for his seamless blending of English and Spanish, tender treatment of history, and careful exploration of sexuality, Corral has received numerous honors and awards, including the Discovery/The Nation Award, the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A CantoMundo Fellow, he has held the Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Creative Writing at Colgate University and was the Philip Roth Resident in Creative Writing at Bucknell University. In 2016 he won the Holmes National Poetry Prize from Princeton University. He lives in New York City and teaches at Pacific University’s low-residency MFA program.
His poems have been published in various journals including Black Warrior Review, Colorado Review, Indiana Review, Meridian, MiPOesias, and The Nation.
SPECIAL EVENING READING: Event begins at 7:00 P.M.
SPECIAL LOCATION: Carbone Auditorium
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Coming November 1:
Society for New Music
Celebrating the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage in New York State
About the Performance:
This performance will feature Major Duckworth’s hospital scene from the opera ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, composed in 2010, with tenor Jonathan Howell as Major Duckworth and Sar Shalom Strong, piano.
Also featured will be three scenes from the first act of PUSHED ASIDE: Reclaiming Gage, a new opera celebrating the life of Matilda Joslyn Gage, with music by Persis Parshall Vehar and libretto by Gabrielle Vehar. Matilda Joslyn Gage was a visionary of women’s rights and human liberation, who -- with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony -- wrote the arguments for, inspired the passions, and organized the political action of the 19th century women’s suffrage movement in the United States.
This opera tells the story of a woman of courage and integrity publicly defying 19th century laws that forced complicity with slavery and denied women their autonomy and liberty – including the right to vote. This is also the story of a remarkable corner of the world, now known as Central New York that became a fount of free thought and radical activism for social justice.
MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE, a 19th century suffragist, historian of women, newspaper editor, author and lecturer, lived in Fayetteville, NY and raised 4 children there. She fought for woman’s rights, civil rights, and served as a top officer in the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) for 20 years. A committed abolitionist who opened her home as a stop on the Underground Railroad, as had her father, she challenged the laws. Gage wrote about the superior position of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) women and supported treaty rights and Native sovereignty. Influenced by the Haudenosaunee egalitarian culture, she in turn influenced the utopian feminist vision of her son-in-law, L. Frank Baum.
The performers will include:
Tenor JONATHAN HOWELL is a graduate of the Univ. of North Texas. His Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi drew accolades from the Greater Dallas Puccini and Wagner foundations. A student of Jon Fredric West, he has performed with Society for New Music in productions of Frida, Sundance, and as Major Duckworth in Eleanor Roosevelt and Haydn in Stucky’s The Classical Style opera. A former Syracuse Opera Artist of the year in a featured role for his portrayal of Beppe in Pagliacci, Howell’s other Syracuse Opera roles include Roderigo in Otello, Priest and Armored Man in The Magic Flute, Gastone in La Traviata, Malcolm in Macbeth, Parpignol in La Boheme, Messenger in Aida, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Pirelli in Sweeney Todd. Jonathan resides in Liverpool, NY and is Cantor and Music Director for St. John the Baptist Church, and cantors for the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse and Rochester. Jonathan is completing his MM in Vocal Pedagogy at Syracuse University.
SAR-SHALOM STRONG, music director, is well known to east coast audiences as both a soloist and a collaborative pianist. He has had the privilege of collaborating with international artists such as flutists Judith Mendenhall and Gary Shocker, trombonist Joseph Alessi, violinist Sarah Crocker, singers Helen Boatwright, Peter Vandergraaf, and Sanford Sylvan, as well as multitudes of the fine musicians who live and perform throughout upstate New York. He has been involved in the premiere of many new works, and also appears on programs for Civic Morning Musicals, the Skaneateles Festival, A Little Summermusic, The Oasis Center of Syracuse, Hamilton College, and Utica College. He has performed orchestral keyboard with virtually all the orchestras in the area, most notably for almost ten years with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of both the Jewell Piano Trio and the Southwick Trio. Recorded performances with Society for New Music on Innova Records and with soprano Janet Brown on Russetbush Records have met with considerable acclaim. He is currently Lecturer in Piano and Coordinator of Staff Pianists for Hamilton College, and previously associated with Colgate and Syracuse Universities. He is also active as an adjudicator and vocal coach.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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Coming November 29:
Utica College Concert Choir
David A. Kolb, directorAlane Varga, accompanist
About the Performers:
David A. Kolb, adjunct lecturer at Utica College, and voice teacher, is a graduate of Hamilton College with double concentration in mathematics and music. He has studied voice with Lauralyn Kolb and Timothy LeFebvre and directed choirs for the Utica Maennerchor and Stone Presbyterian Church in Clinton. He is currently the Director of Music for First Presbyterian Church in Rome. David has been a soloist with the Hamilton College and Community Masterworks Chorale, the Greater Utica Choral Society, the Mohawk Valley Choral Society, and the Catskill Choral Society. He is also a frequent performer in community theater productions, including as Javert in the Rome Summerstage production of Les Misérables.
Alane Varga, a native of Pittsburgh, PA, attended Slippery Rock State College for her Bachelor’s degree in Special Education and her Master’s in Counseling Services. Alane began her career at Utica College in fall 1983, as a counselor in the Academic Support Services. She was cofounder with Dr. Della Ferguson of the Woymn’s Resource Center at Utica College. From 2011 to 2014 Alane served as Dean of Students at Utica College. Since then she has served as Dean of Diversity and Student Development. Her musical experience includes serving as accompanist in a variety of venues, including community coffee houses, musicals performed at Utica College reflecting her love of Broadway, and the UC Lunch Hour Series.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
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Coming December 6:
Michael J. Dimeo, director
The Utica College Concert Band was founded by Dr. Louis Angelini in 1981. Frank Galime directed the band until his retirement. Since then the band has been directed by Michael J. DiMeo, retired director of bands from New Hartford High School. Mr. DiMeo received his B.S. and M.S. in Music Education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. He is a veteran Utica area performer and instructor, having spent 30 years as an educator in Westmoreland and New Hartford central school districts. At New Hartford High School, Mike helped their marching band become State Champions on four occasions. He has devoted his time to several competitive marching band circuits and received two outstanding soloist awards as Head Brass Instructor/Soloist for the Syracuse Brigadiers Drum and Bugle Corps. In addition to directing the Utica College Concert Band, Mike conducts the New Hartford Citizens Band in the summer and was a member of the versatile group “Classified” (which was recently inducted into the Rome Arts Hall of Fame.). In addition to regular performances in the Professor Harry F. and Mary Ruth Jackson Lunch Hour Series, the band plays an annual Concert for Veterans, a combined concert with Mohawk Valley Community College Concert Band, and at local events and at senior citizen communities such as the Masonic and Presbyterian Homes.
Library Concourse
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Utica College Concert Band
Michael J. Dimeo, directorAbout the Performers:
The Utica College Concert Band was founded by Dr. Louis Angelini in 1981. Frank Galime directed the band until his retirement. Since then the band has been directed by Michael J. DiMeo, retired director of bands from New Hartford High School. Mr. DiMeo received his B.S. and M.S. in Music Education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. He is a veteran Utica area performer and instructor, having spent 30 years as an educator in Westmoreland and New Hartford central school districts. At New Hartford High School, Mike helped their marching band become State Champions on four occasions. He has devoted his time to several competitive marching band circuits and received two outstanding soloist awards as Head Brass Instructor/Soloist for the Syracuse Brigadiers Drum and Bugle Corps. In addition to directing the Utica College Concert Band, Mike conducts the New Hartford Citizens Band in the summer and was a member of the versatile group “Classified” (which was recently inducted into the Rome Arts Hall of Fame.). In addition to regular performances in the Professor Harry F. and Mary Ruth Jackson Lunch Hour Series, the band plays an annual Concert for Veterans, a combined concert with Mohawk Valley Community College Concert Band, and at local events and at senior citizen communities such as the Masonic and Presbyterian Homes.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing →
