THE 60'S FESTIVAL Kicks Off In January with A Tribute To Dr. Martn Luther King Jr. and More!

Beginning this month, Carnegie Hall presents The '60s: The Years that Changed America, a citywide festival from January 14-March 24, 2018, featuring an expansive array of events to be presented at Carnegie Hall and at more than 35 leading partner cultural institutions throughout New York City and beyond. This special exploration of the '60s invites audiences to explore this turbulent decade through the lens of arts and culture, including music's role as a meaningful vehicle to inspire social change.

The '60s festival kicks off on January 14 at the legendary Apollo Theater when the Apollo and WNYC present their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, co-hosted by WNYC's Brian Lehrer and Jami Floyd. This free afternoon event features scholars, community leaders, and activists, including the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement Patrisse Cullors; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and MLK biographer Taylor Branch; civil rights leader and Dr. King's former advisor Dr. Clarence Jones, all engaging in an open dialogue that explores the future of social justice movements as we traverse in today's social and political climate. WQXR's Terrance McKnight serves as the MC, and the event concludes with a performance by Vy Higginsen's Gospel for Teens.

Festival programming in January at Carnegie Hall begins with a concert in Zankel Hall by the Kronos Quartet on January 19, 2018 at 9:00 p.m. The ever-adventurous quartet pays homage to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and other iconic voices of the 1960s alongside world premieres of two works commissioned by Carnegie Hall as part of its 125 Commissions Project. Zachary J. Watkins's new work Peace Be Till is inspired by the moment just before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. "Peace Be Till is about the legacy of America's Civil Rights Movement, the important role artists play in critical social justice movements and the necessary dreams today," said Watkins. "This piece pays homage to the artist's instinct to inspire and activate, as well as our ability to wrestle with the sensitive nature of things." The second world premiere on the program-Stacy Garrop's Glorious Mahalia-is rooted in the words and spirit of oral historian and activist Studs Terkel whose radio broadcasts regularly featured the legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and her recordings.

On January 25, 2018 at 8:00 p.m., Snarky Puppy-the eclectic Brooklyn-based band, which spans genres from jazz, world music, and soul to funk and pop-performs an evening of protest music from and inspired by the '60s in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The three-time Grammy Award-winning group collaborates with legendary singer-songwriter and social activist David Crosby. Also performing on the concert is a stellar lineup of special guest artists whose music speaks to social injustices and the power of music for change, including Malian songstress Fatoumata Diawara-a powerful voice on the international music scene whose songs call out for peace and unity; the multi-award-winning soulful vocalist and composer Laura Mvula-one of England's most distinctive voices whose music explores identity and social issues; and mandolin virtuoso and singer Chris Thile. Among the songs on the program include Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Ohio"-one of rock's greatest protest songs and counterculture anthems that was written in response to the Kent State University shootings in 1970 when students were protesting the Vietnam War-and "Long Time Gone"-a response to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy as well as Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues" that depicts issues plaguing inner-city America.

In speaking about the concert, Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League said, "We all know that music changes lives, and in doing so, changes the world. Politics, people, life... these things are inseparable from music, no matter how much people may try to explain that they aren't. I love and respect those who speak out about what's wrong, but most of all, I love songs that give us the courage to make things right. To do something. To empower us and offer hope," he added. "All four of our guests this evening do this in their own music. They are positive, beautiful people who make the space around them brighter. We live in a country in which we have the right to speak out against the darkness, and for this, we are incredibly fortunate. For me, this evening is a celebration of that right."

A second festival concert in Zankel Hall this month on January 27, 2018 at 9:00 p.m. features cutting-edge jazz pianist Matthew Shipp and his trio collaborating with saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, one of the founding fathers of free jazz, for an evening of radically unfettered improvisation in the spirit of the trailblazing Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, formed in 1965.

From January 25-March 24, 2018, an exhibit in the Rose Museum at Carnegie Hall, entitled Sing Out! The 1960s at Carnegie Hall, focuses on the role of Carnegie Hall in the '60s and the 13 events that represent the social causes that sang out to be heard from the stage. At the laying of the cornerstone in 1890, Andrew Carnegie said that "all good causes may here find a platform." At no time during Carnegie Hall's history were those words better represented than in the 1960s.

Carnegie Hall has launched a special '60s Festival website carnegiehall.org/60s, which will feature a festival overview video, artist interviews, in-depth videos, exclusive footage, partner content, and more shed light on the importance of the 1960s and the decade's continuing influence on our world today.

The '60s festival is Carnegie Hall's largest festival to date and features an extraordinary selection of more than 50 events from January 14-March 24, 2018 across the arts and culture spectrum, including music, dance, exhibitions, talks, films, and family programming as well as radio and digital offerings presented by more than 35 festival partner organizations.

Highlights of Festival Partner Event Programming in January:

Concert highlights include: The '60s: The Years that Changed America festival kicks off with a free event at the Apollo Theater as part of WNYC's longstanding annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend celebration. The event, which will be streamed live on WNYC, features musical performances and brings together audiences from Harlem and around the city. WNYC's Peabody Award-winning radio host Brian Lehrer and local All Things Considered host Jami Floyd moderate conversations that examine Dr. King's legacy and its impact on modern social justice movements. The afternoon includes scholars, community leaders, and activists, including the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement Patrisse Cullors; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and MLK biographer Taylor Branch; civil rights leader and Dr. King's former advisor Dr. Clarence Jones, and more, all engaging in an open dialogue that explores the future of social justice movements as we traverse in today's social and political climate. WQXR's Terrance McKnight serves as the MC, and the event concludes with a performance by Vy Higginsen's Gospel for Teens (January 14);

Theater highlights are: Shakespeare Redress: Joe Papp's Naked Hamlet 1968, an evening of reconstructed scenes, photos, rarely heard recordings, and recitations from Papp's personal papers at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (January 8);

Film highlights include: '60s Verité, featuring more than 50 modern classics, including Robert Drew's Primary and D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, that changed the recording of social history and revolutionized filmmaking itself, at the Film Forum (January 19-February 6); Coming Home, which follows the story of a Vietnam War captain's wife, produced by and starring Jane Fonda, at the New-York Historical Society (January 26);

Talks include: An Evening with Ken Burns: The Vietnam War at the New-York Historical Society featuring filmmaker Ken Burns, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein (January 10) and The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America at the Butler Library, Columbia University (January 23);

Exhibit highlights include: The Vietnam War: 1945-1975, a groundbreaking exhibit at The New-York Historical Society (through April 22); Narrative and Counter-Narrative: (Re)Defining the 1960s, a collaborative exhibition at New York University's Bobst Library, focused on the 1960s at Washington Square that explores how Downtown New York became a convergence point for the activism, social upheaval, and creativity fomented during the decade. The story unfolds through artifacts and documents from the library's renowned special collections (beginning January 3); You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the Sixties, which explores the counterculture of the 1960s and '70s at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of The New York Public Library (January 19-September 1);

Digital highlights include: collaborations with the celebrated record label Smithsonian Folkways, which holds thousands of audio recordings and a host of educational materials related to the 1960s (beginning January 14); and the new Studs Terkel Radio Archive (from the Chicago History Museum and the WFMT Radio Network) will highlight excerpts from some of Terkel's conversations about the arts and protest (beginning January 19);

Family Events include: Martin Luther King Jr. and The Vietnam War at the New-York Historical Society (January 13) and as part of the New-York Historical Society's Reading Into History Family Book Club, families will read Vietnam: A History of the War B. Russell Freedman (January 14) to coincide with the New-York Historical Society's exhibition, The Vietnam War: 1945-1975.

The '60s: The Years that Changed America

Carnegie Hall's citywide '60s festival explores the turbulent spirit of this defining decade through the lens of arts and culture, including music's role as a meaningful vehicle to inspire social change. The '60s was a watershed decade in America's history-a period in which the country was torn apart by the struggle for social justice, the fight for civil rights, and war in which more than half a million Americans were fighting on the other side of the world. As a restive younger generation was finding its voice, the world witnessed a revolution in long-held values and social norms, from culture and fashion to politics and identity.

Half a century later, as many of the hard-won victories of the 1960s are being debated, Carnegie Hall has turned for the first time to a figure outside the music world-Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Robert A. Caro, famed biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson-for inspiration, presenting a festival examining this pivotal decade.

As part of its festival offerings, Carnegie Hall presents a series of concerts and education projects that draw inspiration from the '60s, and explore the decade's nexus of music, protest, and change. Beyond the Hall, the festival includes an extraordinary array of events presented by more than 35 partner organizations across the city and beyond-including Apollo Theater, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Film Forum, The Museum of Modern Art, New-York Historical Society, The New York Public Library, The Paley Center for Media, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings-that focus on a decisive moment in our country's history, a decade that changed America in ways that still reverberate today.

For the complete schedule of programming for The '60s: The Years that Changed America, January 14-March 24, 2018, visit carnegiehall.org/60s.