Let’s continue celebrating Independence throughout the week! Con Vivo is hosting a unique concert—“American Art Song”—on Saturday, July 9th at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (440 Hoboken Ave., Jersey City) at 1pm.
Explore the art song through American composers in a program featuring vocalists Sarah Nelson Craft and Barry L Robinson. The concert will span America’s rich diversity of musical styles including classical, jazz, and spirituals from composers Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Margaret Bonds, Henry Thacker Burleigh, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, John W. Work, and CVM’s own Mazz Swift.
Mezzo-soprano Sarah Nelson Craft and Barry L Robinson will take the stage. Craft is a “born storyteller” whose commanding, versatile voice has caught the attention of audiences around the world. Carnegie Hall recently presented her in a solo Spotlight Recital with pianist Warren Jones, a triumphant performance that drew high praise from critics. (Opera News described her performance as “exquisite… glowing… charming… affecting… Craft fully inhabited the music with intensity and focus.”)
A rising talent, Robinson has been lauded for his “amazing, robust” voice and “potential for operatic stardom” (New York Amsterdam News). He recently made his international operatic debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin in Prokofiev’s L’amour des trois oranges. This season, Robinson “dug into [the role of the priest Fojo] with passionate commitment” (New York Times) for a revival of Harry Lawrence Freeman’s Voodoo, not heard on the operatic stage for 80 years.
The program is FREE and welcomes children and all ages.
Real summer in Jersey City is right around the corner of the week, when the rest of school-lites are set free. But for those of us adults who do not have summer reading requirements, here are recommendations from residents of Jersey City.
WORD Bookstore and the historic Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre (54 Journal Square Plaza) are hosting Stephen King for the inaugural event of his END OF WATCH tour Tuesday, June 7th at 7:30PM.
Tickets are $32 each and you must buy a ticketonlinein advance to attend. Official ticketing guidelines:
Due to capacity limits, each person is allowed to purchase a maximum of 2 tickets. If you purchase more than 2 tickets on our website, your order will be adjusted down to 2 when we process it. Please be nice to the WORD employees who are processing these orders and purchase no more than 2 tickets per person!
All tickets are non-transferable. No exceptions. At the date of the event you will be required to show a valid ID to enter. If you purchased more than one ticket, your plus one must arrive and enter with you.
Purchasing a ticket guarantees entry to the event as well as a hardcover edition of END OF WATCH. As a special bonus, we’ve been told that a limited number of attendees will randomly receive signed copies, so we wish you luck!
Seating will be assigned. The first people who purchase tickets will be assigned front row seating and we will continue to fill the rows in the order that the tickets were purchased. While we will try our absolute best to accommodate groups of 2 next to each other, there is a possibility that you and your plus one will be seated in different rows (though likely close together, directly in front/behind each other).
There are no refunds. To learn more about End of Watch, click here.
Con Vivo Music invites Jersey City families on Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 8th) for an interactive kids show with The Toomai String Quintet at the Barrow Mansion (83 Wayne St.) at 2pm.
Toomai will lead an exploration of how improvisation manifests itself in music of different styles, featuring works by Duke Ellington, Cachao, Perapeskaro, and J.S. Bach. Toomai has performed in many capacities throughout the United States, with appearances at Lincoln Center, the 92nd St. Y, Philadelphia Arts Alliance, and for the Miami Civic Music Association, among others.
The quintet was a pilot ensemble for Carnegie Hall’s “Musical Connections” program, and they continue to perform regularly in schools, hospitals, and alternative care facilities throughout New York City. In addition, the Toomai String Quintet has brought its array of educational programs to students in California, Florida, and across the Northeast, and has presented interactive concerts in collaboration with organizations such as California Institute of the Arts, The Juilliard School, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.
Watch them here:
Best of all, the event is free, because some awesome organizations still believe in the arts.
Here are the schedules for this season’s farmers markets in Jersey City. Besides stocking up on produce and specialty foods, you can eat lunch on the spot from various food trucks and drink stands. And you can shop specialty items, usually handcrafted soaps, oils and other bath & body luxuries. Live music, children’s activities and free yoga are also at certain markets occasionally (check their schedules).
Many markets also have stands with information about community programs in Jersey City and other initiatives happening in your micro community of this grand city. Meet your local vendors, your neighbors (and their pets!), and be involved with the greater picture of the development of Jersey City in 2016.
Grove Street Monday and Thursday 4-8pm (May-December) Grove PATH Plaza
Journal Square Wednesday and Friday 11am-7pm (June-November) Journal Square PATH Plaza
Paulus Hook Saturday 10am-4pm (May-Thanksgiving) Washington St.
The Heights Sunday 10am-3pm (May-Thanksgiving) Riverview-Fisk Park (1 Bowers St.)
Hamilton Park Wednesday 4-8pm (May-December) Hamilton Park (McWilliams @ 8th St.)
New Jersey City University Thursday 4-7pm (June-November) 110 Culver Ave. (in front of gym)
Lincoln Park Sunday 10am-3pm (late June-November) Lincoln Park (at the Gazebo)
Van Vorst Park Saturday 8am-3pm (May-December) Van Vorst Park (281 Montgomery St.)