Tag Archives: Shu Nakamura

ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS’ NOVEMBER SHOWCASE at THE CELL

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Join Artists Without Walls for its November 26th Showcase at The Cell.

A little about the presenters. (Clockwise from top left):

Shu Nakamura is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and music teacher who has performed with many Artists Without Walls’ members including Niamh Hyland, Anand Gan, Annette Homann, Charles R. Hale and others.

Gary Ryan:  “Stories keep haunting me until I write them down. Sometimes even after I write them down they still haunt me.”

Niamh Hyland, Artists Without Walls’ cofounder, is a singer/songwriter, entrepreneur, and executive raised in Co. Leitrim, Ireland. She toured globally as the lead singer of the original rock band Lily Sparks. Notable band and solo performances include The Ourland Festival at LincolnCenter, Whelan’s in Dublin, Webster Hall and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Cellist Martin Fett Martin is an active freelancer in the New York City area and has performed in orchestras and chamber ensembles across the USA and Europe. As a soloist, he has performed with the Manhattan Philharmonia and the Brooklyn Pro Arte Chamber Ensemble. He has played on the Today show at NBC studios and been heard on WQXR. Mr. Fett has held principal positions in many orchestras including the New York City Opera National Company.

Jim Hawkins tells stories and sings songs in the Irish tradition as well as his own personal stories from his childhood in Ireland and his growing up in NYC.Presently, he is working on a 3 part project entitled, “The Irish People in Story, Poetry and Song.” 

Mountain Maidens is a Long Island-based folk harmony trio comprised of Candice Baranello, Lorraine Berger and Marie Mularczyk O’Connell. Since first meeting at the Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson, the threesome has been performing a unique and harmonious mix of ballads, folk songs, country and gospel numbers, love songs and songs of social justice throughout the local area — including a slot at the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s Annual Members Showcase concert in January.

Mark Donnelly is a writer of plays, poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction, with multiple publishing credits. He has an MFA in Creative Writing and teaches English at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights and at Borough of Manhattan Community College. Tonight he’s presenting his newest monologue, “Inner Dialogue.”

Richard Stillman (not pictured) is an actor & musician who plays the banjo, mandolin, ukulele, guitar, bagpipes & 12 other instruments.  He has performed on Broadway, The Kennedy Ctr. and in regional theaters from New Jersey to Alaska. His show, “The Spirit of Vaudeville,” won the BEST CONCERT AWARD at the United Solo Theater Festival in NYC.

You can listen to and meet these very talented performers Tuesday, at Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell. The Cell is located at 338 West 23rdSt. The doors and bar open at 6:45 and the presentations begin at 7:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNETTE HOMANN AND FRIENDS: A MEMORABLE EVENING

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With the next show in the Charles R. Hale Productions series, “New Yorkers: Together in Story and Song,” slated for November, Charles certainly wanted to create a show that would not only be heard — but felt — among the full-house audience at the cell theatre on Aug. 23. It had to be something lasting.  From Jobim and Gershwin to Rolling in the Deep and Milonga de Angel, from John Legend and Alanis Morrisette to Ashokan Farewell and Chega de Saudade….the show succeeded in too many ways to count.

The event was planned around a return visit of violinist extraordinaire Annette Homann, an early Artists Without Walls’ member. After twelve years in New York City, Annette has returned to her native Germany where she is finding tremendous success as a performing artist in Berlin.  Invited to perform with Annette were bassist Danny Weller, guitarist Shu Nakamura and Charles’s Artists Without Walls co-founder, singer Niamh Hyland. All are of extraordinary talent in their own rights. Together? Charles created something truly remarkable.

“When I was thinking of a theme for tonight’s event I thought, ‘We have great musicians, who can play anything so let’s just make great music.’ And that’s what we aimed for tonight. Many genres and accomplished musicians who can perform it all,” Charles said.

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“It’s very nice to see you back in America, Annette.”

America/Bernstein–Alexander A. Wu and Annette Homann

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Danny Weller and Shu Nakamura (with Annette Homann)

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Billy Jean — Annette Homann and Shu Nakamura

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Autumn Leaves/Mercer — Niamh Hyland and Annette Homann

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Chega de Saudade— Annette Homann, Shu Nakamura and Danny Weller

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Ashokan Farewell — Annette Homann and Shu Nakamura

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Fascinating Rhythm — Alexander Wu

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Milonga de Angel/Piazzolla– Annette Homann and Alexander Wu

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Rolling in the Deep — Annette Homann, Niamh Hyland, Danny Weller, Shu Nakamura

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And in the end…. the show, entitled “Annette Homann and Friends: Versatile Virtuosos,” left the audience full of emotion, of joy, of incredulousness. It was a showcase of talent, love and goodwill as few shows can be. Audiences to Charles R. Hale Productions and AWoW shows are generous but also discriminating. This show, this unique collection of grace and love for both music and the spoken word, did not discriminate. The audience did not hold back. They gave the artists not one but two standing ovations. It was the way for them to give back, if even a little, for what they had just experienced; for the beautiful, remarkable respite from a sometimes confused world.

This show will stay with those fortunate enough to have attended. Such feelings rarely leave us.

One of two standing ovations.

Alexander Wu, Niamh Hyland, Annette Homann, Charles R. Hale, Danny Weller and Shu Nakamura

Charles R. Hale

Niamh Hyland and Alexander Wu

Annette Homann and Charles R. Hale

 

Photos by Vera Maura