Framing the Village: Identity
Exhibition until Sept 28
Moshava Art
45 W 8th Street, Second Floor, New York, NY, United States
The third annual Village Trip art show, curated by long-time Village artist Marc Kehoe. This year’s group exhibition of paintings, drawings, and photography powerfully explores notions of identity.
The Village Trip on West 4th Street
West 4th Street between Sixth Avenue and Barrow Street West 4th Street, New York, United StatesThe festival’s traditional opening block party takes place this year on West 4th Street, “New York’s Left Bank,” centered around the historic Music Inn, a Village fixture for more than half a century, and a hangout for the many musicians who played down the street at Gerdes Folk City and the Bottom Line.
The Colors of My Life – A Cy Coleman Songbook
Janis Siegel & Yaron Gershovsky
Marking the 20th anniversary of Cy Coleman’s death and the release of Janis Siegel and Yaron Gershovsky’s acclaimed new album, this concert will be an unmissable celebration of the composer of such immortal classics as “Witchcraft,” “Rhythm of Life,” “The Best is Yet to Come” – and “The Colors of My Life.”
Venue and times to be confirmed.
Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll @ 4pm and 7:30pm
The Loft at City Winery 11th Avenue at 15th Street, New York, NY, United StatesThe New York City première of Curt Hahn’s authorized documentary Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll, which explores the extraordinary journey of music icon Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century popular music. As George Harrison once put it: "No Lead Belly, no Beatles."
Two shows 4pm and 7:30pm
In Memory of Sean Satin
Greenwich House Music School 46 Barrow Street, New York, NY, United StatesComposers Concordance presents a concert in memory of Sean Satin as part of The Village Trip Festival. The event celebrates the life of guitarist Sean Satin, who passed away too soon in April 2024. Sean was a guitarist and a teacher at Greenwich House in the West Village, a dear friend, husband, and all-around beautiful person. During the concert, Composers Concordance will launch The Sean Satin Memorial Prize for Guitar.
The Music of the Bard: Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park 1956-1967
The Public Theater at Joe's Pub 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), NY, United States“We have public libraries. Why not public theaters?” said Joseph Papp, facing down Robert Moses, New York City’s infamous “power broker,” when the New York Theater Workshop was just two years old. This year marks the 70th birthday of what became Shakespeare in the Park, which we celebrate with David Amram who, from 1956 to 1967, composed the music for 25 of its productions. Gail Merrifield Papp, Joe’s widow and theatrical partner for 25 years, will be among the friends joining him for this unique evening.
Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital
David Browne in conversation with Liz Thomson
La Lanterna di Vittorio
129 MacDougal Street, New York, NY, United States
A publication-day conversation with Rolling Stone senior writer David Browne, whose latest book, Talkin' Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital – based on 150 interviews and previously unseen documents – is an enthralling and long-overdue history of music’s most influential neighborhood. And what better place for an intimate chat than the fabled MacDougal Street coffeehouse that was once home to Pete and Toshi Seeger!
Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock: A Celebration in Music
Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, United StatesGeorgia O'Keeffe described music as being able to be "translated into something for the eye.” This unique concert features music inspired of by three of New York City’s most iconic artists, all of whom lived and worked in Greenwich Village and shared the heartbeat of the city: Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock. The concert – presented in partnership with Cutting Edge Concerts – takes place in an elegant art-filled Italianate townhouse that for over 150 years has been home to one of New York City’s most celebrated arts clubs.
The Village Trip Lecture: Ruth Feldstein – Performing Politics in the Village: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement
Jefferson Market Library 425 6th Avenue, NY, United StatesThe third annual Village Trip lecture will be given by Ruth Feldstein, Professor of History and American Studies at Rutgers University and award-winning author of How It Feels To Be Free, which provided the basis for a 2020 PBS documentary produced by Alicia Keys that examined Black women performers who played critical roles in political and social activism.
American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
The Village, long home to many musical innovators, has always pushed the boundaries of arts, activism, and ideas. This year, The Village Trip is proud to welcome musical scholars and composers from twelve countries to give talks, demonstrations, lecture recitals and concerts touching on American Primitive and those "inventors of genius" who changed the conversation. Come be part of it.
Microtonal Village Conference, hosted by composer Agustín Castilla-Ávila American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
Composers and musicologists from around the world gather to present their music and thoughts on the microtonality of American Primitive and other new directions, with attention to developments in Greenwich Village through visionaries like Cage, Harrison and Partch. Agustín Castilla-Ávila—a tireless advocate for composers around the world who are exploring new and old tuning systems, and President of the Ekmelic Society of Salzburg—will preside.
Aché! Bobby Sanabria & Ascensión @ 7pm and 9pm
Teatro Latea at The Clemente 107 Suffolk St Suite#413, New York, NY, United StatesThe Village Trip welcomes back the inimitable Bobby Sanabria, Nuyorican drummer extraordinaire, who had thousands of people dancing to the beat of his Multiverse Big Band in Washington Square Park at the grand finale of our 2021 festival. At The Clemente, Bobby will be joined by Ascensión, a vibrant musical laboratory exploring the rich and diverse cultural and spiritual roots of Afro-Latin jazz. Expect an unforgettable high-energy evening of musical fireworks!
Two shows 7pm and 9pm
John Schneider American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
Greenwich House Music School 46 Barrow Street, New York, NY, United StatesGrammy Award-winning guitarist John Schneider explores another side of the Greenwich Village music scene, looking at works by the intrepid Harry Partch and Lou Harrison and others and their engagement in world music and the "American Primitive”. Schneider's work is "of a caliber that kept this listener in a state of continuous astonishment" Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times.
Eliza Garth: Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
St Mark’s in the Bowery 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY, United StatesPianist Eliza Garth performs Sonatas and Interludes, John Cage’s 1947 masterpiece for prepared piano, a composition regarded as a formative piano work of the 20th Century. St Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery is known and loved as a gathering place for innovative musicians, dancers, and poets, including Allen Ginsberg and Cage.
William Bland: Village Maverick American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesKevin Gorman, praised for his “passion, technical facility and explosive tonality,” (Fanfare Magazine) is a champion of the piano music of maverick composer, poet, painter William Bland. He has performed and recorded Bland's epic cycle of piano sonatas for Bridge Records to great acclaim.
The Village Trip GuitarFest 24: Microtonal Village American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesGuitarFest 24 expands on American Primitive, with the wildly inventive Ictus Novus, the Curtis Guitar Quartet, soprano Sharon Harms, and many of New York’s best guitarists. It features music by American Primitives John Fahey, and Julián Carrillo and works by Paul Lansky, Kyle Miller, David Amram, Agustín Castilla-Ávila, and Gary Philo, among others.
Stoned Soul Picnic: Diane Garisto & The Laura Nyro Project
The Bitter End 147 Bleecker Street, New York, NY, United StatesSidewalk and pigeon, you look like a city, but you feel like religion to me – Laura Nyro, in her album New York Tendaberry
Laura Nyro was “the very essence of New York City in the most passionate, romantic, and ethereal sense,” said Bette Midler, inducting Nyro into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At the historic Bitter End, to which Nyro was no stranger, Diane Garisto and the Stoned Soul Picnic band celebrate her remarkable legacy.
Janis Siegel and Friends: Something to Live For – Celebrating the Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
The music of Edward Kennedy Ellington and William Thomas Strayhorn has long been a staple of both the Great American Songbook and the jazz lexicon. This program of lovingly curated music contains some cherished classics, such as “Mood Indigo,” “Prelude to A Kiss,” and “Take The ‘A’ Train,” but also delves into some of the "deeper cuts" like “Star-Crossed Lovers,” “Absinthe (Lament for An Orchid),” and “Johnny Come Lately.”
Venue and times to be confirmed.
Quattro Mani American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
Greenwich House Music School 46 Barrow Street, New York, NY, United StatesRenowned duo pianists Susan Grace and Steven Beck perform works by Lou Harrison, John Cage, Arnold Schoenberg, John Adams and Fred Lerdahl who, with linguist Ray Jackendoff, developed the Chomsky-inspired generative theory of tonal music, an endeavor inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s Norton Lectures, given at Harvard in 1973.
The Parting Glass – A Drop of the Irish
The Bitter End 147 Bleecker Street, New York, NY, United StatesThe Irish have long played a significant part in New York City history and this roof-raising celebration of Irish music will honour the memory of two of its champions who passed away recently: Mick Moloney, instrumentalist and Professor of Music at NYU, and singer and scholar Dan Milner. The concert will be followed by a session next door at Wicked Willy’s – everyone invited to bring their instruments or sing.