Music and more: Dozens of concerts announced, a new album and a new theater space
There’s a lot of music to look forward to in coming weeks, with recent announcements of a new EP to enjoy on your own plus new live concerts at year’s end and in early 2022.
Two Mid-Cape music series with local and visiting artists have revealed their lineups, while in Provincetown, Sirius XM radio host Seth Rudetsky will return as part of First Light festivities with his latest concert-and-conversation show with a Broadway star. And violinist Edmund Bagnell, who got his start in quartet and solo shows in Provincetown, has just released a new EP.
Other news involves Cape Rep entering its final phase of renovating a historic barn into a performance, event and education space and a new partnership for Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill.
Cultural center launches new music subscription series
The Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth will launch five new music subscription series for the first half of 2022, featuring local and visiting artists — some of whom have never played on the Cape.
Julian Loida, the center’s new Head of Music and Events, has themed the concerts to Jazz & Blues, Classical, Dance Party, Acoustic Arts, and what’s described as a giant “something-for-everyone series” category called Cape Cod Music Lovers. The subscriptions offer guaranteed seats and 20% discounts on prices, but patrons can still buy individual tickets to any concert or dance party.
“Live music is crucial to our community, family, friends and ourselves … even during the best of times, and certainly during challenges like the ones we’ve experienced over the past two years,” Loida said in announcing the series. “Better still, live music in the Cultural Center’s Constantinidis Great Hall — with some of the most pristine acoustics in New England — is incredibly soul-satisfying. Many performing artists tell us it’s one of their favorite places to play because the room itself is a beautiful, perfectly resonant instrument.”
The series range in number of concerts from five to more than 30; subscription prices range from $100 to $140. A variety of musicians and styles are involved, with Loida giving the example of the Jazz and Blues series including local performers Mozelle Andrulot and Qya Cristál, plus Afro-Pop/Moz-Jazz artist Albino Mbie and the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, plus center regulars Greg Abate and Gerry Beaudoin.
For the full schedule: www.cultural-center.org, 508-394-7100, or it's available at the campus at 307 Old Main St., South Yarmouth.
Broadway’s Jessica Vosk to play First Light Weekend shows
Actress Jessica Vosk, who most recently starred as witch Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway, will headline concerts on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 at the Art House in Provincetown, with Sirius XM’s Rudetsky as pianist and host.
The 7 p.m. shows, produced by Mark Cortale as part of First Light Weekend festivities, will be part concert, part conversation. Vosk last month sold out her Carnegie Hall debut, which featured guest Kristin Chenoweth.
Information and tickets: www.ptownarthouse.com or 800-838-3006. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masks are required.
Vosk’s theater credits also include “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Becoming Nancy,” “Something to Dance About” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” Vosk independently produced two albums in the past three years: “Wild and Free” and “A Very Coco Christmas.”
Museum announces 12 shows for 'Music & More' series
The Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis has revealed a line-up of a dozen local acts for its Sunday afternoon Music & More Concert Series for winter 2022.
Now in its 19th year, the series features concerts inside the museum from 3 to 4 p.m. Sundays, Jan. 9 to March 27.
Tickets: $18, $15 for museum members; season pass $185, $150 for members; www.CCMoA.org/music or at the museum.
The schedule: Jan. 9, CrabGrass Bluegrass Band; Jan. 16, Joe Mongelli Jazz Trio in a “Ruby Braff Tribute”; Jan. 23, Tish Adams Jazz Trio in “Ellingtonia”: and Jan. 30, Ana Glig with Susan Overstreet in “MusArt Interconnections.”
February: Feb. 6, Dennis Flaherty & Friends in Dennis; Feb. 13, Chatham Chorale Chamber Singers in “Songs for a Winter Afternoon”; Feb. 20, Fred Clayton Band in “Honoring Black History Month”; and Feb. 27, Carl Gutowski and Ana Glig in “Lyrical & Lively Music for Flute & Piano.”
In March: March 6, 440 Gypsy Jazz; March 13, Cape Cod String Quartet in “Spring Is Here”; March 20, Rose Clancy and Max Cohen in “Music From The Celtic World”; and March 27, Jenifer Jackson in “Lean To Me.”
Cape Rep Theatre launches campaign to finish the barn
Cape Rep Theatre recently began its The 365 Campaign, a public effort to raise at least $190,000 to complete the final phase of renovation to the historic Crosby Barn to create a new performance, education and event venue.
With the slogan “Give us a year and we’ll give you 100 more” for the 365 Campaign, Cape Rep asked people to commit to donating $1 a day for a year to help meet a $190,000 matching grant from the Mass Cultural Facilities Fund and reach an ultimate goal of $1.4 million to complete the project.
Any contribution, though, would be used to finish the interior to create a flexible space for new work; add a bar and catering kitchen; create a rehearsal hall; and expand educational programs like Cape Rep’s YoCo young company and VetCo group for veterans. The ultimate educational goal is to create a conservatory for professional theater training, officials said in the press release.
“We are in desperate need of more space,” they said. Besides all the other uses, the Barn “will also be a space where we can come together to share community, enjoy concerts, lectures, movies, catered parties and fundraising events. Our campus will be complete!”
Cape Rep is offering small tours of the Barn by appointment: 508-896-1888. To donate: caperep.org or mail to Cape Rep Theatre, P.O. Box 1305, Brewster, MA 02631. Information is available on the website or by phone.
The Barn was built in the late 19th century as part of the historic Isaac F. and Sarah Crosby site, home to the family and their championship horses. The Robert Delahanty Family purchased the property in the 1920s, established Camp Monomoy, and moved the Barn to serve as camp commissary, and art and gathering area.
In 1983, when Cape Cod Sea Camps was established there, the state and camp owners agreed to annex the Barn and grounds to Nickerson State Park. Cape Rep took over the property in the early 1990s.
Castle Hill begins new residencies for young black artists
Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill has entered into a partnership with Morgan State University in Baltimore to offer a new artist residency program at its Edgewood Farm campus to young black artists from the school as well as an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) fellowship.
The new programs, which will begin in the spring, have been made possible by what officials said in announcing the partnership is “the vision and generosity” of Nancy and Al Osborne for Castle Hill’s 50th anniversary.
The fellowships have been co-designed and will be jointly administered by Castle Hill and Jamal Thorne, teaching professor and coordinator of the Media Arts Program at Northeastern University in Boston and Eric Briscoe, professor of art and coordinator of visual arts at Morgan State.
For two weeks each spring and fall, fellows will be given, at no charge, private rooms, studio, access to facilities and supplies of Castle Hill’s two campuses, transportation and basic expenses, according to the announcement. Castle Hill has offered residencies to visual arts and writers since fall 2017 at Edgewood Farm and a ceramics residency since 2012 at the main campus.
Edmund Bagnell releases new EP
Edmund Bagnell has combined his years as an actor, singer, violinist and songwriter to create his new EP “The Road,” which was just released on streaming services. The music ranges from folk to standards to classical music, and is, according to a press release, a blend of Bagnell’s love for all these genres, as well as “a personal look into what he loves about making music.”
In a statement announcing the release, he said the two original songs on the album, “The Water” and “The Road,” were born out of the pandemic — lyrically reading as classic love songs but also about “finding the places that make you feel comfortable when everything else feels so uncertain.” The EP also includes Stephen Sondheim's "No One Is Alone"; “Salut D'amour”; and “Carolina In My Mind.”
Bagnell has spent most of the past decade performing around the world as the first violinist and vocalist of singing string quartet Well-Strung. He debuted and toured his first solo live show, "He Plays The Violin" in 2019 as the inaugural production from Mark Cortale’s New Works Provincetown; recorded and released his first solo album “Christmas at Home” during the first months of the pandemic; and performed his show “Happy Days Are Here Again” last summer in Provincetown.
Information: https://www.edmund-bagnell.com/
Atwood plans documentary on artist Stallknecht
The Atwood Museum, run by the Chatham Historical Society, is trying to raise $20,000 — including through this week’s Giving Tuesday donations — to realize a long-held dream to make a documentary film about local artist Alice Stallknecht.
Stallknecht was a prolific local artist in the early- to mid-20th century, according to information from the museum. She is most famous for her murals “Christ Preaching to the Multitude,” “The Circle Supper,” and “Every Man to His Trade,” which depict local Chatham residents in religious allegory. Those murals, and many other Stallknecht paintings are displayed and housed at the Atwood, which has the largest collection of her work.
The documentary, according to a Giving Tuesday solicitation, would “educate many more visitors about one of Chatham’s most fascinating residents, as well as bring acknowledgement to a severely under-appreciated artist.”
Information on the museum: https://chathamhistoricalsociety.org/.
Holiday sale to benefit arts foundation
The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is holding a “Deck the Walls” sale of small works of art, urging patrons to “buy local and support the arts on Cape Cod.”
The sale of three dozen items opened for Cyber Monday and continues through 9 p.m. Dec. 13 as an online shop on Bidsquare.com. The artwork is ready to ship and is wrapped for the holidays, according to information from the foundation.
Proceeds benefit local artists and the foundation’s mission to support Cape cultural institutions.
Learn animation at FCTV
Falmouth Community Television will offer three separate, in-person Youth Animation Classes for ages 12-18 during December, with each focusing on a different aspect of animation.
In “2D Animation,” held in five sessions from 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 6-10, four students will learn to use the Synfig Studio application to create digital 2D animations, using a combination of drawing and computer skills. Fee is $125, $85 for FCTV members.
“3D Animation,” 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 13-17, will teach four participants to create and animate objects in a 3D environment using the popular open-source Blender modeling application. Fee is $125, $85 for FCTV members.
In “Stop-Motion Animation,” held from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 27-30, eight participants will build puppets from clay and other materials, work together to create a script, and film animated short videos using stop-motion software. Fee is $160, $125 for members.
All participants must be fully vaccinated and wear face masks at all times when indoors.
Information: email allen@fctv.org. Registration: www.fctv.org/register or 508-457-0800.
Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Dozens of concerts announced, a new album and other Cape Cod arts news
