RITE OF SUMMER Music Festival 2017 on Governors Island Announced

Blair McMillen and Pam Goldberg are thrilled to present the seventh season of the Rite of Summer Music Festival, taking place Summer 2017 on Governors Island, New York City. Rite of Summer will present free outdoor concerts Memorial Day weekend through August. 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.

This season's spectacular line-up kicks off on Saturday, May 27th with Talujon Percussion performing Dark Full Ride: works of Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw, John Cage, and Steve Reich. Next up on Saturday, June 24th is a first for Rite of Summer: four new works commissioned by the festival will receive their world premieres in a program titled John Cage and Today - "Sonatas and (New) Interludes." These premieres are "new" companion Interludes written by Angelica Negron, Daniel Felsenfeld, Justin Hines, and Eleonor Sandresky to be performed alongside Cage's Sonatas by four pianists: Phyllis Chen, Anthony De Mare, Pam Goldberg, and Blair McMillen. On Saturday, July 8th, Pamela Z performs a program of Works for Voice & Electronics. And on Saturday, August 12th, Contemporaneous presents The Two Halves, music by Ian Gottlieb, Emma O'Halloran, and Finnegan Shanahan.

Rite of Summer shows will be presented twice the same day, at 1pm and 3pm, for each respective date. Audiences should feel free to walk by, stop and listen, lay down a picnic blanket and relax, eat lunch, mingle, and take in these engaging live performances.

Governors Island is a short 5-minute ferry ride from South Ferry, in lower Manhattan and a 3-minute ride from Brooklyn Bridge Park. Concerts are free; ferries are $2 after 12pm (free from 10am-12pm on weekends). For a full ferry schedule, please visit www.govisland.com.