Matt Gould & Griffin Matthews and More Slated for Lincoln Center's American Songbook Penthouse Series
By: BWW News Desk Jan. 09, 2017
Lincoln Center's American Songbook returns to the The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse in March with a mini-festival of six intimate concerts which will strike an innovative, new note for the series.
The concerts by artists who are charting new paths in folk, indie-rock, pop, musical theater, and country will, for the first time, be streamed on Facebook Live, on Lincoln Center's Facebook, an exciting step in the evolution of the series and in Lincoln Center's ongoing commitment to bringing the best of the performing arts to the widest possible audience.
As in past seasons, ticketholders will enjoy the Penthouse's stunning city views, cabaret-style setting, and complimentary glasses of wine and sparkling water, and now will have a part in enhancing the evening's experience as members of a live, studio audience. All concerts begin at 8 pm.
American Songbook in the Penthouse kicks off on March 22 with singer-songwriter Joan Shelley; father and son, classical piano virtuoso Leon Fleisher and downtown theater performer Julian Fleisher on March 23; and concludes its first week with singer, pianist, and electronica artist Olga Bell.
Week Two of the Kaplan Penthouse series opens on March 27 with one of the New York musical theater scene's most talked-about creative teams, composer/lyricist Matt Gould and actor/activist Griffin Matthews; the next evening, March 28, The Cactus Blossoms (brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey) bring their new-style, old-time country-and-western crooning to the Kaplan Penthouse stage; and concluding the series on March 29 is Grammy-nominated, Ghanaian-born, Nashville-raised singer-songwriter Ruby Amanfu.
All tickets for American Songbook in the Penthouse are priced at $40 and are on sale beginning January 18 at AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212.721.6500, at the Alice Tully Hall and David Geffen Hall Box Offices, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office.
As previously announced, the new season of American Songbook opens in The Appel Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall on February 1 with Andrew Lippa & Friends, with 15 additional concerts in The Appel Room through March 11. Then on April 14, the series returns to Alice Tully Hall with a concert by Sutton Foster, followed on May 13 with a concert by Rhiannon Giddens.
PGIM is the Lead Supporter of American Songbook, championing the best in American singing and songwriting and partnering with Lincoln Center to bring star performers and undiscovered artists to the stage.
"For the fourth year in a row, we are honored to be a part of Lincoln Center's innovative performance series, American Songbook," said David Hunt, President and CEO of PGIM, the investment business of Prudential. "American Songbook continues to provide Lincoln Center audiences with a unique way to explore the vast diversity of American music."
American Songbook in the Penthouse:
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, 165 West 65th Street, 10th Floor
Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 8:00 pm
Joan Shelley
With timeless vocal purity and an Appalachian poet's soul, Kentucky native Joan Shelley has held audiences rapt everywhere from Nashville to New York by way of Newport. With roots in the American and British folk revival, her serenely evocative songs don't tell stories as much as they paint pictures. Her most recent album, Over and Even, was called "one of the most beautiful releases of the year" by NPR Music and "as compelling a record as that genre has seen" (Pitchfork). During this intimate evening of song, Shelley invites us into a world of limitless beauty.
Tickets $40
Thursday, March 23, 2017, 8:00 pm
Julian & Leon Fleisher: The Man I Love
Pianist, pedagogue, and Kennedy Center Honoree Leon Fleisher is one of the greatest classical musicians of our time. His son, Julian, is a singer, songwriter, and pillar of the downtown New York Theater and music scenes, alongside friends like Bridget Everett [Justin VivIan Bond], Kiki & Herb, Ana Gasteyer, and Gabriel Kahane. The younger Fleisher's shows, often performed with his Rather Big Band, are famous for cutting across a vast swath of popular song with brio. Tonight, father and son continue a moving musical dialogue that they began with their critically acclaimed first public performance together at The Public Theater in 2015.
Tickets $40
Friday, March 24, 2017, 8:00 pm
Olga Bell
With "grand compositional ambitions and a dynamic voice," Olga Bell is a beacon from the "adventurous edge of pop" (The New York Times). Born in Russia and raised in Alaska, Bell trained as a classical pianist while simultaneously immersing herself in the music of Radiohead, Björk, and the formative canon of '90s hip-hop. A collaborator with Brooklyn bands Chairlift and Dirty Projectors, Bell has earned acclaim for her set of solo albums that include 2014's Krai, an electro-acoustic evocation of Russian hinterlands, and last year's Tempo, a deconstruction of New York club music that was named one of the best Pop/R&B albums of 2016 by Pitchfork. With each outing, she creates an entirely new sound world, delighting in bending, magnifying, and flipping familiar musical tropes. Given free reign over the Kaplan Penthouse for one evening, Bell offers us an intimate glimpse of her creative reach.
Tickets $40
Monday, March 27, 2017, 8:00 pm
Songwriters/performers/activists Griffin Matthews are one of the New York musical theater scene's most closely watched creative teams. Their award-winning documentary musical, Witness Uganda (aka Invisible Thread), started life as a 20-minute benefit show for the pair's Uganda Project charity before being transformed into a full-length musical directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus. With high-energy, power pop melodies in the vein of Rent and Spring Awakening, infectious African rhythms, and an uplifting tale about the complexity of cultural connection, the show released "gale-force waves of faith, hope and love" (Time Out New York). For this concert, the pair come together for an evening of music and storytelling made with plenty of heart and soul.
Tickets $40
Tuesday, March 28, 2017, 8:00 pm
The Cactus Blossoms
With their breakthrough album You're Dreaming, the charismatic Minneapolis-born brothers behind The Cactus Blossoms-Page Burkum and Jack Torrey-burst onto the scene with a collection of timeless original songs featuring brilliant hand-in-glove, blood harmonies that recall the golden era of early country-and-western acts like the Everly Brothers. In residence for one evening at the Kaplan Penthouse, the Cactus Blossoms showcase their "honest, unvarnished, completely engaging" songs (American Songwriter), evoking a mood that transcends genre.
Tickets $40
Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 8:00 pm
Ruby Amanfu
"Nashville's next indie star" (Billboard) holds court for one night only at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse. With a remarkable vocal range that seamlessly goes from trembling vibrato to gospel fervor, the singer-songwriter is probably best known for her powerhouse vocals that appeared on Jack White's single "Love Interruption," as well as guesting on several tracks on his two solo albums, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto. She has also lent vocals to Beyoncé's Lemonade, dueted with Alabama Shakes's Brittany Howard, and collaborated with artists Sara Bareilles, Ben Folds, and Hozier, among others. Amanfu broke out in 2016 with a "star-making moment" (Rolling Stone) at the Newport Folk Festival and her "magnetic" 2016 debut album (NPR), Standing Still (Thirty Tigers/Rival & Co), an intrepid collection of covers that takes on Brandi Carlile, Woody Guthrie, and Kanye West, and more.
Tickets $40
Artists, programs, and ticket prices are subject to change.
Since its launch in 1998, American Songbook has been dedicated to celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the popular American songwriter from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. Spanning all styles and genres from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway to the eclecticism of today's songwriters working in pop, cabaret, rock, folk, and country, American Songbook traces the history and charts the course of the American song from its past and current forms to its future direction.
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