APARTMENT SESSIONS SEASON ONE: LIVE to Kick Off in Brooklyn This Weekend

Apartment Sessions has announced their first live concert-Apartment Sessions Season One: Live - on Sunday, August 27th, live-streamed for free from an apartment in Brooklyn.

The concert features musical direction by Luke McGinnis, with arrangements/orchestrations by McGinnis, Drew Krasner and Evan Tyor. All proceeds from live-stream benefit El Refugio, a non-profit organization providing support to detained immigrants in the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA.

Apartment Sessions is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist collective, created by Luke McGinnis and Evan Tyor (co-produced by Liz Maney and Alberto Ruiz) that releases bi-monthly videos of original arrangements with a rotating ensemble of NYC and New England-based professional musicians. The mission of the collective is to build community through music-making, and the videos of orchestral performances in McGinnis and Tyor's tiny Brooklyn apartment celebrate the small spaces and large collaborations that coexist in and define New York City. Apartment Sessions covers a wide range of genres including contemporary folk, hip-hop, Broadway, pop/rock American classics and original beatbox music, all written through a lens of classical/orchestral arranging sensibilities.

Apartment Sessions Season One: Live is the culmination of the first year of the collective, and will feature 13 arrangements performed with a 24 piece band and 26 person choir. For this concert, Apartment Sessions welcomes musicians traveling from eight states and Canada to join them in Brooklyn. The evening will be both a celebration and a time to reflect on the year's music-making, family-building, and every person who participated in building a strong, diverse community through music and collaboration.

"Apartment Sessions started by accident, but it's been the most rewarding experience of my life" says Luke McGinnis, co-creator/producer. "A year ago, Evan and I invited 13 folks over to record an arrangement. I wanted to write for some instruments I hadn't written for before, Evan wanted to set up a DIY recording studio in the apartment, and it sounded like a fun way to spend an afternoon. We decided to do it again the next month, and it just snowballed from there. Liz joined us we started planning bigger and bigger sessions each month. This Sunday, we are so excited to present the full year's worth of arrangements, to celebrate what we've created, but also as a time to reflect on this year, the good and the bad, the memories and connections we've made, and our responsibility as artists to Create, Love, and Resist."

Apartment Sessions Season One: Live will feature the voices of Tyler Lyle, Alexander Sage Oyen, Jessica Kahkoska, Sarah Haines, Jess Clinton, MacKenzie Shivers, Henry Colle, Gene Shinozaki, Desi Raines, Mariah Parker, Chris Celiz, Ben Michael, Johnny Newcomb, Cynthia Meng, Ethan Crystal, Kim Onah, DeMarius Copes, Shilpa Ananth, Kevin Flood, RJ Vallaincourt, Liam Lewis, Annabelle, Evan Tyor, Luke McGinnis, and Evan Nachimson.

Instrumentalists include Rob Taylor (Bass), Jakob Reinhardt (Guitar), Sean Pallatroni (Keyboard), Nissa Kahle (Accordion) as well as Drew Krasner, Josh Plotner, Brian Plautz, Jared Yee, Andrew Studenski, Matt Owens, Sara Jacovino (Horns), Ally Jenkins, Kevin Kuh, Erikka Walsh, Sarah Haines, Sam Quiggins, Marika Galea (Strings), and Sammy Wags, Elena Bonomo, Cbass Chiriboga, Elliot Wallace (Percussion).

The Production Team includes Liz Maney (video), Evan Tyor (sound), Alberto Ruiz (lights), Margaret Armour (video/PA). Additional help from Matt Graff, Greg Shettino, and Scott Trinh (sound); Taylor Chicoine (video), Chris Pizzolo and Sarah Waber of Play Too Much (live-stream video); and Chris Sim (photography).

The entire performance will be live streamed on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/ApartmentSessions) starting at 7:30pm EST. For an email reminder of the live stream, email apartmentsessionsnyc@gmail.com. For more information, RSVP to the Facebook event by searching Apartment Sessions.

The livestream will raise funds for El Refugio, a non-profit organization built to provide support to the over 1,500 men detained in the largest immigration detention center in the country, Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin GA. The money raised at this event will go directly to El Refugio's Book Fund, a push to buy and send books requested by the detainees (mostly English textbooks). For more information, visit elrefugiostewart.org/support-el-refugio/books-for-friends.

Although not open to the public, there will be a small invited studio audience. Select seats available for reservation with donation.

All videos from Season One are at www.youtube.com/ApartmentSessions. For more information, visit www.ApartmentSessionsNYC.com.