Theo Bleckmann News

February is coming in HOT at Joe's Pub!

This December, composer Phil Kline's mobile sound-sculpture UNSILENT NIGHT a?" a landmark in avant-garde public art a?" takes place in more than 40 cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Streets, parks and sidewalks will come alive with a?oea shimmering sound-wall of bells and chimes that is dreamlike to wander through in the December nipa?? (The Village Voice).

On Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 2pm, the San Francisco-based Telegraph Quartet, winner of the 2016 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, joins forces with composer Robert Sirota for a performance presented by the Live Arts Series at the Morris Museum (6 Normandy Heights Road) in Bickford Theatre. This concert is part of Sirota @ 70, a celebration throughout the 2019-2020 concert season featuring residencies, performances, and premieres in honor of the composer's 70th birthday.

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2019-2020 concert season continues on Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 7:30pm at the Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street). Grammy-nominated jazz singer, new music composer, and long time collaborator with Bang on a Can, Theo Bleckmann takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop icon Kate Bush in a project entitled Hello Earth! a?" The Music of Kate Bush that goes beyond re-creating her music to further realms of sound and interpretation. Joining him on this performance are long-time collaborators percussionist Ben Wittman, bassist Chris Tarry, and keyboardist Henry Hey, along with special guest, multi-instrumentalist Caleb Burhans on viola, guitar, and laptop.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with the following acts:

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with the following acts:

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2019-2020 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum's exhibitions, begins on Thursday, July 11, 2019 at 7:30pm. The Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC), founded and directed by Francisco J. Nuñez, perform a concert that will include songs and poems by Leonard Cohen and others, coinciding with the Jewish Museum's exhibition, Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything. Recognized throughout New York City and internationally as one of the leading and most diverse children's choirs, YPC is a longtime and frequent collaborator with Bang on a Can. The chorus has forged a unique presence in the city's music community both as a champion commissioner and performer of new works by today's leading composers and for its innovative vocal arrangements that consistently cross all musical borders.

The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues withJamie Barton on Saturday, March 23, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. Accompanied by pianist Kathleen Kelly, Barton's one-night-only recital will feature classics from Haydn, Strauss, and Ravel while showcasing the voices of women, including works by composers Nadia and Lili Boulanger and Americans Elinor Remick Warren and Amy Beach. Barton's performance also features Love After 1950, a contemporary song cycle by Libby Larsen that uses offbeat vocal styles like blues, tango, and honky-tonk to evoke different moods. Tickets for this program are $49-$69.

The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues with singer-songwriter Nellie McKay today, February 8, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. McKay's one-night-only solo set will include songs from her recent Sister Orchid, as well as others in her catalog. Tickets for this performance are $25-$35.

The John F. Kennedy Center announces the full lineup for DIRECT CURRENT, its two-week celebration of contemporary culture, which returns for a second season this spring (March 24-April 7).

The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues with singer-songwriter Nellie McKay on Friday, February 8, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. McKay's one-night-only solo set will include songs from her recent Sister Orchid, as well as others in her catalog. Tickets for this performance are $25-$35.

On Monday, January 7, 2019 at 8:30pm, German-born composer, vocalist, and internationally renowned theremin virtuosa Carolina Eyck; multi-faceted cellist Clarice Jensen; and the dynamic American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) join forces for a performance at DROM (85 Avenue A), each performing an engaging 30-minute set.

Due to popular demand, second performances have been added for Private Peaceful, Songs of Freedom, and Teatro Linea de Sombra's Amarillo. Tickets and subscriptions for Essential Series performances are available at texasperformingarts.org.

Keyboardist, bandleader and collaborator Erik Deutsch has released his sixth album, Falling Flowers, today via LoHi Records – listen via Soundcloud. Glide Magazine premiered Falling Flowersin full ahead of its release earlier this week, noting that the album “combines haunting and healing grooves along with tenacious songwriting chops that keep listeners discovering more upon each listen.'

DIRECT CURRENT, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts's two-week celebration of contemporary culture, returns for a second season. Training its focus on new works, interdisciplinary creations in which artistic worlds collide, and creative responses to topical concerns, the 2019 spring immersion showcases some of the most provocative, original, and pioneering voices in the arts today. DIRECT CURRENT takes place on March 25-April 7 at the Kennedy Center and beyond, extending throughout the District of Columbia through collaborations with a number of alternative venues, to expand the growing audience for contemporary culture in the nation's capital.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Artistic Advisor at Large Renee Fleming have added singer/composer Theo Bleckmann as part of the 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series. Presented in conjunction with the Direct Current festival, this concert takes place Thursday, April 4, 2019, at 9 p.m. in the KC Jazz Club, located in the Terrace Gallery.

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) has announced its fall 2018 season of exhibitions and cultural events in Asheville.

On Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 8pm, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) presents a special, free preview concert by Grammy-nominated vocalist Theo Bleckmann and jazz guitarist Ben Monder, part of BMCM+AC's celebration of its new permanent home at 120 College St. in downtown Asheville. For over 15 years, the Theo Bleckmann & Ben Monder Duo has toured the U.S., Europe, and Asia creating a unique approach to what might be called 'jazz art song,' blurring the boundaries between jazz, classical, ambient and rock.

Keyboardist Erik Deutsch makes American music, pure and simple. Over the last two decades plus, he's earned a stellar reputation as a bandleader and collaborator, working with artists like Steven Bernstein, Theo Bleckmann, Rosanne Cash, Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter, Shooter Jennings, Norah Jones, Leftover Salmon, Shelby Lynne, and many, many more. At the same time, he's made five albums under his own name full of willfully uncategorizable compositions that combine jazz, funk, country and rock into a swirling, raucous blend that jumps, struts, croons and shouts. His sixth album as a leader, Falling Flowers, will be released September 14 onLoHi Records. 

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and Joe's Pub at The Public join forces once again for the Kimmel Center Theater Residency. Under the tutelage of Jay Wahl, Producing Artistic Director of the Kimmel Center, and Shanta Thake, Director of Joe's Pub, the program serves as an incubator for artists and their collaborators to create and develop music and theater projects. The program will be held in the Kimmel Center's SEI Innovation Studio (300 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA) from June 18-30 with Public Readings, free and open to the public, on June 29 and 30. Readings will be followed by Q&A sessions with the artists.