Upper West Fest, Featuring Bway Stars, Runs 4/28-5/14

By: Apr. 21, 2006
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Joan Allen, Alec Baldwin, and Michael Cerveris will be among the celebrities taking part in the opening day ceremonies of Symphony Space's Upper West Fest on Friday, April 28th. The festival will run through Sunday, May 14th.

Congressman Charles Rangel, jazz star Jay Leonhart, Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, Carmen de Lavallade and many more will also appear at the ceremonies.

"The Upper West Fest will be the largest collaborative arts event ever presented on Manhattan's Upper West Side, celebrating the unique music, dance, film, literary, theatre, visual arts, and family programs presented from 59-116th streets. The Upper West Side has long been distinguished by its wealth of arts institutions as well as its world-class restaurants and designer shops," according to press notes.

Upper West Fest will open on Friday April 28 with a press conference including many celebrities from the arts and government, as well as a "Great Day On the Upper West Side" photo opportunity of they and other festival participants. More information will be announced shortly.

With 22 cultural partners Upper West Fest, will celebrate the one-of-a-kind arts events, including many world premieres, taking place during the two week period of the festival. Upper West Fest cultural partners include the American Museum of Natural History, the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, New-York Historical Society, Barnard College Department of Dance, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Children's Museum of Manhattan, the Hayden Planetarium, the InterSchool Orchestras, Jewish Community Center, Lincoln Center, Makor/Steinhardt Center, Manhattan School of Music, Melting Pot Theater Company, New Musicals In Concert, Columbia University, New York Society for Ethical Culture, Runaway Theatre Company, SanscriticCenter, Shadowbox Theatre Company, Symphony Space, Summer On the Hudson and World Music Institute.

The more than fifty events during the Festival will include Symphony Space's The Dance Sampler, a 12-hour marathon on Saturday April 29, showcasing the depth and breadth of contemporary movement, featuring kid's dance, up-and-comers, works in progress by established companies such as MOMIX and Comlexions, video dance and even a screening of Walt Disney's Fantasia; world premieres with Ned Rothenberg's acclaimed ensemble Sync, presented by the World Music Institute; the Melting Pot Theatre Company's Preludes: New Musicals In Concert series; A Medieval Arts and Family Workshop and also Playground For the Sun: A Family Stained Glass Workshop at Cathedral of St. John the Divine; American Streamlined Design: The World of Tomorrow, the most comprehensive exhibit of American Modernism in consumer and industrial design ever presented, at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture; Through A Jewish Woman's Lens, the works of Jewish women photographers, at the JCC of Manhattan; the rarely-performed French opera Cendrillon at the Manhattan School of Music; Selected Shorts: The Lives of Women with Jane Fonda, a selection of readings that explore women's inner lives and public struggles, including a reading by Jane Fonda from her autobiography, My Life So Far at Symphony Space; and much more.

An additional feature of the Upper West Fest will be $25 Festival Passes, entitling holders to purchase one ticket at any particular Upper West Fest event and receive their second ticket to the same event free (offer may vary depending on the event).

A new website -- www.upperwestfest.com --offers full festival information on the first annual Upper West Fest. Visit www.symphonyspace.org for more information.
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