Massry Center for the Arts Announces 2015-2016 Season of Concerts

The Massry Center for the Arts at Albany’s College of Saint Rose has announced more than a dozen concerts for its 2015-2016 season, including virtuoso stringed instrumentalists Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Jake Shimabukuro, Andy McKee and more. The roster of shows includes returning favorites (“It’s a Jazzy Christmas” and zydeco master Terrance Simien), as well as plenty of new faces, including Stewart Copeland (the drummer for superstar rock band the Police) leading a new post-modern chamber ensemble.

The schedule also spotlights the second annual Bridge Jazz Festival, co-presented with the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and the 13th season of free chamber music concerts from the College of Saint Rose Camerata.

Tickets for the concerts are currently on sale.

Here’s the complete schedule for the Massry Center’s 2015-2016 season of concerts:

AMIR VAHAB ENSEMBLE WITH TRADITIONAL WHIRLING DERVISH
Friday, September 25, 7:30pm
$20; $10 students
The New York Times calls him the “ambassador for a silenced music.” Honored as a peacemaker and virtuoso, Amir Alan Vahab is one of New York’s most celebrated and distinguished composer/vocalists of sufi and folk music. He sings in many different languages with a unique mystical style. The virtuosos of Amir weave fiery instrumentals and songs of the ancient land of the Middle East.

ANDY McKEE
Friday, October 2, 7:30pm
$25; $15 students
Andy McKee is among the world’s finest acoustic guitarists, and his crossover success to over 150 million YouTube viewers underscores his emergence as one of today’s most unique and influential artists. To fans of virtuoso musicianship, it’s Andy’s attention to song structure and melodic content that elevates him above the rest. To fans of popular music, Andy entertains both the eye and the ear as he magically transforms the steel string guitar into full orchestra via his use of altered tunings, tapping, partial capos, percussive hits and a signature two-handed technique.

THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE CAMERATA
Saturday, October 3, 7:30pm
FREE
The Saint Rose Camerata, the College’s acclaimed faculty chamber ensemble, launches its 13th year of providing a center of classical chamber music for the Saint Rose community and the Capital Region. This evening’s program features works by Bourland, Beethoven and Piazolla.

THE ARTURO O’FARRILL SEPTET
Friday, October 16, 7:30pm
$25; $15 students
In 2002, Arturo O’Farrill established the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to bring the musical traditions of Afro Latin jazz to a wider general audience and to greatly expand the contemporary Latin jazz big-band repertoire. A celebrated composer with a ground-breaking and forward-looking perspective, O’Farrill has received numerous commissions and recorded a host of albums both with his smaller groups and the Grammy Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra’s most recent album, The Offense of the Drum, was honored with both a 2015 Grammy Award (Best Latin Jazz Album) and Cubadisco Award (Best International Album).

JAKE SHIMABUKURO
Friday, November 6, 7:30pm
$35; $25 students
Consider the ukulele. Jake Shimabukuro began his music career in the mid-90’s performing on this humble instrument at local coffee shops as a sideman with his first band, Pure Heart. In 2002, he signed with Epic Records, becoming the first ukulele player to sign with Sony Music. His career skyrocketed when a cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral on YouTube with more than 13 million views, opening the rest of the world’s eyes to Shimabukuro and his unique playing style. In the years since, Shimabukuro has collaborated with an array of artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffett, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley, Dave Koz, Michael McDonald, Béla Fleck and The Flecktones, Tommy Emmanuel and Lyle Lovett.

THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE CAMERATA
Saturday, November 21, 7:30pm
FREE
The Saint Rose Camerata, the College’s acclaimed faculty chamber ensemble, continues its 13th year of providing a center of classical chamber music for the Saint Rose community and the Capital Region. Concert will feature works by Bach, Piston and Prokofiev.

IT’S A JAZZY CHRISTMAS
Friday, December 4, 6pm
$20; $10 students; FREE for children under age 5 (ticket required)
The Peanut Gallery Jazz Band’s family-favorite “It’s a Jazzy Christmas! A Celebration of Vince Guaraldi’s Holiday Jazz Music,” an unforgettable “high smileage” evening of Guaraldi’s music made famous in the “Peanuts” holiday TVspecial, is back for its fifth year. This popular concert is perfect for the jazz lover and the entire family, just in time for the holidays.

THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE CAMERATA
Saturday, February 13, 7:30pm
FREE
The Saint Rose Camerata vocal and instrumental faculty performers collaborate once again for the annual Chamber Music with Voice performance for Valentine’s Day. Repertoire includes works by Bach, Puccini, Holst and Marx.

THE BRIDGE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Co-presented with the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
Friday & Saturday, February 26 & 27, 7pm
$40; $30 students
Two-night tickets: $60; $40 students
It’s back for a second year – two nights of great jazz at two of Nippertown’s finest music venues add up to one great weekend. The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall line-up on February 26 features Nnenna Freelon and Pierre Bensusan. And the bill on February 27 at the Massry Center for the Arts features the Arch Stanton Quartet, the No BS! Brass Band and Delfeayo and Ellis Marsalis.

BELA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN
Saturday, March 5, 7:30pm
$40; $25 students
Béla Fleck virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. Fleck’s total Grammy count since 1998 is 15 wins and 30 nominations, and he has been nominated in more different musical categories than anyone in Grammy history. A singing, songwriting, Illinois-born, Nashville-based clawhammer banjo player, Abigail Washburn is every bit as interested in the present and the future as she is in the past and every bit as attuned to the global as she is to the local. Washburn pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody’s ever heard before.

EKACHAI JEARAKUL
Sunday, March 20, 7:30pm
$20; $10 students
One of the most outstanding classical guitarists on the international scene, Jearakul has performed in more than 16 countries, and last year he became the first Asian guitarist to win the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition.

STEWART COPELAND & JON KIMURA PARKER & CO.
Thursday, April 7, 7:30pm
$45; $25 students
Stewart Copeland and Jon Kimura Parker are used to breaking the mold. With three incredible collaborators, they have created Stewart Copeland Jon Kimura Parker and Company, a quintet that has one foot in the classical world and its other foot all over the place. As the iconic drummer of the Police, Copeland’s sound is immediately recognizable the world over. Parker is a pianist whose forward-looking programming is matched by his incredible chops. It is the rare classical musician that can improvise, as it is the rare rock musician who reads music. In this project, all of the musicians can do both.

THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE CAMERATA
Saturday, April 16, 7:30pm
FREE
The Saint Rose Camerata closes out its 13th season with a classical chamber music performance featuring works by Saint Rose faculty members Bruce Roter, Sean McClowry and Andrew McKenna Lee.

TERRANCE SIMIEN & THE ZYDECO EXPERIENCE
Friday, April 15, 7:30pm
$20; $10 students
Leading his Zydeco Experience band, singer-accordionist Simien has become one of the most respected and accomplished artists in American roots music today. He and his bandmates have brought authentic Louisiana zydeco music to more than 45 countries, along the way winning two Grammy Awards and playing 28 consecutive years at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.