THE MET: LIVE IN HD, CARMEN – New Production
Saturday, January 27th
Doors: 12:30pm / Show: 1:00pm
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md.
On January 27, acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell brings a vital new production of one of opera’s most enduringly powerful works, reinvigorating the classic story with a staging that moves the action to the modern day and finds at the heart of the drama issues that could not be more relevant today: gendered violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries.
Dazzling young mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina leads a powerhouse quartet of stars in the complex and volatile title role, alongside tenor Piotr Beczała as Carmen’s troubled lover Don José, soprano Angel Blue as the loyal Micaëla, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen as the swaggering Escamillo. Daniele Rustioni conducts Bizet’s heart-pounding score.
DAPHNE ECKMAN BAND
Saturday, January 27
Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:00pm
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover, Easton, Md.
Singer-songwriter Daphne Eckman describes herself as a “professional over feeler” and wants to make you cry. But in a good way! You might have seen Eckman when she opened for Skribe’s previous Stoltz show.
Based in Annapolis, she’s been touring locally and around the East Coast with her five-piece band since 2022, bringing an indie rock flavor to her acoustic folk songs. She takes inspiration from Joni Mitchell, Phoebe Bridgers, Samia, Radiohead, and Big Thief and you can feel this in her emotionally honest delivery. Her debut album “Where You Left Me” comes out in January 2023 with leading singles “Iris”, “Ghost”, and “Jackson Pollock”…Flex Music Blog, in an early sneak peek of that last song, praises it as “another warm and heady dose of vibrant textures … (showcasing) some beautifully embracing songwriting once again.”
DALLAS UGLY
Friday February 2 Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:00pm
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md.
Recommended by Ken & Brad Kolodner! Dallas Ugly are a trio of college friends turned bandmates based in Nashville (not Dallas!) Their “genre dissolving” sound takes the pallet of country music from pedal steel to fiddle and filter it through an array of influences from indie-rock to hip-hop and everything in between. This style infuses their debut album “Watch Me Learn” with beautifully entwined vocals, country-licks, and experimental musical diversions that have a 1970s pop-flourish Carole King would be proud of.
Music writer Kara Kundert sums up their sound best: “The music of Dallas Ugly shimmers with an iridescent nostalgia. Built on a foundation of mellow interchanges of electric guitar and pedal steel, the rhythm and flow evoke an old-school country version of lofi hip hop radio. But combined with soaring fiddle and heartfelt vocals, it becomes something wholly new – a sound as unique as it is dreamy.”
HIGH VOLTAGE AC/DC TRIBUTE
Saturday, February 3rd
Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:00pm
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md
Baltimore’s own High Voltage is the nation’s premier AC/DC tribute band – five veteran musicians putting it all on the line every time they take the stage, enabling audiences to enjoy as authentic an AC/DC live performance as possible. High Voltage is the most entertaining AC/DC live show you will see, next to the real thing. For over 10 years, they have delivered the pure energy, excitement, and concert experience that true AC/DC fans around the world have grown to expect.
This tribute band performs the very best AC/DC songs and the most recognizable hits, spanning the full range of epic hit songs from the Bon Scott-era through the days with Brian Johnson at the helm. High Voltage gives you the biggest hits: “You Shook Me All Night Long”, “Highway To Hell”, “Back In Black”, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, “Hells Bells”, to the other big fan favorites such as “Shoot To Thrill”, “Sin City”, “For Those About to Rock”, “Shot Down In Flames” and so many more!
Across the Harbor
Friday, February 9, 2024
Doors: 6:30 p.m.; Show: 7 p.m.
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
Imagine an evening where thirteen of Baltimore’s best songwriters and traditional musicians join together on one stage to celebrate the abundance of roots music alive in Baltimore. Across The Harbor is a musical confluence that melds the music of The Honey Dewdrops, Caleb Stine, Letitia VanSant, and Charm City Junction with instrumentalists rooted in the Bluegrass, Irish, and Old Time traditions. Across The Harbor features new collaborations and reimagined songs. This ephemeral moment celebrates both the jovial and lamenting sounds found in the rowhouses, sidewalk corners, concert stages, and local sessions within Baltimore. Across The Harbor will transport you through time and space while exploring themes of home and belonging.
Across The Harbor is: Caleb Stine – singer-songwriter, The Honey Dewdrops – singer-songwriters, Letitia VanSant – singer-songwriter, Charm City Junction – acoustic roots music quartet featuring:Brad Kolodner – banjo, Patrick McAvinue – fiddle, Alex Lacquement – upright bass, Sean McComiskey – button accordion, David McKindley-Ward – bouzouki, guitar, mandolin and vocals, Sam Guthridge – banjo (from The High & Wides), Laura Byrne – flutes and whistles, Meghan Mette – fiddle and concertina, EJ Shaull-Thompson – drum set
Aleksi Campagne Saturday, February 10, 2024
Doors: 6:30 p.m.; Show: 7 p.m.
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
“His performances are impressive not just sonically but also visually as you watch him seamlessly navigate different instruments and languages.” Garnette Report Aleksi Campagne is a bilingual contemporary indie-folk fiddle-singer from Montreal. As the son of Canadian Folk icon Connie Kaldor and student of Jazz Violin Legend Didier Lockwood, Aleksi combines his powerful voice with rich songwriting, all while accompanying himself on the violin and seamlessly switching between English and French. By the age of twenty-five, with only a six-song EP, Aleksi has graced the lineups of some of the most competitive folk festivals across Canada for three consecutive years – including the Regina, Canmore, and Bear Creek Folk Festivals.
ROBERT CRAY BAND
Thursday, February 15
Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:00pm
Avalon Theatre 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md
Since 1974, The Robert Cray Band has been touring and recording their unique groove, born from a love of Soul, R&B, Gospel, Blues, and Rock n Roll. With over twenty acclaimed albums that have sold millions worldwide, the five-time Grammy winner has also been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and earned the Americana Music Awards Lifetime Achievement for Performance. With Cray’s distinctive guitar style and impressive vocals, the band has also had many opportunities to perform with legends like Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, as well as The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, and Eric Clapton.
Black Dog Alley
Friday, February 16, 2024
Doors: 6:30 p.m.; Show: 7 p.m.
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
“Black Dog Alley has quietly turned into a ‘Go-To’ Band on The Eastern Shore. Always solid, great set list and a good bunch of guys who just keep getting better and better and never disappoint.” WhatsUpMag.com Easton-based Black Dog Alley is on a mission to move, groove, and rock your very soul! And with a track record of entertaining audiences across Delmarva and Pennsylvania with hundreds of live performances, they know just how to do it! Their style draws from influences as varied as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, ZZ Top, and Sublime, so their eclectic set list ranges from classic jam rock and rhythm and blues, to funk and reggae-tinged grooves.If you’re looking for a home-grown blend of classic and original material, Black Dog Alley will not disappoint!
Ampersand – CD Release Party!
Friday, February 23, 2024
Doors: 6:30 p.m.; Show: 7 p.m.
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
Called the “Swiss army knife of folk music,” this quartet of multi-instrumentalists brings guitar, banjo, mandolin, cello, hammered dulcimer, and penny whistles to underscore their four-part harmonies and great joy in sharing early traditional music with a modern audience. From Appalachian ballads to sea shanties to Irish dance tunes, this Easton-based group explores the history of early music and its connections to modern folk and blues.
Ampersand features Beth Lawton, her partner Dick Hogle, son Topher Lawton, and honorary family member Dave Moore. Favorite venues include Stratford Hall in Virginia, as well as various national park sites and historical societies. Join them as they celebrate their newest CD, “Love Will Find Out the Way,” showcasing the music of 1600-1830. www.ampersandmusic.org
SPY NIGHTS: A WRITERS SERIES WORD GIRLS
Wednesday, February 28
Doors: 5:30pm / Talk: 6:00pm
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md
Continuing the Spy Nights: A Writers Series is the collective brilliance of the “Word Girls”. Who are the “Word Girls”? Three gifted poets—Meredith Davies Hadaway, Erin Murphy, and Amanda Newell—with strong local ties to Chestertown, Gunston School, and Washington College. They’re all set to captivate audiences with original verses that span environmental, societal, and deeply personal themes.
Meredith Davies Hadaway is the author of three poetry collections, including “At The Narrows” (winner of the Delmarva Book Prize for Creative Writing). She has received fellowships and awards from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and the Maryland State Arts Council. Hadaway was also recently the Sophie Kerr Poet-in-Residence for Spring 2023 at Washington College.
Erin Murphy is the Poet Laureate of Blair County, PA, and the author or editor of thirteen books, most recently “Taxonomies” (2022) and the forthcoming “Human Resources”. She is Professor of English at Penn State Altoona and Poetry Editor of “The Summerset Review”. She is an alumna of Washington College and UMass Amherst and an inductee in the Blair County Arts Hall of Fame.
Amanda Newell’s collection, “I Will Pass Even to Acheron”, won the 2021 Rattle Chapbook Prize, and her first full-length collection, “Postmortem Say”, is forthcoming in 2023. She is Associate Editor for Special Features and Social Media for the contemporary poetry journal “Plume”. Her poem, “A Woman from the Infant Mortality Review Board Calls” won the 2015 Patricia Dobler Poetry Prize.
The Reagan Years – Dance Shindig!
Friday, March 1, 2024
Doors: 6:30 p.m.; Show: 7 p.m.
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
The Reagan Years recreates all the rad sounds of the 1980s! They’re a group of talented musicians with very diverse vocal abilities enabling them to replicate uncanny versions of the Pop, Rock, New Wave and Heavy Metal hits that defined the MTV Era. The Reagan Years covers all the decade’s mega-artists: Bon Jovi , Madonna, Devo, Joan Jett, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Journey, Modern English, Guns ‘N Roses, A-Ha, ZZ-Top, and so many more! You’ll want to sing along with every song! The band pioneered the 80’s tribute concept and, like any great idea, many have imitated them, but none have replicated the magic of The Reagan Years! www.thereaganyears.com
ALAINA STACEY & MADELEINE KELSON
Thursday, March 7
Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:00pm
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md.
Two up-and-coming Nashville talents performing together in the Stoltz makes for one great night of music! The Chicago Sun-Times praises Alaina Stacey’s “lush voice, her captivating melodies and lyrics, and her wholly easeful stage presence.” One year after founding the Nashville based Americana group, Maybe April, Alaina appeared onstage with her group at the Wilshire Theatre in Los Angeles, alongside Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson and The Goo Goo Doll’s Johnny Reznick as part of a GRAMMY-week performance called A Song Is Born. Her band has performed at Pilgrimage Music Festival, Merlefest, SXSW, CMA Fest, and other festivals, and won “Americana Group of the Year” two years in a row at the Arkansas Country Music Awards. Madeleine Kelson is a Nashville-based Americana artist who pulls from a rich tradition of folk, country, and Americana, challenging its boundaries as a queer artist to represent the modern world. In 2022, Madeleine released her debut, self-produced album, “While I Was Away,” which gained praise from No Depression, has been featured multiple times in NPR, and was a finalist in the Kerrville New Folk competition. Her queer country anthem, “The Way I Do,” became a viral TikTok hit with over 1.6 Million views and her new EP, “Where The Spirit Meets The Muscle,” is set to come out in February 2024.
THE MET: LIVE IN HD LA FORZA DEL DESTINO
Saturday, March 9th
Doors: 11:30am / Show: 12:00pm
Avalon Theatre 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md.
On March 9, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s grand tale of ill-fated love, deadly vendettas, and family strife, with stellar soprano Lise Davidsen as the noble Leonora, one of the repertory’s most tormented—and thrilling—heroines. Director Mariusz Treliński delivers the company’s first new Forza in nearly 30 years, setting the scene in a contemporary world and making extensive use of the Met’s turntable to represent the unstoppable advance of destiny that drives the opera’s chain of calamitous events.
The distinguished cast also features tenor Brian Jagde as Leonora’s forbidden beloved, Don Alvaro; baritone Igor Golovatenko as her vengeful brother, Don Carlo; mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk as the fortune teller Preziosilla; bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi as Fra Melitone; and bass Soloman Howard as both Leonora’s father and Padre Guardiano. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
Medium Debbie Wojciechowski
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Doors: 6:30 p.m.; Show: 7 p.m.
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
Debbie Wojciechowski is a self-proclaimed “normal person” who possesses an extraordinary ability…the ability to communicate with your loved ones on the “other side.”
With a Master of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University and a 25-year federal law enforcement career, Debbie has also established herself as an acclaimed and certified Evidential Medium, someone who is able to communicate information from what is beyond this realm. Her federal law enforcement experience coupled with her mediumship gifts enable her to consult on cold cases and missing persons’ investigations. Since her professional career included extensive work in the areas of mental health and grief counseling, she can often draw on this background during the sensitive readings she gives in private counseling and during public events.
Debbie feels both humbled and privileged to channel messages for clients and takes this responsibility very seriously.
JONATHAN RICHMAN
Tuesday, March 12
Doors: 7:30pm / Show: 8:00pm
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md
“Richman is one of America’s most unique and dynamic songwriters…” – Nashville Scene Called the Godfather of Punk, Jonathan Richman and his former band The Modern Lovers have influenced everyone from the Sex Pistols and Iggy Pop to the Violent Femmes and They Might Be Giants.
After his pop profile was boosted later by appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and in the film “There’s Something about Mary,” Richman is still going strong in the new century and remains as dedicated as ever to crafting new music, like his latest album, “Want to Visit My Inner House?” (2021).
According to Jonathan, his new music is always his main focus: “Please do not expect old songs. Many singers my age do a retrospective; this show is not like that. It’s mostly stuff made up in the last 3 and 4 years…One last thing, my idea of a good show has nothing to do with applause. It’s about if all the songs I sang that night were ones that I felt.”
Prepare to share a unique experience with Jonathan Richman when he takes the intimate Avalon stage!
An Evening with Tom Rush (accompanied by Matt Nakoa)
Friday, March 15, 2024
Doors: 7:30 p.m.; Show: 8 p.m.
Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
Tom Rush is a gifted musician and performer, whose shows offer a musical celebration…a journey into the tradition and spectrum of what music has been, can be, and will become. His distinctive guitar style, wry humor, and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a lure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with the rib-aching laughter of terrific story-telling, the sweet melancholy of ballads and the passion of gritty blues.
Rush’s impact on the American music scene has been profound. He helped shape the folk revival in the ’60s and the renaissance of the ’80s and ’90s, his music having left its stamp on generations of artists. James Taylor told Rolling Stone, “Tom was not only one of my early heroes, but also one of my main influences.” Country music star Garth Brooks has credited Rush with being one of his top five musical influences. https://www.tomrush.com/
The Last Revel
Friday, March 22, 2024
Doors: 7:30 p.m.; Show: 8 p.m.
Stoltz Listening Room, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, MD
The Last Revel is an acclaimed three-piece folk group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Utilizing their multi-instrumental abilities, members Lee Henke, Ryan Acker, and Vincenzio Donatelle, bring a full spectrum of modern Americana to life with lush arrangements of three-part vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar, upright bass, fiddle, and 5-string banjo to consistently support impassioned performances of their honest and heartfelt songwriting.
Drawing influence from their salt of the earth Midwest ethos the band’s songs so naturally blend the genres of Folk, Old Time String-Band and Indie Rock to create a sound that echoes the current heartbeat of America. Their latest release, Dovetail, highlights each members strength as songwriters and collaborators, and further solidifies their musical foundation.
THE MET: LIVE IN HD ROMÉO ET JULIETTE
Saturday, March 23
Doors: 12:30pm / Show: 1:00pm A
valon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street, Easton, Md.
On March 23, two singers at the height of their powers—radiant soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor sensation Benjamin Bernheim—come together as the star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation, with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct one of the repertoire’s most romantic scores. Bartlett Sher’s towering staging also features baritone Will Liverman and tenor Frederick Ballentine as the archrivals Mercutio and Tybalt, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as the mischievous pageboy Stéphano, and bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Frère Laurent.
This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
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