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Black Tie International:
City Parks Foundation's
25th Anniversary
SUMMERSTAGE Gala
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City Parks
Foundation’s
25th
Anniversary
SUMMERSTAGE Gala
Songbook of Simon
& Garfunkel
performed by 30
artists
Photos
by: Alan
Roche
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Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, Art
Garfunkel and City
Parks Foundation’s
Executive Director
David Rivel |
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Livingston Taylor, Diana Taylor, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg,
Padma Lakshmi, David Barse and David Moore |
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Art
Garfunkel and Mayor Michael Bloomberg |
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On June
8, 2010, City Parks Foundation hosted the
25th Anniversary SummerStage
Gala, a special fundraising event held at Rumsey
Playfield in Central Park, in association with
Michael Dorf Presents and
City Winery.
Numerous guests enjoyed a cocktail reception,
including special guests
Padma Lakshmi, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and
Zach Braff,
followed by an elegant open-air gala dinner which
set the stage for the evening’s concert.
The
SummerStage Gala concert celebrated the timeless
music of Simon & Garfunkel -- two
musicians closely associated with
Central Park -- as performed by an
eclectic group of well established musical legends
and up and coming stars. 30 artists paired up to
perform 15 classic duets from Simon & Garfunkel’s
beloved archive of songs. The performance component
of the gala was co-produced by Michael Dorf, who has
successfully produced a series of similar tribute
concerts at Carnegie Hall over the past decade.
Concert
artists included Aimee Mann, Shawn Colvin, St.
Vincent, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole, David Hinds
(Steel Pulse), Loudon Wainwright III, Lucy
Wainwright Roche, Alejandro Escovedo, John Forte,
Dar Williams, Ricky Skaggs, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab
for Cutie), Cory Chisel, Stephen Kellogg, The Holmes
Brothers, Dean & Britta, Valerie June, John
Roderick, Marc Cohn, Jorma Kaukonen, Larry Cambell
and Ollabelle, who supported the event as the house
band.
Art Garfunkel
and Paul Simon
each made surprise guest appearances at
the event. Garfunkel attended and commenced the
start of the evening performances with an
introduction from Mayor Bloomberg and a short
address to the audience stating, “You should know
that our versions…were not necessarily the
definitive versions, we just did the
first versions.” Meanwhile, Simon, also
in attendance during the evening’s concert,
completed the gala concert by standing and waving to
the crowd prior the final encore performance of
“Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
About SummerStage
In June,
1986, Central Park SummerStage was launched with a
free performance from Sun Ra and
the
Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra. In 1990, City Parks
Foundation began programming free concerts in
neighborhood parks under the name CityParks
Concerts. In 2006, City Parks Foundation began
CityParks Dance and CityParks Theater. Today, City
Parks Foundation is combining all of these
initiatives under the banner of SummerStage, a
city-wide festival of over 100 music, dance and
theater events in 16 parks in all five boroughs. It
will be one of the largest, most geographical
diverse and thematically broad festivals in the
nation. The SummerStage Gala raises funds to support
City Parks Foundation’s free year round arts
programming in parks citywide.
SummerStage showcases world-renowned
and emerging talent from around the globe and from
New York City’s own
backyard. This summer, as part of the 25th
anniversary season, City Parks Foundation launched a
major re-branding of the festival to include music,
dance, film and theater performances in all five
boroughs of NYC, allowing more New Yorkers than ever
before to enjoy the quality free programming that
SummerStage provides.
About City Winery
City
Winery, the innovative 20,000 sq ft mixed-use
winery, music venue and event space founded
in 2008
by Michael Dorf in
Soho, will be creating a special commemorative
wine for the SummerStage gala. The award winning
wines produced at City Winery are handcrafted in the
only commercial custom-crush facility in New York City.
About City Parks
Foundation
City Parks
Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit
organization to offer park programs throughout the
five boroughs of
New York City. CPF works in
over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of
free arts, sports, and education programs, and
empowering citizens to support their parks on a
local level. Programs and community building
initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each
year, contributing to the revitalization of
neighborhoods throughout New York City.
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Drawing of all the 25th
Anniversary SummerStage Gala artists
by Michael Arthur. |
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www.cityparksfoundation.org
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To list an upcoming event
please contact:
joyce@blacktiemagazine.com |
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