News

2018 Birdfoot Festival press release

Posted March 19, 2018

For Immediate Release (March 19, 2018)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact: Tracey W. Sherry, Executive Director, Birdfoot Festival
Phone: (504) 451-6578
Email: info@birdfootfestival.org
Website: birdfootfestival.org
Twitter: @BirdfootFest

The seventh annual Birdfoot Festival returns to New Orleans May 29–June 2, 2018 with 13 concerts and events throughout the city

From May 29–June 2, 2018, the seventh annual Birdfoot Festival will fill venues across New Orleans with a week of “fiery, committed, intensely personal” music-making (Chris Waddington, Times-Picayune music critic). An international chamber music festival with a New Orleans flavor, the 2018 Birdfoot Festival will bring together an extraordinary group of sixteen artists including British cellist David Waterman of the renowned Endellion Quartet, New Orleans native and clarinetist Jonathan Cohen, and more. Birdfoot 2018 celebrates New Orleans’ Tricentennial with a series of thirteen concerts and events including:

• New Orleans 300: Creole Contradanzas — Wednesday, May 30, 2018, at 8 PM, at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint, 400 Esplanade Ave in the Quarter. In honor of the New Orleans Tricentennial, the Birdfoot Festival dives deep into the music and irresistible rhythms that traveled with people, both free and enslaved, from Africa to Cuba and the Caribbean to New Orleans, and then back again to Spain and France. Music by Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Paquito D’Rivera, Wynton Marsalis, Maurice Ravel, and more.

• Birdfoot Backstage — Thursday, May 31, 2018, 7 PM, at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans’s Freeport-McMoRan Theater, 900 Camp Street in the Warehouse District. This popular and interactive event takes the audience “backstage” with musicians from the Birdfoot Festival. The concert will be preceded by a Happy Hour gathering at 6 PM and a showcase performance at 6:15 PM featuring participants in Birdfoot’s Young Artist Program.

• Late Night at the Ace — Thursday, May 31, 2018, at 10 PM, at the Three Keys in the Ace Hotel New Orleans, 600 Carondelet St. A late-night set featuring sizzling music by Enescu and Golijov.

• Alla Zingarese Concert — Friday, June 1, 2018, 8 PM at the Contemporary Arts Center Theater, 900 Camp Street in the Warehouse District. Alla Zingarese or “in gypsy style” was a favorite of both Brahms and Haydn, who, despite their serious reputations, were no strangers to music of the tavern. The works featured on this concert were inspired by the music of the Hungarian gypsies. Playing counterpoint to masterpieces by Brahms and Haydn is Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov’s deeply
  rhapsodic “Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” for String Quartet and Klezmer Clarinet. This concert will be preceded by a 7 PM Introduction to the Music by renowned composer and speaker Patrick Castillo.

• Season Finale: The Devil’s Violin — Saturday, June 2, 2018, 8 PM at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz and Heritage Center, 1225 North Rampart Street on the edge of the French Quarter. The Birdfoot Festival wraps up its celebrations of New Orleans’ Tricentennial year with a concert of fierce fiddling (and French flavor). Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale, a parable of temptation and musical salvation, is followed by Maurice Ravel’s exquisite String Quartet and George Enescu’s staggering and psychedelic Octet. Audience members are invited to stay for a post-concert party celebrating the close of the Birdfoot Festival’s seventh season. The concert will be preceded by a showcase performance at 7 PM featuring participants in Birdfoot’s Young Artist Program.

• Other Festival events will include a free Lunchtime Concert downtown (location TBA), Birdfoot’s annual Musical Feast (hosted by Brennan’s and James Beard Award finalist chef Slade Rushing), Open Rehearsals at the Contemporary Arts Center, the Community Chamber Music Reading Party for amateur musicians, Young Artist Program concerts, and Community Concerts around the city.

Artist bios, photos and descriptions of all events can be found at www.birdfootfestival.org. Hi-resolution photos are available upon request.

In its seventh season, the Birdfoot Festival has established itself as a top-rate international festival grounded in local culture. Sixteen dynamic musicians and performers will spend ten days in New Orleans rehearsing, teaching, performing, and inspiring music lovers and the next generation of musicians alike.

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Birdfoot and SAKURA go Inside The Arts

Posted March 1, 2018

WWNO 89.9FM’s Diane Mack went “Inside The Arts” this morning with SAKURA cellist Michael Kaufman and Birdfoot’s Artistic Director Jenna Sherry, discussing SAKURA’s two concerts this week.

You can hear their interview HERE.

Program details & tickets HERE.

New Orleans Public Radio joins Birdfoot to “power” Hear Hear NOLA calendar.

Posted November 28, 2017

2017–2018 Young Artist Program Announcement

Posted September 29, 2017

Birdfoot makes TravelMag’s 2017 Best Louisiana Festivals

Posted June 29, 2017

Birdfoot is honored to be included among TravelMag.com’s 2017 list of Best Louisiana Festivals.

Young Artist Program receives Arts Education Award

Posted January 15, 2017

Ligeti Split: A mini-Ligeti Festival with pianist Danny Driver

Posted January 10, 2017

Birdfoot Releases “Waterlines” Mini-Documentary

Posted January 8, 2017