Thursday, September 22, 2011

Fall For Fun With Museum's 'Art After 5'

Autumn is a perfect time to spend Friday nights at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Art After 5. With award-winning performers and engaging events each week in the Great Stair Hall, visitors experience live performance and enjoy the galleries. Every Friday, the Museum’s culinary team of STARR Events also prepares specialty cocktails, appetizers, and small plates that complement the flavor of each performance.
Jimmy Amadie, Sonny Fortune, and Gretchen Parlato suggest the vast range of jazz greats who perform on the Art After 5 stage.
On October 14, pianist Amadie, who began his career in the 1950s and has played with Mel Tormé, Woody Herman, and Red Rodney, will be making his first public appearance in nearly 45 years. On November 25, saxophonist/flutist Sonny Fortune returns to his native Philadelphia with his New York quartet, having played with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones. Discovered by Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter and trained at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, vocalist Gretchen Parlato will make her Art After 5 debut on November 11.  The Village Voice named Parlato's In a Dream the best jazz vocal album of 2009.
New to Art After 5 this season are two specially themed programs. Co-sponsored by the Turkish American Friendship Society of US and the Alliance Française de Philadelphie, Art After 5 hosts an Orient Express Party on November 4, complete with Turkish music, belly dancing, French gypsy jazz and a round of can-can! December 2’s Yoga Night offers a unique opportunity to get centered before the holidays begin, surrounded by the beauty of the museum’s collections. It will be an evening of meditative exercises, yoga postures, and breathing techniques followed by the chance to dance the night away to DJ-spun Indian bhangra music.
Art After 5 celebrates Halloween and the winter holidays beginning with the popular Halloween Dance Party. On October 28, Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra performs a special set of ghostly music while visitors have tarot cards read and take a spooky art tour. Costumes optional! The rest of the Holiday season falls in line with Holiday Klezmer on December 9, Mistletoe Hop on December 16, Holiday Jazz with Nutcracker Vignettes on December 23, and Art After 5’s New Year’s Eve Pre Party on December 30.

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