Peter Yarrow and Friends Perform at Town Hall 5/15

The Town Hall (123 West 43 Street), New York's landmark concert venue will present Peter Yarrow and Friends, a family concert, on Sunday, May 15th at noon. Fresh from their highly successful PBS holiday show, The Peter Yarrow Sing-Along Special, these performers celebrate the best in folk songs for the entire family. Tickets are $40 and $30 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster, 800-982-2787, or www.ticketmaster.com, or by visiting The Town Hall Box Office between noon and 6 PM (except Sundays) 212-840-2824

Peter Yarrow and Friends , a children and family sing-a-long, will include classics like "Puff The Magic Dragon," plus audience favorites and other crowd pleasers sure to strike a chord with those of all ages. Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul & Mary) stars and is joined by Bethany (Yarrow) & Rufus, a "folk/jazz/roots" cello and vocal duo, and Billy Jonas, a fascinating family singer-songwriter who transforms industrial tubs and trash into a "one man band" performance of jubilant sing-alongs. Together they engage to create a wondrous family musical adventure for all generations.

Peter Yarrow and Friends are part of The Town Hall's 90th Anniversary season that includes: Linda Eder (May 20th); Kelli O'Hara (June 3rd); Easy To Love: Andrea Marcovicci & Jeff Harner Sing Cole Porter (June 9th); and Dee Dee Bridgewater (June 24th) and the hit series Broadway By The Year ® (Musicals of 1982 on May 16th, and Musicals of 1997 on June 20th). The complete season is available as a subscription series, or individually, with subscriptions available now directly from The Town Hall.

As a solo artist and one-third of the famed 1960s folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Yarrow has been a notable presence in the music world for almost five decades. He penned some of the group's most memorable songs, including "Puff, The Magic Dragon," "Day Is Done" and "Light One Candle." Mr. Yarrow's work as a musician and his work as an activist have always been inextricably linked, driven by Mr. Yarrow's belief that music has the power to inspire and bring people together to work towards positive political and social change. Along with his partners in the trio, Peter performed at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington where Dr. DR. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech, and also performed at the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March for racial equality and justice in America. During the Anti-Vietnam war effort,, Mr. Yarrow produced numerous concerts to benefit peace candidates and raise awareness and co-organized the 1969 anti-war March On Washington attended by some 500,000 people. A decade later he organized Survival Sunday in California for the Anti-Nuke Movement which reunited Peter, Paul and Mary after a seven-year hiatus. In the 1980s, Yarrow and his musical partners became active in, and recorded songs for, the Anti-Apartheid movement, the movement for self-determination in Central America, and efforts to combat homelessness. In 1999 Mr. Yarrow founded Operation Respect, a non-profit that provides a free classroom-based program called "Don't Laugh at Me." Dedicated to creating safe, respectful and bully-free climates of learning through character development curricula infused with music and other creative arts, the program has been distributed for inclusion in over 22,000 schools, nationally, and has been adopted in Hong Kong, Croatia, Canada, South Africa, and most recently, Israel, in English as well as Hebrew and Arabic versions of the program's songs and curricula. Mr. Yarrow sometimes performs and records with his daughter, Bethany, and is featured with her and Rufus Cappadocia, a cellist, on the CD of the "Puff, The Magic Dragon" book that held the #1 spot for children's illustrated books in Publisher's Weekly for 16 consecutive weeks in 2007, as well as the CD for their newly-released illustrated children's book, "Day Is Done," that recently took the #1 spot. Among Yarrow's other books is "Night Before Christmas" (2010) which included a 3 track CD with the final recording by the late Mary Travers. Mr. Yarrow's numerous honors and awards include the Defenders of Democracy Award from the People for the American Way in 1999 and the Legendary Artist of the Year Award in 2005 from Americans for the Arts.

ABOUT TOWN HALL:
Now celebrating its 90th Anniversary Season, The Town Hall was built in 1921 by a group of suffragettes and began as a lecture hall and public forum for debates where "American Town Meetings on The Air was broadcast live for 25 years. Over the decades, the stage has been graced by Eleanor Roosevelt, Carl Sandberg, Margaret Sanger, Billie Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, Bob Dylan and MiLes Davis. Today the hall flourishes as a popular, affordable venue, boasting the hottest acts in rock, pop, folk, cabaret, world music, comedy and dance, including Billy Joel, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Natalie Merchant, Graham Nash, Liza Minnelli, Cyndi Lauper, Norah Jones, Andre Watts, Henry Rollins, Joe Jackson, Pink Martini, Regina Spector, Brian Adams, Aimee Mann, Robin Williams, Dawn Upshaw, Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Al Gore, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Mercer, Jay Leno, Dave Matthews, Vanessa Williams, and Ben Folds. For over a decade, The Town Hall has hosted live broadcasts of Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion." In its annual show, "Rising Stars," The Town Hall gives recent graduates from the nation's leading performing arts schools a chance to showcase their talents and perform on the legendary stage. The Town Hall Educational Outreach Program helps schools build their arts programs and advance student learning through standards-based, collaborative arts residencies. Over the past two-and-a-half decades, The Town Hall has produced the Feature Film Seminar Series and a number of new and critically acclaimed musical series, which include The Century of Change, Not Just Jazz, Broadway By The Year®, The Broadway Cabaret Festival and The Summer Broadway Festival.

TICKETS:
All tickets for The Town Hall shows are available through TicketMaster, 800-982-2787, or www.ticketmaster.com, or by visiting The Town Hall Box Office between noon and 6 PM (except Sundays) at 123 West 43rd Street, 212-840-2824.

For more information, visit www.the-townhall-nyc.org.

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