By Merle Exit
With the holiday season winding down this weekend, it is time to start thinking about the long winter nights that lie ahead.
And while you may be tempted to hunker down in front of the fireplace until the spring thaw, the Queens’ performing arts scene has plenty to offer to bring you out before Easter.
Things kick off Jan. 15 with a jazz concert at Flushing Town Hall.
Presented in collaboration with Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series, the John Chin Quintet, led by pianist Chin, plays music that ranges from intimate to exuberant melodies.
The following day, Jan. 16, Flushing Town Hall hosts the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers.
These dancers, who are members of the Iroquois Nation, will start the day with a workshop. That will be followed by a performance.
Mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a musical celebration at Kupferberg Center for the Arts starring gospel singer Benjamin “BeBe” Winans on Jan. 17. Winans, a songwriter, producer and R & B vocalist, helped transform the sound of gospel as a member of the legendary Winans Family.
A different type of music takes center stage Jan. 17 at Flushing Town Hall, when the Five Borough Music Festival teams up with the New York Festival of Song for a concert of mid-century American songwriters.
“Harry, Hoagy and Harold” focuses on the songs of Harry Warren, “I Only Have Eyes for You;” Hoagy Carmichael, “Stardust;” and Harold Arlen, “Stormy Weather.”
Dance gets things moving in February with a Flushing Town Hall performance of Rennie Harris Awe-Inspiring Works on Feb. 6.
This presentation of hip-hop and street dance includes examples of popping, locking and stepping.
Rodney Hill, the group’s managing director, will hold a post-performance dance symposium.
Join Deepak Chopra on Sunday, Feb. 7, as he creates a road map for “higher health,” based on the latest findings in both mainstream and alternative medicine.
Are we in the midst of a major paradigm shift in science? Is there an ultimate reality?
Chopra will address these and other questions as well as practical ways to experience higher consciousness, transformation and healing.
If new age is not really your cup of tea, check out a program by the New York Classical Players Feb. 19 at Flushing Town Hall. The concert includes works by Schubert and Schumann.
Get your Broadway/Oldies fix Feb. 21 when original cast members from “Jersey Boys” bring a show filled with hits from the 1960s to the Kupferberg Center for the Arts.
Tony winner Christian Hoff joins Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer as The Midtown Men, performing songs from The Beatles, The Rascals and more.
By now you are probably hungry for something a little meatier, and Flushing Town Hall has you covered.
Loaded down with sausages, pâtés and hams, the best charcuterie artists arrive from across the United States and Canada Feb. 27 to compete in the Charcuterie Masters.
A ticket provides an opportunity to meet the meat masters and sample more than 60 different types of charcuterie.
March comes in like a French-Canadian trio of melody makers when De Temps Antan brings traditional Quebecois music with fiddle, accordion and harmonica to Flushing Town Hall March 5.
The international flavor continues March 6 with the Cultural Crossroads of Ireland and Africa at Flushing Town Hall.
Led by Mick Moloney, Niall O’Leary and Lenwood Sloan, this Irish and African American dance workshop introduces and blends the two traditional forms to suggest how they have come together in the emergence of tap.
On March 13, choreographer Nai-Ni Chen presents her latest collaboration, CrossCurrent III, at Flushing Town Hall. The piece features music by composer Huang Ruo and the all Julliard-graduate New Asia Chamber Music Society
Irish eyes keep on smiling March 19, when the Irish Comedy Tour hits Queensborough Performing Arts Center.
Derek Richards, Mike McCarthy, Damon Leibert and Derrick Keane present what is being billed as a beer-swilling night of politically incorrect fun, including Celtic tunes.
The other end of European culture makes an appearance at QPAC March 20 when the Moscow Festival Ballet dances “Giselle.”
Dubbed the ultimate Romantic ballet, “Giselle” revolves around a young village girl who falls in love with a man with a hidden agenda. When she discovers the deception, she dies of a broken heart, but that is not the end of her story.
March 20 also brings the New Shanghai Circus to town when it performs at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts.
This troupe of dancers and performing artists recreate the classic Chinese spectaculars dating back to the harvest festivals from 2,000 years ago.
Back at Flushing Town Hall, the Queens College Chamber Orchestra presents a concert of classical and contemporary pieces on March 20.
Music in March finishes up at Flushing Town Hall with a multicultural show with Aurora and Zon del Barrio’s mix of Latin salsa and compositions from the African Diaspora played by a 15-piece orchestra on March 25.
Falu’s Bollywood Orchestra follows on March 26 at Flushing Town Hall with this Bollywood’s musical golden age on inventive modern style. His vocals will be backed by an orchestra of Eastern and Western instruments.
If you Go
Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing
(718) 463-7700
Kupferberg Center for the Arts
65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing
(718) 793-8080
Queensborough Performing Arts Center
222-05 56th Ave., Bayside
(718) 631-6311
