The Town Hall Presents Two Streaming Concerts: Mariza and Judy Collins

The Town Hall has announced two streaming concert events to kick off 2021. The great Judy Collins will film a show onstage at The Town Hall to be broadcast February 12 and Mariza will record a concert in Lisbon, Portugal to be webcast January 29. Tickets to each event are $40 and go on sale December 1 at www.thetownhall.org

On February 12, Judy Collins will recreate her legendary 1964 New York City concert hall debut - which took place at The Town Hall. A lover of songwriters and the issues they wrote about, Collins said, "What a time that was 1964. I was very nervous since my record company decided to record this concert and put it out as an album. I had just been to a Bob Dylan concert, heard the Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol, and knew I had to record it."

"It was such a tumultuous time in the world. The Vietnam war was just rolling along, breaking into thunder and lightning and anxiety and pain. People were burning their draft boards cards, trying to get to Canada and facing up to going to Vietnam where many of them would die."

"Making this album and concert at The Town Hall - my very first solo appearance at one of the great concert stages in New York - was a relief and joyous event. It feels right to go back to the material and time period now with the knowledge and life lessons learned in 2020."

Describing this seminal moment, The New York Times wrote, "Judy Collins made her New York

concert debut Saturday at The Town Hall and established herself without delay in the front rank of American balladeers. By the evening's end she had moved her large audience to cheers, whistles and bravos-all heartily deserved."

The concert that Collins is performing at The Town Hall will be recorded for a new vinyl album.

On January 29, Mariza will pay tribute to Amália Rodrigues, the Queen of Fado, in a concert that will be filmed in Lisbon, Portugal. The concert is being filmed exclusively for this broadcast.

There are no two voices like these. The late Amália Rodrigues sang her last concert at The Town Hall in 1994. Mariza, has helped bring Fado into the 21st century. Two of the greatest and most influential stylists of Fado, the sound of Portugal.

The two artists have a lot in common. Mariza swept global audiences off their feet like only Amália had done in the 1950s and 1960s, with her residences at legendary venues such as the Paris Olympia or Carnegie Hall. Through her critically acclaimed recordings and unexpected collaborations, Mariza expanded what Fado could be. Mariza became the ambassador of Portugal's music in the 21st century just as Amália had been in the 20th century.

But never before has Mariza taken the step of recording an entire album of Amália classics. Now is that time: in 2020, the 20thanniversary of Mariza's career, the centenary of Amália's birth.

The album, Mariza Sings Amália (on Nonesuch/Warner Bros Records), featuring ten Amália standards reinvented for the 21st century, will be released a few days before the January 29th concert.

Mariza made her debut at The Town Hall in 2003, the year after she released her first album Fado em Mim. Fado's history at The Town Hall stretches back to midcentury concerts with artists such as Maria Marques and of course, Amalia Rodrigues's legendary 1990 performance and recording at the Hall.

Tickets to each event are $40 and on sale December 1 at www.thetownhall.org. The cost of the ticket reflects the desire to keep the singers' band, crew and technical support teams employed during this global crisis.

These concerts are presented by a consortium of five venues around the United States: The Town Hall NYC, Arden Concert Gild, St Cecilia Music Center, University of Chicago Presents, and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.

To post a comment, you must register and login.