David Crohan and Friends Play from the Heart at Tabernacle
Pianist David Crohan will present a benefit concert in the Tabernacle Monday, July 13 at 8 p.m.. The concert is to benefit Compassionate Care ALS and Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard. David’s friends include Katie Mayhew, Hugh Taylor, Merrily Fenner, and Tom Billitto. Three of these friends appeared regularly at David’ Island House on Circuit avenue.
At 11 p.m. on Sundays in summer reggae music rumbles underground, three concrete steps beneath Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs at the Dive Bar. The boom and song of Peter Tosh, Mavado and Sean Paul, earlier sealed surreptitiously in this sunken saloon, swell and rupture to the streets as the party peaks in size and vibrancy.
The Vineyard Sinfonietta presents a spring concert Tuesday, May 26, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs Library.
Soloists Nan White (flute), Jan Hyer (cello) and Matt Pelikan (block flute) will perform in selections by Baroque composers such as Handel, Purcell and Bach all the way up in time through Mozart and Casals.
Encore selections will feature baritone Howie Marlin (and, in one piece. his daughter, Hannah) in three pop songs by Cole Porter, Jimmy VanHeusen and Matt Dennis, plus other songs made famous by Frank Sinatra.
A Jazz Tribute to President Obama, an original work of words and music by Columbia Law School professor and columnist for The Nation Patricia Williams and composer and saxophonist Oliver Lake, will be performed on Saturday, July 25, at 4 p.m. in Ocean Park as the centerpiece of Della Hardman Day. The performance is free and open to the public.
Island dancers aged 3 to 75 will be waiting in the wings this weekend at the high school’s Performing Arts Center, where RISE will present their year-end dance performance, called RISE on the Red Carpet. Drawing on award-winning and classic songs, films and plays for content and theme, the performance will feature tap, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, modern and lyrical dance. Shows are on Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Cost is $15, or $10 for children under 12. Seating is limited, so get there early.
Nancy Jephcote will celebrate her solo CD release on Sunday, August 9 with a concert at the Katharine Cornell Thetare at 8 p.m. Following the hour-long concert there will be a reception with light refreshments at Che’s Lounge.
The album, Garland of Rain, features songs Ms. Jephcote has written and sung over the years, orchestrated carefully with the help of producer Tom Prasada-Rao over two years, with several trips to his studio in Garland, Texas and one journey to Fort Lauderdale to add acoustic bass parts played by Nancy’s sister, Martha Spangler.
A guitar and banjo player, Tony Furtado mixes modern music with the traditional, creating a distinctive sound.
By the age of 19, Mr. Furtado earned himself a reputation as a young banjo prodigy, winning two National Bluegrass Banjo Championships. Despite the press and praise as one of the most promising bluegrass artists, Mr. Furtado decided that one genre wasn’t enough for him. Creatively, he had something more to express. “I don’t think I could ever be happy staying in any one place musically,” he said.
An intensive two-week training program for talented young singers culminates at 8 p.m. this Saturday at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, when students from the Claudette Peterson Vocal Studio’s OperaFest 2009 will don make-up and costumes for a gala performance entitled Summer of Love: Passionate Arias and Romantic Scenes from Classic Opera. Tickets are $20 at the door, $15 for students and seniors. For details, call 508-693-1058.
