The Town Hall to Pay Tribute to Thelonious Monk, John Cage and Twinkie Clark

The Town Hall is celebrating its first 100 years, and is proud to announce the first part of their Centennial Series which will include a trio of concerts in tribute to legendary American composers Thelonious Monk, John Cage and Twinkie Clark. Through the Centennial Series, The Town Hall is highlighting the important artists and movements whose work has cemented the venue as a "go to" for artists and audiences alike.

MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellow Jason Moran sets off The Town Hall Centennial Series on May 6th with a performance of his multimedia project "IN MY MIND: Monk at Town Hall," a program in honor of Thelonious Monk's 1959 landmark performance and subsequent release of the The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall - the only remaining recording of the Orchestra. Jason Moran said, "Thelonious Monk is a landmark within modern music. It is an honor to participate in the Town Hall's Centennial to tribute Monk's historic event. Monk's music continues to provoke the stage with a staggering amount of love and humanity."

On May 20th, the Grammy Award-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird will perform a tribute to The Town Hall's 1958 John Cage Retrospective. Founding member Matthew Duvall said, "Reinterpreting the iconic 1958 Town Hall John Cage performance is going to be an extraordinarily fun show. I'm excited to revisit works from the 1958 program with new perspectives, as well as curate new connections. One aspect of Cage's genius was meticulously constructing composition to fervently guarantee unexpected outcomes. Eighth Blackbird is just as curious as the audience will be to see what happens."

The Town Hall celebrates Black Music Month on June 9th with a celebration of Grammy Award-winning Gospel legend Twinkie Clark. Curated in partnership with musical polymath Damien Sneed, the evening will honor Clark aka the "Mother of Gospel Music" and the "Queen of the B3 Hammond Organ" with a program of performances of her compositions. Widely regarded as one of the most important gospel composers in history, Twinkie Clark will take to the Hammond to perform her own compositions solo and with guests such as Grammy Award winner Karen Clark Sheard. Musical Director Damien Sneed said: "I'm so proud to present the works of the legendary Twinkie Clark in a setting so distinguished as The Town Hall. This is the beginning of a partnership between myself and the hall which will explore and present the history of African American singing."

"We're taking this year to look back as we move forward," said The Town Hall Artistic Director Melay Araya. "While we are paying tribute to great artists from our past, we are also setting forth on a new path with new partnerships with contemporary artists who will reanimate our stage and bring our founders' dreams into our next century. We are so excited to have Eighth Blackbird, Twinkie Clark, Karen Clark Sheard and Damien Sneed take to our stage for the first time and to welcome back our friend Jason Moran."

The Town Hall Centennial Series will continue on in the fall with programs on protest music, Black classical music, Yiddish Theater, debuts by women composers, and more. Announcements to follow in May.

Ticket and performance information:

IN MY MIND: Monk at Town Hall

Friday, May 6th at 8pm. $57.50- $77.50

Eighth Blackbird: A Tribute to John Cage

Friday, May 20th at 8pm. $50-$70

A Celebration of Twinkie Clark featuring Karen Clark Sheard and Damien Sneed

Thursday, June 2nd at 8pm. $57.50- $77.50

For tickets and information, please visit www.thetownhall.org or call 800-982-2787