City Parks Foundation Presents SUMMERSTAGE GALA Motown Meets NYC
By: Gabrielle Sierra May. 24, 2011
City Parks Foundation is pleased to announce the SummerStage Gala, Motown Meets NYC, a special fundraising event taking place in Central Park on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. The SummerStage Gala will feature the timeless music of Motown as performed by some of the genre's legendary originators and the most intriguing voices of contemporary soul music, all to music performed by the famed New York Pops orchestra led by conductor and music director, Steven Reineke.
Artists
Dennis Edwards of The Temptations - "My Girl"
Martha Reeves of Martha and The Vandellas- "Dancing in the Street"
Percy Sledge - "When a Man Loves a Woman" & "In the Midnight Hour"
* José James * Robert Earl Keen *Amel Larrieux * Deva Mahal * Bettye Lavette * Joan Osborne * Eli "Paperboy" Reed * Ryan Shaw *
Including the New York premiere of an arrangement by New York Pops' Music Director Steven Reineke:
"I Hear a Symphony: Symphonic Sounds of Diana Ross"
Hosted by Colman Domingo
2011 Tony Nominee and Obie Winner
Seated Concert Tickets Available Starting at $49
www.SummerStage.org/gala
About SummerStage
In June, 1986, SummerStage was launched with a free performance from Sun Ra and the Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra.
Today, City Parks Foundation's SummerStage is a free city-wide festival showcasing world-renowned and emerging talent from around the globe and from New York City's own backyard. With 300+ performers in the world of music, dance and theater, over 100 performance dates in 18 parks in all 5 boroughs, it is one of the largest, most geographical diverse and thematically broad festivals in the nation. The SummerStage Gala raises funds to support City Parks Foundation's free year round arts programming in parks citywide.
The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall. The New York Pops was founded by former NBC Music Director Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America's rich musical heritage. The orchestra's media projects include performing for the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC, nationwide radio broadcasts, and numerous recordings.
City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. CPF works in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level. Programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.Artist InformationDennis Edwards
Dennis Edwards began his career as a Gospel singer, later sang with the Contours, and eventually replaced David Ruffins as a lead singer in The Temptations, appearing on the Grammy-award winning hit singles "Cloud Nine" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone."
Singing: "My Girl" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"
Martha Reeves
Lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas, which had over a dozen hit singles including "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run." Ms. Reeves also served as an elected councilmember for the city of Detroit.
Singing: "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"
Percy Sledge
R&B and soul singer of thirteen Top 100 R&B singles, including the #1 worldwide Motown classic "When a Man Loves a Woman."
Singing: "When a Man Loves a Woman" and one additional song to be determined
Colman Domingo
Obie award winning actor, writer, director and singer Colman Domingo has a long list of theater and film credits, including recent starring roles in The Scottsboro Boys (2011 Tony Nominee) and Passing Strange. He is currently working with Motown record label founder Berry Gordy on developing a Broadway musical on the history of the label.
José James
Jazz and soul singer Jose James is the winner of the Edison Award and L'Académie du Jazz Grand Prix for best Vocal Jazz Album of 2010, For All We Know. Recent projects include guest performances with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and touring internationally with McCoy Tyner. Robert Earl Keen
Country singer Robert Earl Keen has struck an unusual balance between sensitive story-portraits and raucous barroom fun with songs like "Corpus Christi Bay" and "That Buckin' Song." These two song types in Keen's output were unified by a mordant sense of humor that strongly influenced the early practitioners of what would become known as alternative country music.
Amel Larrieux
After having her first single " Tell Me" go certified gold, R&B singer and New York City native Amel Larrieux has gone on to release three solo albums, as well as receiving a Grammy nomination for her collaboration on Stanley Clarke's "Where is The Love."
Bettye Lavette
Bettye Lavette was nominated in both 2009 and 2011 for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. She has released numerous albums, including "Tell me a Lie" on Motown Records in 1982. She performed at the Kennedy Center Honors as well as at President Barack Obama's 2009 Inaugural Celebration.
Joan Osborne
Singer-songwriter Joan Osborne, best known for her hit single "One of US" (from the triple- platinum album Relish), has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in The Shadows of Motown.
Eli "Paperboy" Reed
Called a "Breaking Artist" by Rolling Stone and nominated in 2009 for a MOJO Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Eli "Paperboy" Reed's search for soul music has taken him all over the country, from his hometown of Boston down to Mississippi, northward to Chicago and finally to his current home in New York, where he recently helped to organize the Brooklyn Soul Festival.
Ryan Shaw
Two-time Grammy nominee Ryan Shaw is a soul singer that hails from Georgia. He began his career singing Motown covers in the group Fabulous Soul Shakers, and his debut solo album, This is Ryan Shaw, was a Billboard Magazine heatseeker.
SummerStage is presented by AT&T
This schedule of events and performers is subject to change without notice.
All SummerStage shows go on RAIN OR SHINE
Shows will be canceled only in the event of dangerous lightning during a performance.
No professional camera gear, telephoto lenses, or flash photography is allowed, except where expressly arranged prior to showtime.
No video taping of any part of any show is allowed.
Please do not bring alcoholic beverages, glass, bottles, coolers, pets, bicycles, rollerblades, folding chairs, beach umbrellas, video cameras or tape recorders.
All bags are subject to search.
The distribution or sale of unauthorized promotional materials in the park or on SummerStage grounds is not permitted.
For the most up-to-date scheduling, directions to the stages for all SummerStage programming, visit us on the web at http://www.SummerStage.org
SummerStage is accessible to the mobility-impaired. For additional information please call 212.360.2756 and ask to speak with our Volunteer Coordinator. To obtain the Parks Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), please call 800.281.5722.
City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. We work in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level. Our programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.
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