Free Summer Concert Series at Hudson Park Starts Next Week

From the New Rochelle Council on the Arts:

A sure sign of summer: The free Emil Paolucci Summer Sounds Concert Series gets underway next week on Wednesday, July 6th at 7:30 pm with the popular Showtime Dance Band performing Motown, R & B, disco and swing favorites.

This year’s concerts, organized by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts and sponsored by Webster Bank and People’s United Bank with the City of New Rochelle’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation, will be bigger and better than ever, with a new state-of-the-art sound system and the addition of food trucks each week, so that concert goers can purchase snacks and drinks. (Vendors include Walter’s Hot Dogs, Melt Mobile, The Cookery Dough Nation, Pow Burger, Tecas Tacos, and Uncle Louie G’s Italian Ices and Ice Creams.) The NRCA has also added a trailer with deluxe restroom facilities.

“The New Rochelle Council on the Arts received an anonymous gift of $100,000 to upgrade our concert series, and we have used every penny to make the Hudson Park series Westchester’s finest outdoor venue,” promises Theresa Kump Leghorn, President of the NRCA. This year’s concerts will feature an eclectic menu of musicians performing free concert of everything from mellow jazz to opera to bluegrass, Motown and hip-hop. In addition, NRCA has added four Friday nights to the schedule: Friday Night Live @Hudson Park on July 8th and 22nd and August 5th and 19th.

Bill Zimmerman, Commissioner of New Rochelle’s Dept. of Parks & Recreation, says the city is proud to continue the summer concert tradition. “The support of Webster Bank and People’s United Bank has made it possible for us to continue to bring free concerts to the community.”For more information visit the NRCA website at www.newrochellearts.org or telephone the Dept. of Parks and Recreation at 654-2087.

The full Summer Sounds Concert Series schedule includes:

July 6th: Showtime Dance Band

Dance band playing rock, R & B, Motown, disco and swing

July 8th: Friday Night Live @ Hudson Park : Pirates of Penzance Sing-Along

Be part of one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s most popular comic operas: The Sound Shore Chorale will perform to live accompaniment, with the audience invited to sing along with the chorus parts

July 13th: Feinberg Brothers

Authentic bluegrass band performing traditional music with sophistication, the way Bill Monroe would have liked it!

July 20th: New Rochelle Opera

Favorite selections from opera, operetta and Broadway performed by New Rochelle Opera, which has been thrilling audiences with imaginative and sensitive stagings of full opera productions since its inception.

July 22nd: Friday Night Live @Hudson park: Word! Salute to Hip-Hop & the Spoken Word

Performances by members of the New Rochelle Arts Collective

July 27th: Wali Ali and the Tambourine Band

Wali Ali is known for his intensely soulful and inventive guitar playing; the band features fellow New Rochelleans bassist David Merrill and drummer Steve Brown playing folk, jazz and r & b.

August 3rd: Benson-Scott Big Band (Emil Paolucci Memorial Concert)

Big band music featuring the sounds of the New York Jazz and Latin/Jazz scene

August 5th : Friday Night Live @ Hudson Park: Rejoice! Gospel Celebration

Featuring the Kay Boyd Ensemble

August 10th : Glenda Davenport Quartet

Glenda Davenport, known as a mature, skillful singer with depth, emotion and swing, performing jazz favorites and standards with her quartet.

August 17th: Ben Clark and the Long Shadows

Singer-songwriter Ben Clark plays regularly at Brooklyn’s Way Station as well as venues like Joe’s Pub, Shrine, LIC Bar and Leftfield.

August 19th: Friday Night Live @Hudson park: ‘Sup? Emerging Bands Take the Stage

Performances by emerging bands including the Jacob Harelick Groove, Pronoia and more

August 24th: Firey String Sistas

A chamber Jazz ensemble performing its brand of world music and jazz

August 31st: The Kootz Band

Pop rock of the ‘60s through ‘80s

The New Rochelle Council on the Arts (NRCA) was created by the New Rochelle City Council in 1975 to stimulate and encourage the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts. For four decades NRCA has worked to fulfill that mission by sponsoring art exhibitions, theatrical productions, dance recitals, film screenings, lectures, and concert series. In addition, NRCA has sponsored public art -- like the popular Fleur-de-Lis sculptures downtown -- and created ArtsFest, while helping to build relationships between the arts, the business community and city government. The NRCA website www.newrochellearts.org is the “go-to” place for information about the arts. Membership in NRCA is open to artists and non-artists alike, with members receiving invitations to networking events and studio tours. For more information visit NRCA on the web at www.newrochellearts.org. NRCA’s programs are made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with funds from Westchester County Government, the City of New Rochelle, and the support and participation of NRCA’s membership.

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