New Season Of Bronx Music Hall Plaza Performances Starts This Weekend

The Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) will kick off its 2022 season of performances on the plaza outside the Bronx Music Hall (438 East 163rd Street) with a special event called "Bronx Rising!: Be-Bop, Mambo and the Beat Poets" on Sunday, April 24 at 4:00 PM. The event will feature live music by acclaimed jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer David Amram, eight-time Grammy-nominated Latin jazz percussionist Bobby Sanabriaand his Masters of the Multiverse band, and jazz vocalist Jennifer Jade Ledesna.

In honor of the centenary of the famed Beat poet and novelist Jack Kerouac, the performance will feature music that inspired the Beat writers, as well as be-bop and mambo by artists who lived in the neighborhood, including Elmo Hope, Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell, Donald Byrd, and Tito Rodriguez. The show will open with poets reading Beat passages curated by Marcos del Fuente, the director of the Jack Kerouac Festival. Earlier in his career, Amran worked with Kerouac, as documented on his website.

The event is part of the BMHC's signature Bronx Rising! series, a multi-disciplinary series that brings the Bronx's cultural riches, past and present, to life through music, comedy, film screenings with Q&As, poetry readings, and spoken word events.

"Our 2022 schedule illustrates the amazing diversity of music and culture in the Bronx, both historically and currently," said Elena Martínez, co-artistic director of the BMHC. "As a dynamic outdoor space in the heart of the community, the Bronx Music Hall plaza is a great venue for these performances and offers a taste of what's to come when we fully open the Bronx Music Hall later this year."

The interior of the Bronx Music Hall is currently in the final stage of construction. The Bronx Rising! series will continue this spring and summer on the plaza and will move inside the Bronx Music Hall later this year. Upcoming highlights of Bronx Rising! include the following:

· Bronx Rising!: Jazz Appreciation Month and Kerouac Centenary, featuring David Amram, Bobby Sanabria and his Masters of the Multiverse Band, and Jennifer Jade Ledesna - Sunday, April 24 at 4:00 PM

· Bronx Rising!: Rhythmic Shoes from Cuba, Ireland and the U.S., featuring the percussive dance styles of the "baile de chancletas" from Cuba and clog dancing from Ireland and U.S. with artists Danys "La Mora" Perez and Megan Jones Downes - Saturday, May 21 at 8:00 PM

· Bronx Rising!: Roundtrip Rumba: Cancion de Ida y Vuelta, exploring the connection between the styles of rumba found in Cuba, Mexico and Spain; featuring Mazarte Dance Company, Jarana Beat, and Xianix Barerra - Saturday, June 11 at 8:00 PM

· Bronx Rising!: Women Who Sing the Blues, featuring Monica Hope - Saturday, July 16 at 8:00 PM

· Bronx Rising!: Salsafest, featuring Bianka Cypriano, POEMobile, and Edwin Perez - Saturday, August 20, time TBD

Events on the Bronx Music Hall plaza are free. For those unable to attend in person, a livestream will be available on the BMHC's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bxmusic/. For more information, call (917) 557-2354.

The BMHC is run by the nonprofit Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco). Earlier this year, WHEDco received a $2.5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to complete construction of the Bronx Music Hall, which will be the future home of all BMHC programming when it opens later this year. The 14,000 sq. ft. music hall will be the first newly constructed music performance venue to open in the Bronx in more than a half century.

The Bronx Music Hall is located at 438 East 163rd Street within Bronx Commons-WHEDco's newest award-winning mixed-use affordable housing development that dedicates a half-city-block to affordable housing, education, culture, health, and small business supports. The music hall, opening later in 2022, will offer a variety of flexible indoor and outdoor spaces for concerts, film, dance, live theater, and spoken word events, as well as music and dance classes.

In addition to the 250-seat performance theater, the Bronx Music Hall includes a green room, studio, multi-use classroom, lobby to host exhibits, receptions, and events, and amphitheater-style seating in two adjacent plazas for outdoor performances. It will serve 20,000 in-person audience members and students annually at full capacity post-pandemic.

Before the pandemic, the BMHC's programming was held at the BMHC Lab, a storefront space at WHEDco's Intervale Green affordable housing development. During the pandemic, the BMHC streamed virtual programming on its Facebook page, reaching more than 30,000 viewers and employing 160+ to date.