“Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to The Cell,” beginning on March 27. Tickets for each of the series’ shows will be $20. You can click on the link of an individual event for tickets:
April 26: Yuri Juarez and Renato Diz: “From Classical to Jazz”
May 10: Verona Quartet “An Outstanding Ensemble…” New York Times
June 28: Clare Maloney and Nicole Zuraitis: “From Opera to Pop”
September 27: Ji in and Wayne Weng, “From Classical to Pop to Hip Hop.”
October 18: Empire Wild “From Bows to Beats
Thank for this wonderful review and write up by Vincent Nauheimer:
“Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to the Cell”
Last night, 23rdStreet in the Chelsea section of Manhattan was filled with magical sounds emanating from the Cell Theater…a preview of Charles R. Hale Productions and Musica Solis’ “Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to the Cell.” If last night was a glimpse of what is to come in this seven-event series, which will explore classical music and its relation to pop, jazz, and other musical genre, one word comes to mind for the rest of the season: Anticipation.
Nicole Zuraitis, Mitch Lyon, Seunghee Lee, Brandon Ilaw, Clare Maloney and Ken Kubota
Charles R. Hale and Seunghee Lee (Sunny) have a common interest, which was clearly established last evening: They both seek to promote young and upcoming musical artists. Their unique ability to both find and attract superb talent was clearly demonstrated in this preview of their 2019 series.
CLICK HERE FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TICKETS FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL EVENT.
Charles R. Hale
Renato Diz/piano and Yuri Juarez/guitar performed the evening’s opening set. Renato, who has performed throughout the world and who be can be heard on over twenty albums and Yuri, who has recorded a number of albums, and has received the Latin Jazz Corner Award for album of the year, “Afroperuano” were sensational. Watching the finger work of these two enormously talented musicians was special. Their performance included “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo and “Libertango” by Astor Piazzolla, which they arranged with improvisational references to jazz and other musical genres. Brilliant.
Renato Diz and Yuri Juarez
Sunny, a renowned international solo clarinetist and recording artist, led the trio Empire Wild in “Another Day of Sun” from the movie LaLa Land. The superb performance highlighted the fact that what would normally be considered a classical ensemble—two cellos, a clarinet and piano—is equally at home performing pop tunes. Empire Wild, which consists of cellists Mitch Lyon and Ken Kubota and the multi-instrumentalist Brandon Ilaw captivated the audience with their virtuosity. Ken played his cello in ways that would have made Casals proud. He played it across his lap like a guitar, plucked the strings and played it with a bow. Mitch Lyon has an affinity for folk music and arranged a beautiful piece with Brandon and Ken’s accompaniment. The versatile Brandon sang a number of tunes, played the piano, cajon, and kept time with a band of bells around his ankle. The three Julliard graduates performed brilliantly and have bright futures.
Brandon Ilaw, Mitch Lyon and Ken Kubota
Capping off a mesmerizing evening with a grand performance were Clare Maloney and Nicole Zuraitis, who will, from my point of view, be forever known as the “Cell Sopranos.” Both Clare and Nicole were classically trained and have branched out to become versatile performers. Nicole, nominated for a Grammy in 2019, is a singer songwriter and Clare has been hailed by audiences around the world for her magnificent voice and range. Clare led off with the flirtatious “Musetta’s Waltz” (Quando m’en vo) from Puccini’s La Boheme. Each lady in turn sang a popular song with its roots in opera and then Nicole did a solo rendition of “O Solo Mio.” The evening ended with a stirring performance of the “Flower Duet” from Delibe’s opera Lakme. Dame Joan Sutherland would have enjoyed listening to these two women sing.
Clare Maloney and Nicole Zuraitis
It was a beautiful evening of musical entertainment made more memorable by the interactions of the artists with the audience. The “cell” is a cozy intimate theatre, where there is little space between the artist and the audience Does that work? It certainly does. The audience came to their feet several times during the performances. In addition, spontaneous applause broke out in the middle of a number of the instrumental solos.
Anticipation for the future shows in this series was palpable and I, and I’m sure the entire audience, anxiously await the next performance. Thank you to Charles, Sunny Lee and all of lasts night’s performers for a memorable evening.
CLICK HERE FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TICKETS FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL EVENT.
All photos by Vera Maura.
Seunghee Lee, Clarinet “Sunny”and I have assembled an outstanding group of musicians for our 2019 series “Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to The Cell.”
This Friday night, Feb 22nd, 7:30pm, you can get a sampling of four of the shows when Sunny, Empire Wild, Renato Diz, Yuri Juárez, Nicole Zuraitis and Clare Maloney will be performing at The Cell, located at 338 West 23rd St in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.
This is a free event but you must reserve a seat by emailing me at charles@crhproductions.com
emailing me at charles@crhproductions.com
Hope to see you there.
Not only is Seunghee Lee and her production company Musica Solis co-producing the series “Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to The Cell” with me, she is also performing on March 27 with the Manhattan Chamber Players and JP Jofre. But you can hear and meet “Sunny” this Friday, February 22 at “The Cell” when she performs with Empire Wild, a brilliant young group of musicians. This is a free event but you must reserve a seat, which you can do by contacting me at charles@crhproductions.com
A little about Sunny: She was included in the “Top 30 Under 30” by KDFC San Francisco radio. Her albums were chosen as “CD of the Week” and her music is performed on classical musical stations around the world, including WQXR here in NYC. She has collaborated with Deepak Chopra and with renowned Italian film composer, Andrea Morricone, performing his world-premiere arrangement of “Love Theme” from Cinema Paradiso for clarinet and orchestra.
“Now here is a talent… who has a warm, silvery, and woody a tone as anyone could imagine with fast and keen finger work to match… amazing expressive capabilities… positively lovely” – Review by Allmusic.com
Join Seunghee Lee and me this Friday night, February 22nd, 7:30pm at The Cell when you’ll hear music from four of the seven events, including Empire Wild, which will comprise “Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to the Cell.”
Later in the year, October 18th, Charles R. Hale Productions and Musica Solis will present Empire Wild, which features multi-instrumentalist Brandon Ilaw and cellists Mitch Lyon and Ken Kubota. The three Juilliard graduates teamed up in 2018 up after discovering a shared interest in musical styles far afield from their classical training. Through original songwriting and imaginative covers they bring virtuosic technique to far reaching genres as well as a passion for musical exploration. Empire Wild are classical trained musicians who are changing the way we experience music in the modern digital age.
This is a free event but you must reserve a seat by contacting me at chashale1@yahoo.com
Empire Wild: Brandon Ilaw, Mitch Lyon and Ken Kubota
On April 28th Charles R. Hale Productions and Musical Solis will present guitarist Yuri Juárez and pianist Renato Diz performing timeless works from the classical repertoire and rearranging them for piano and guitar with improvisation sections (Jazz!), as was popular during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Want to get a preview? Join us this Friday night, February 22nd, 7:30pm at The Cell when you’ll hear music from four of the seven events that will comprise “Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to the Cell.”
This is a free event but you must reserve a seat by sending an email to charles@charlesrhaleproductions.com
Hope to see you Friday.
Renato Diz and Yuri Juarez
Please join us at the cell theatre on Friday, February 22nd, 7:30pm when clarinetist and international recording artist Seunghee Lee (Sunny) and I will be showcasing a number of fabulous artists in a preview of our upcoming 2019 concert series “Classically Exposed: From Carnegie Hall to The Cell.”( The doors and bar open at 6:45.)
During the evening you will be able to sample the music of four of the upcoming shows and mingle with the performers after the event. This is a free event but you must reserve seats by contacting me at info@charlesrhaleproductions.com
Tickets for each 2019 show are $20. A subscription for all seven shows is $100, which, I’m sure you’ll agree, considering the talent we’ve assembled, is a great bargain. (Ticket and subscription sales will begin shortly.) We will also be looking for people who would like to become executive producers or co-producers of the series or perhaps produce one of the shows. Our goal is simple: To present outstanding music at a great value and pay the artists commensurate with their talents.
Program for February 22nd:
Reserve your seats now. I hope to see you there.
Charles R. Hale
