Club Free Time Blog

Autumn in New York

Gail Wein
October 06, 2015

There's a brand-new space for music in Williamsburg: National Sawdust. As the name implies, it was fashioned out of an old factory, via a multi-million dollar makeover. The calendar is jam-packed with performances, sometimes two or three in an evening, including: Brooklyn Youth Chorus (October 6), violinist Johnny Gandelsman of Brooklyn Rider playing Bach (October 25), the string quartet Ethel (November 4) and NY Philharmonic's Contact! (November 16). You can purchase tickets on National Sawdust's website; the venue is intimate (170 seats) so you might want to plan ahead.

Festivals abound this fall: Lincoln Center has its White Light Festival (October 14 -November 22) which includes performances by the tenor Mark Padmore and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout (Oct 14, 15, 17), the soprano Christine Brewer and organist, Paul Jacobs (November 1) and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performing music from John Coletrane's seminal album A Love Supreme (November 17 and 18).

The SONiC festival - showcasing music by over 80 composers - runs October 15-23 in venues all around New York, including a free performance of world premieres at Winter Garden at Brookfield Place on October 16 with American Composers Orchestra and JACK Quartet. One of the other SONiC performances (Onix Ensemble on October 21) is at the Americas Society, a beautiful townhouse on Park Avenue.

Americas Society offers free concerts to its members throughout the season. Even if you're don't sign up for the annual membership (starting at $100 per year), the individual concerts are a reasonable $20 ($10 for students and seniors). Other concerts at AS this fall include the early music ensemble Tembembe from Mexico (October 14) and young singers from Teatro Colon (October 27).

Last month I attended an excellent performance by some of my favorite wind players, in a restaurant. Tertulia is a chamber music series that is not your usual glasses-clinking, diners-chattering event. The music is served up like one of the dinner courses: after the appetizers, plates are cleared and a 20-30 minute music set begins. There's a second set after the entree. The result is a delicious combination of a great listening experience and a fine dining experience. The venue and performers are different on each date (next is a vocal program of Brahms' Libeslieder Waltzes with soprano Kiera Duffy and mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano at Cubana Social on October 19, and the Attaca String Quartet at Andanda on November 17). You can purchase a ticket via Tertulia's website that includes your meal, or a general entry ticket just for listening.

As usual, great music is everywhere, so get out there and enjoy!