News & Updates

RiverArts Announces Channels, A New Music Series – Kicking off on September 23

RiverArts announces Channels, a three-concert music series that defies boundaries and celebrates the river as a means of travel, exploration, and a source of new ideas. The mission of this concert series is to bring together artists and audiences in the spirit of connectivity and discovery. This season begins with synthy vocoder-heavy art song inspired by rivers, and includes elements of post-rock, electronic, ambient, and contemporary classical genres.

take advantage of one of the area’s greatest resources—its location.

Channels is produced by RiverArts Board Member, Stuart Wolferman, who states, “A channel is the deepest part of the river, it’s a narrow sea between land masses, it’s a means of communication, it’s a band of frequencies, and It’s a direction of thought or action. All of these definitions help shape what I’m trying to do with the series. I like the idea of a river being not only an environmental resource, but a source of outside ideas and influence. It’s a connection to a bigger world. I could talk about this a lot, but equally important is a simple desire to see more interesting, fun, and possibly surprising entertainment options in our towns.”

RiverArts Executive Director, Josh Suniewick, had this to say, “The Channels concert series represents RiverArts’ efforts to build community through the arts. Every year, new families decide to make the Rivertowns their home. Many of these families move here because of their love of the arts and the importance they place on making space for artistic discovery in their lives. Our goal as an organization is to be able to offer artistically fulfilling experiences for all with our programming and hope to continue to do so with Channels.”

9/23/23 – SKY CREATURE

The first of the Channels series features the duo, Sky Creature, performing at Purpl on Saturday, September 23.

Sky Creature is made up of singer Majel Connery and baritone guitarist Matt Walsh. Based in Rockaway Beach and Catskill, NY, Sky Creature is defined as a space between art music and punk rock (self-described as Thrash Enya). The band’s sound draws comparisons with artists from Kate Bush to Suicide. For over a decade, Walsh toured as one half of post-punk duo The Forms, sharing the stage with artists ranging from The National to St. Vincent to Hum. Connery’s solo music has been featured on Radiolab, New Sounds radio, and Live from the Kennedy Center. In the summer of 2022, Sky Creature released their double EP Bear Mountain/Childworld, and toured nationally. They are currently finishing their first LP with Steve Albini.

Majel Connery will open the evening with songs from her Rivers Are Our Brothers project. The songs in the cycle take a first-person view of nature, ascribing human qualities and feelings to elements of the landscape: water, trees, mountains, rivers, etc. “The goals is to give nature a voice – to allow these vibrant things to speak on their own behalf,” says Connery. “I knew I wanted to kick off the series with these evocative songs inspired by the environment,” states Wolferman.

This inaugural performance of the Channels series celebrates the re-opening of Purpl. Purpl, which served as both a small business incubator and arts venue for close to a decade, is preparing to re-open its non-profit operations with renewed focus on celebrating the intersection of creativity and productivity as an arts incubator. Purpl is supported by the Saul Silbert Charitable Trust (along with sister operation C&C Consignments), toward its mission of advocating and designing for regenerative culture.

Chief Executive Officer of Purpl, Sarah Hinawi, says, “We look forward to partnering with RiverArts and are excited to engage again with the community.”

2/10/24 –EVAN CHAPMAN

On Saturday, February 10, Evan Chapman will be presenting brand new original material that explores the intersection of percussion and technology, incorporating elements from contemporary classical, electronic, and post-rock styles.

Based in Philadelphia, Evan Chapman is a percussionist, composer, and filmmaker who seamlessly blends multimedia and contemporary music. Chapman is a founding member of contemporary-classical percussion trio/rock band Square Peg Round Hole, whose original compositions have been dubbed a “creative adventure” by Bob Boilen (NPR) and have received further acclaim from Modern Drummer Magazine, Paste Magazine, and Mental Floss, among others.

Chapman is also a founder and owner of film production company Four/Ten Media alongside longtime collaborator Kevin Eikenberg. The duo’s background as classically-trained percussionists has allowed them to create fresh and musically authentic representations of pieces in the contemporary classical and pop worlds.

4/13/24 –STEPH DAVIS

On April 13, the series concludes with Steph Davis. A marimbaist, arranger, composer, educator, cultural activist, and researcher, Davis’ work has been described as “captivating” and brings “bright humanity and expressive depth” to contemporary music (Washington Post). Their work explores inspirations from Black

expressive characteristics, free forms, and the African diaspora. A versatile performer, Davis’s repertoire spans from traditional Ghanaian and African American music, and Western music primarily by composers of African descent.