This month, Flushing Town Hall is presenting 15 global arts programs and presentations that will incorporate festivals and concerts of different genres of music, dances and cultures.
“We have been practicing strict safety protocols this fall to ensure our staff, artists, and audiences can safely create and gather together,” said Ellen Kodadek, Flushing Town Hall’s executive and artistic director. “We have proceeded with great care and love for all in our community and have been buoyed to be in each other’s presence once again! The arts are healing and have brought us all some much-needed joy.”
Due to the current presence of the COVID-19 virus, Flushing Town Hall will require all visitors, performers, and staff to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 with matching identification, and for masks to be worn at all times, in accordance with the city’s mandate for performance venues.
A number of Flushing Town Hall’s in-person events will also be livestreamed or made available later online for virtual audiences who are unable to attend.
Here is a lineup of this month’s events:
Louis Armstrong Legacy Monthly Jazz Jam, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m.
$10/FREE for members, students, & jamming musicians.
Flushing Town Hall is bringing back their Monthly Jazz Jams on the second Wednesday of every month. The events will be open to all professional jazz musicians, graduate students studying jazz, music educators and serious hobbyists. Louis Armstrong Legacy Monthly Jazz Jams invites musicians to perform at Flushing Town Hall. Steinway baby grand and drum kit are available at each Jam. House band and jam sessions are led by Carol Sudhalter, with Joe Vincent Tranchina, Scott Neumann and Eric Lemon.
Lioness™: Women in Jazz Concert Series Presents Amanda Monaco’s am4, Thursday, Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m.
In-person tickets: $5/FREE for members & students
The second concert in the Lioness™: Women in Jazz Concert series features guitarist/composer and Queens resident Amanda Monaco’s am4, a group that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Monaco has performed at venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, and Jazz Standard and with artists such as Milt Hinton, Rufus Reid, and the Mingus Orchestra. Joining her are bassist Sean Conly, drummer Jeff Davis, and tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon.
NEA Jazz Masters: The Music of Thelonious Monk & Horace Silver, Friday, Nov. 12, 8 p.m.
In-person tickets: $45/$35 members/$20 students; Virtual tickets: $15/$10 members
Flushing Town Hall will be bringing back their annual NEA Jazz Masters concert live to play the music from two of the greatest pianists in the history of jazz: Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver. This concert will feature five NEA Jazz Masters, the nation’s highest honor in jazz, including Jimmy Owens on trumpet, Kenny Barron on piano, Sheila Jordan on vocals, Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums, and Donald Harrison on saxophone, joined by Kenny Davis on bass. With a special guest to be announced.
ADG7: Korean, Sunday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.
In-person tickets: $15/$12 members; Virtual tickets: b$7/$5 members
Shamanic Folk-Pop is Flushing Town Hall’ first international artist since the pandemic, co-presented with Korean Cultural Center New York. Ak Dan Gwang Chil (ADG7) is a multi-award winning group featuring three powerhouse female folk singers and a rich repertoire inspired by Korea’s sacred, shamanic ritual music (gut) and beloved folk songs (minyo) of Hwanghae Province in the northern reaches of the Peninsula. Their powerful performances highly engage their audience and present the spiritual blessings and positive energy of traditional music in a thoroughly modern and often comical style.
The 11th New York Son Jarocho Festival, Nov. 17 – Nov. 20, Multiple days and times
This annual New York Festival will be celebrating son jarocho, the music, dance, and culture of southern Veracruz, Mexico. After almost disappearing from the Mexican musical patrimony during the twentieth century, it has recently experienced a revival, gaining loyal followers around the world.
Book Presentation: Rafael Figueroa, “Son Jarocho Discography in the US”, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
FREE with online RSVP
This exhibition will have researcher and author Rafael Figueroa Hernandez, PhD., present his most recent book, Son Jarocho Discography in the US (Red de Estudios de Son Jarocho, 2021). A novel about catalogs all musical projects published in the US that focus on or include elements from the Mexicanson jarocho tradition.
Panel Discussion: “Identity and Territory in the Isthmus of Veracruz,” Thursday, Nov. 18, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
FREE with online RSVP
This will be a bilingual (Spanish-English) panel discussion led by Colectivo Altepee, who will talk about the multiple challenges to the environments son jarocho communities face in the isthmus of Veracruz. Urban projects and oil refineries, as well as forced displacements of people near the region threaten to seriously disrupt traditional knowledge and natural environments that sustain son jarocho in the region.
Dance Performance: “Acusticorporal” by Argelia Arreola, Friday, Nov. 19, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
FREE with online RSVP
This event will be a solo performance by Mexican dancer Argelia Arreola. The performance will be an observation around the body as a projector of everything that it perceives and how it is affected by sound, rhythm, vibration, and words. It will reflect on how the body can turn into a musical instrument in its own right.
11th NY Son Jarocho Festival Performances, Saturday, Nov. 20, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
In-person tickets: $15/$12 members; Virtual tickets: $7/$5 members
The Son jarocho performance will be themed with the environment, which is the central theme of the Festival. The performance will include song lyrics about flora and fauna, geography, weather, and earth cycles.
Culminating Fandango, Saturday, Nov. 20, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
FREE with online RSVP
This event is part of the 11th New York Son Jarocho Festival, organized by SonJarocho MX, a NY-based communal project dedicated to promote and educate about son jarocho traditions on the East Coast. Fandangos are community celebrations where people gather to play, sing, and dance on jarocho, the musical tradition of southern Veracruz, Mexico. All son jarocho professionals to people who love music and community are welcomed to participate.
Common Ground: Mini-Global Mashup #3 – Yiddish Meets Argentina, Sunday, Nov. 21, 1:00 p.m.
In-person tickets: $15/$12 members; Virtual tickets: $7/$5 members
Common Ground is an event featuring artists seemingly different in discipline, practices, or cultural identity who explore global connections, celebrating distinctions that make cultures unique. This year, the new series Common Ground: Mini-Global Mashups will be curated by acclaimed trumpeter and composer Frank London (The Klezmatics) bringing together two amazing global music artists along with accompanists for an afternoon of music, conversation and exploration. The event will also include a post-show Q&A.
