BY MICHAEL LYDON | Here’s a recipe for free fun on a Friday night: the Artist Performance concert series at the Third Street Music School Settlement in the East Village, going on nearly every Friday at 7 p.m., all winter and well into the spring.
Do keep in mind, though, that the Third Street Music School is not on Third Street, but on East 11th Street, 235 East 11th, to be exact. Yes, the School was on Third Street decades ago — but now to get to the School’s intimate auditorium, walk a few steps west of Second Avenue on 11th just before seven o’clock for an evening of varied, fresh, and challenging music played by members of Third Street’s faculty and guest artists.
THIRD STREET MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT ARTIST PERFORMANCE SERIES
Free Admission
Fridays at 7 p.m.
Through March 27
At Anna-Maria Kellen Auditorium
235 E. 11th St.
(btw. Second & Third Aves.)
Visit thirdstreetmusicschool.org
Third Street, America’s oldest community music school, offers classes and private lessons for most orchestral instruments, the electric instruments of pop and jazz, plus voice and dance — and so the faculty, many with advanced degrees and busy professional careers, teach and perform across a wide spectrum of styles and traditions. That breadth and excellence shows up in repertoire of this series. Part of the celebrations to mark Third Street’s 120th anniversary, the Friday night series began in October.
The 2015 concerts kick off January 9 with a piano duo, Sasha Papernik and Alexander Wu, playing Broadways hits and well-known classical pieces. The next two Fridays will be jazz nights. On January 16, Steve Bloom leads a guitar-bass-drums trio playing compositions by Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk. On January 23, pianist Neal Kirkwood heads up a quartet playing his own tunes with saxophonist Jimmy Cozier out front.
The month closes January 30 with Dr. Joan Forsyth (Chair of Third Street’s Piano Department) assembling a chamber group of friends playing pieces by Brahms, the lesser-known 19th century Russian composer Anton Arensky, and the contemporary American composer Laura Schwendinger — the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin’s Berlin Prize.
“I’ve played five Artist Performance concerts in six years,” says Nadev Lev, who teaches classical guitarist at the School and who gave his latest concert in November. “I love them because I get such a sense of neighborhood, of community from the audience.” Pianist Neal Kirkwood echoes Lev’s sentiments. “Third Street audiences are true music lovers, open to new music. I always feel free to experiment, and that inspires me, keeps my music fresh.”
Third Street’s community feeling is no accident. Since 1894, the School has served downtown music lovers with programs for preschoolers, seniors and everyone in between. Financial aid is available to many who need help with tuition. Third Street teachers also fan out to nearby public schools for special music classes, and many of those students end up studying at the school.
The February concerts begin Friday on the sixth, with Taylor Gordon and Glenn Healy presenting a dance and percussion evening of classical and contemporary ballet. It continues on Feb. 13, with pianists Mira Armij Gill and Marc Ponthus playing music by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt and Boulez. After one skipped week during the School’s winter break, the series resumes Feb. 27 with a chamber concert of music by Beethoven, Brahms, and tango composer Astor Piazzolla led by flutist Susan Friedlander and violinist Caitlin Lynch.
“I’ve done at least twenty of these concerts in my twenty-five years at Third Street,” says guitarist David Moreno, whose jazz quartet gets the March concerts underway on Friday, March 6. “These shows are special to me, so I play mostly original tunes, and instead of a pick-up group, I use my regular band: Renee Cruz on bass, Brandon Lewis on drums, and Arturo O’Farrill on piano. I’ve known Arturo since high school! After one concert a fellow came up to me, and I slowly realized he was my first guitar teacher. We hadn’t seen each other for twenty-five years! We had a great reunion. Now that doesn’t always happen, but at every Third Street concert I get a warm feeling that I’m playing for old friends.”
The March concerts continue with an evening of solo classical piano music by Daniela Bracchi March 13, then violinist Melissa Tong leads the Artemis Chamber Ensemble through modern works by Arvo Part and Olivier Messaien March 20. The 2015 series ends March 27 with pianist Edmund Arkus playing Bach, Chopin, Granados, and Schubert.
Most of the concerts are over soon after 8 p.m. — leaving concertgoers ample time for a bite to eat at one of dozens of nearby restaurants and coffee shops, and for spirited discussions — no, not arguments, discussions! — about the stimulating music still ringing in their ears.
