Jazz WaHi Composers Sextet Comes to the Rite of Summer Music Festival

Rite of Summer Music Festival‘s spectacular season kicks off on Friday, June 16th at 1pm and 3pm at Castle Williams on Governors Island with The Jazz WaHi Composers Sextet. The program will feature world premieres and works of composer/performer members: Julie Maniscalco, Trumpet; Berta Moreno, Tenor sax; Michael Rörby, Trombone; Mark Kross, Piano; Eddy Khaimovich, Bass and Joseph Chidiebere Emmanuel, Drums.

Julie Maniscalco, winner of the 2023 Jazz WaHi Composition Competition, will premiere one movement from her commissioned piece, State of Affairs (the entire piece will premiere at the 2023 Washington Heights Jazz Festival). Berta Moreno will premiere The Bond Triangle commissioned by a NoMAA (Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance) Small Grants for Individual. Mark Kross will premiere a sextet arrangement of his WaHi Rumba (originally for Big Band), inspired by the many Latin rhythms one hears on the streets of Washington Heights. In a locale The New York Times has called a “Playground for the Arts,” the aim of the Festival is simple: to present the highest quality live performances, and to bring free contemporary classical music to as many people as possible in a relaxed, fun, outdoor setting. 

Next up on Saturday, July 22nd, Irish ensemble Dublin Guitar Quartet will perform a program featuring works by Bryce Dessner, Marc Mellits, Wojciech Kilar, Gyorgy Ligeti and Philip Glass. This marks the first time an esteemed touring global ensemble will be presented by Rite of Summer. 

Season 12 closes with PUBLIQuartet on Friday, August 25th performing selections from their GRAMMY-nominated album, What is American, featuring an amalgamation of styles that trace their roots to American Indigenous and Black music. The title is intended as both a question and a statement: the question interrogates our nation’s complex musical traditions, while the statement projects traditions forward. Works will be announced from the stage.

Rite of Summer shows will be presented twice the same day: 1pm and 3pm for the June 16th concerts at Castle Williams; 1pm and 3pm in Nolan Park for the July 22nd concerts; and 1pm and 3pm at Castle Williams for the August 25th concerts. Audiences should feel free to walk by, stop and listen, lay down a picnic blanket and relax, eat, mingle, and take in these engaging live performances.    

Governors Island is open daily year-round from 7am to 6pm. Ferries operated by the Trust for Governors Island run daily from the Battery Maritime Building, located at 10 South Street in Lower Manhattan. Trust-operated ferries are always free for kids 12 and under, seniors 65 and up, IDNYC holders, residents of NYCHA housing, current and former military servicemembers, Governors Island members, and for everyone on weekends before noon. Round-trip ferry tickets for adults are $3 at all other times. Visit govisland.org/ferry for schedules and ticket information. NYC Ferry provides additional daily service to Governors Island—for NYC Ferry schedules, pricing and more information, visit https://ferry.nyc.