Momenta Opens the Concourse Counterpoint Festival

The Concourse Counterpoint Fall Festival
September 25 - October 28
6 FREE concerts at the Andrew Freedman Home

Welcome back from your summer adventures! Momenta has a busy Fall season ahead and we hope you can make it out to our first real live in-person FREE concerts this season in the South Bronx:

Saturday, September 25 and Saturday, October 9 at 3pm 
The Andrew Freedman Home
1125 Grand Concourse
​(corner of McClellan, D or 4 train to 167)
Bronx, NY 10452

Momenta Quartet at the inaugural Concourse Counterpoint concert in 2019 (Photo by John Gurrin)

Saturday, September 25, 3pm:
Momenta Quartet and Friends

Featuring Ariadne Greif, soprano; Karen Lindquist, harp; William Hakim, viola; and Carl Bettendorf, conductor
 
Music by Joseph Haydn, Carl Bettendorf, Carlos Salzedo, and Stephanie Griffin's own chamber arrangement of the “Liebestod” from Richard Wagner’s opera “Tristan und Isolde”
 
This concert was made possible through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre.
 
Saturday, Oct. 9, 3pm: DOUBLE BILL featuring Momenta Quartet and jazz fusion band “All Things to All People" 

Steve Antonelli, mandolin
Richard Robinson, guitar
Jeff "Siege" Siegel, drums
Hilliard Greene, bass
 
Momenta performs Alvin Singleton’s String Quartet no. 1 and Sergei Prokofiev’s String Quartet no. 2, based on Kabardino-Balkan folk themes from the North Caucasus.
 
All Things to All People (the musical project) combines artists with backgrounds in Indian classical music, jazz, African music, South American music and New York "downtown" music into a sometimes combustible/sometimes contemplative mixture of form and improvisation that, although recorded, is meant to be performed live and is never performed the same way twice.

These two performances are part of a 6-concert series, The Concourse Counterpoint Fall Festival, co-curated by Momenta’s violist Stephanie Griffin and jazz bassist Hilliard Greene. The series was made possible through the support of the Bronx Council on the Arts and the City Artist Corps program. (Hill got a CAC grant, too!)
 
Concourse Counterpoint Fall Festival:
 
Friday, Oct. 8, 7pm: Odero George Achieng from Kenya sings plays his one-string orutu in new and traditional music with members of the Omi Ensemble (Sweet Lee Odom, reeds; Volker Goetze, trumpet; Stephanie Griffin, viola; Hilliard Greene, bass; and Sipho Kunene, drums
 
Saturday, Oct. 16, 3pm: Garifuna Jazz Ensemble at the Vegan Market
Lucy Blanco, Vocalist, founder of The Garifuna Jazz Ensemble
Mario E. Sprouse, pianist, musical director
Gary "Wicked" Fritz, percussionist
Hilliard Greene, bassist
 
Saturday, Oct. 23, 3pm: John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme”
Interpreted by Louie Belogenis, sax; Beth Anne Hatton, vocals; Roberta Piket, keyboard; Kirk Knuffke, trumpet; Michael Wimberly, drums; and Hilliard Greene, bass
 
Thursday, October 28, 7pm: The Jazz Expressions with vocalist Jasmine Williams
Jasmine Williams, vocals; TK Blue, sax; Dwayne (Cook) Broadnax, drums; Sharp Radway, keyboard; Hilliard Greene, bass/Musical Director
 
Please save the dates and tell your friends!
 
And for those of you who do not know the “Concourse” neighborhood in the Bronx, it is well worth exploring and very easy to get to. The easiest route is the D to 167. Be on the back of the train if you are coming from points South, and you will exit on Grand Concourse and McClellan, right across the street from the venue. There are also regular buses from Harlem and Washington Heights. Come early and visit the Bronx Museum across the street or take a walk in Joyce Kilmer park, and/or – eat great Jamaican food! (Stephanie's favorite place: Country Style Restaurant, 1195 Walton Avenue.)
 
A Note about COVID: In compliance with the new laws in NYC, the Andrew Freedman Home will be checking proof of vaccination from all audience members and performers. Please bring a photo of your vaccination card or one of the new apps. Also, please wear a mask during the concert.
 
Thanks again to the Bronx Council on the Arts and City Artist Corps for their support of these concerts!