Rite Of Summer Presents Collaborative Arts Ensemble, Today

Rite of Summer Music Festival's eighth stellar season concludes with Collaborative Arts Ensemble performing two free shows on Saturday, August 18th at 1pm and 3pm. The program, titled Letters of the American South, features music of Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, Johnny Cash, Gladys Rich, Hoagy Carmichael, Stephen Foster, Ricky Ian Gordon, and more. Taking place at Colonels Row on Governors Island, Rite of Summer presents free outdoor concerts through August curated by Co-Artistic Directors Pam Goldberg and Blair McMillen. 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.

Rite of Summer shows will be presented twice the same day, at 1pm and 3pm, for each respective date in Colonels Row. 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 8-minute ferry ride from the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan, located at 10 South Street (Subway: 1 to South Ferry; R to Whitehall Street; 4/5 to Bowling Green) and a 3-minute ride from Brooklyn Bridge Park, where ferries leave from Pier 6 on weekends only (Subway: 2/3/4/5 to Borough Hall; R to Court Street). Concerts are free; ferries are $3 after 12pm (free from 10am-12pm on weekends). For a full ferry schedule, please visit www.govisland.com.

For more information, visit www.riteofsummer.com. Digital Photos are available upon request.

Saturday, August 18 - Collaborative Arts Ensemble - Letters of the American South
(Rain date: August 19)

Collaborative Arts Ensemble

Collaborative Arts Ensemble was founded in 2017 to provide a platform for artists of all disciplines to share in one another's stories and to create the work they want to see in the world. Our roster consists of thirty world-class interdisciplinary artists dedicated to encouraging the fusion of artistic excellence with social consciousness in performance. Every concert created by CAE artists tell a story: text, music, and physical movement that embody a time of history, a social issue, or an important question. We tell our stories by fusing art forms into one another and celebrating each unique outcome, believing that these collaborations offer our audiences multiple entry points into every story shared.

CAE is the proud recipient of grant support from the Alan D. Marks Center at The Juilliard School, the NPR's From the Top Alumni Leadership Grant, and were recently in residence at Avaloch Music Farm in Boscawen, New Hampshire where six members of CAE's artist roster worked on our second touring program about Home. This fall, CAE will become the ensemble-in-residence at Blessed Sacrament Church (W 71st between Broadway/Columbus) as part of their Arts at Blessed Sacrament program.

Photo: Will Jellicorse

https://www.collaborativeartsensemble.com/

Performers:

Thomas West, baritone

Jocelyn Zhu, violin

Matthew Maimone, piano

Jasminn Johnson, vocals

Program:

Letters of the American South takes a journey through first-hand stories in the Southern United States (read by Actress Jasminn Johnson), placing Southern musical compositions in conversation with poems, letters, and literature from Southern writers. The performance is comprised of an experiential-based presentation where each paired letter and piece of music mark various moments in time, ultimately creating a kind of historical arch. Woven together through the diverse abilities of the performers (all of whom share through more than one discipline), the program brings the beauty and poignancy of these art forms into the room, offering each audience member multiple pathways into the South's collective history and opportunities to explore the truths of a region powerfully shaped by community and conversation.