Celia Berk Appears in Winter Rhythms at Urban Stages This Holiday Season in A DREAM AND A SONG

 Award winning vocalist Celia Berk will appear in Winter Rhythms at Urban Stages this holiday season in A DREAM AND A SONG: The Musical Stories of Elizabeth Sullivan.  There will be one performance, only, on Dec. 8 at 7PM.  She will be joined by guitarist Sean Driscoll, violinist Seoyeon Im and pianist/music director Jon Weber.  Jeff Harnar directs.  Urban Stages is at 259 West 30th St. Between 7th and 8th Avenues. 

Shaped by a life on the Oklahoma prairie — and deeply informed by her spirituality — Elizabeth Sullivan writes about family, love and loss, and the creative impulse.  Her music has been performed in iconic venues including Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Recital Halls, the National Arts Club and The Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room.  The 93-year-old matriarch of the Sullivan family – which includes KT, Stacy and Heather Sullivan – has just published her memoirs, “STAGES: From Lightning Creek to Carnegie Hall.”

“When Elizabeth told me she’d like to hear her music in my “cello range,” I was very happy to oblige.  She sent me her Songbook and I sent her demos.  Really, that’s as far as either of us expected it to go,” says Berk.  “But I kept exploring her music and other writings.  Until finally I asked her if she would trust to me do an evening of my interpretations of her material.  I knew Urban Stages’ annual Winter Rhythms series would be the perfect place to present it, as they always celebrate songwriters.”

Berk released her third album, Now That I Have Everything, in September 2022.  It was included on the 2023 Grammy Awards Preliminary Ballot, named one of the Top 10 Vocalist Recordings of 2022 by The Broadway Radio show, and was nominated for the BroadwayWorld and LaMott Friedman Awards.  Berk’s second album, Manhattan Serenade, received the 2017 LaMott Friedman Award from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets.  You Can’t Rush Spring and Berk’s solo cabaret debut earned her a 2015 Bistro Award: Vocalist, 2015 MAC Award: New York Debut/Female, 2015 BroadwayWorld Award for Best New York Cabaret Debut, and The 2015 Margaret Whiting Award.  The recording appeared on a number of Best of 2014 lists. Berk’s music is available on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and streaming platforms worldwide.

The award-winning music festival, Winter Rhythms, returns Dec 6-17 2023 to Urban Stages with over 100 artists taking the stage in 22 shows.  All proceeds fund the Outreach Program of Urban Stages which tours admission-free plays and workshops throughout libraries in NYC in every borough over 350 times a year.  Outreach is essential in making sure everyone has equal access to theater and the arts despite location or socioeconomic status.

 Photo Credit: KT Sullivan

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