Out with the old, in with the new

Just last week, my family and I celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. While the secular new year starts in the dead of winter, celebrating a new year in the fall always feels appropriate to me - we come back from summer refreshed and ready to get down to business. For me, summer is usually a less busy period (though less so this year…) as a few of my steady projects take a break for the summer, so it feels right to mark a new year as a new season is starting for some of the ensembles that I work with. But enough philosophizing, here’s what I have on tap…

First off, Wicked Frozen has been extended through the end of December! I’ll be in and out of the production a bit this month, but I will be back as the main pianist and music director in November. I’ll post those dates once I know exactly when I’ll be returning to the show. It’s been so much fun to see this show grow and evolve during its run at the St. Luke’s Theater and I’m thrilled to see the run get extended.

This month I’m also doing a one-off reunion show with my friends in Food Will Win the War, with whom I played and toured for the better part of six years. This one is at a gorgeous art loft space in SoHo - Tuesday, Sept 25. Check the Calendar page for details.

Then, later in the month I’ll be bringing back my own band for a one-off at Hank’s Saloon - one of the last shows at Hank’s before they close up and move to a new location at the Brooklyn Food Hall. So many friends of mine have graced the stage, which has become a second home for scores of independent and up-and-coming artists. This one will be Saturday, September 29; we play at 9, followed by Alice & the Underground and then Andi Rae and the Back River Bullies.

What else? Well, I’m about to kick off my 9th season conducting HaZamir Manhattan, my 2nd conducting Shir Chadash, and my 6th with jazz vocal group Uncommon Chord. I’m also MD’ing a staging of the children’s musical The Orphan Train at the Manhattan JCC and continuing my teaching work at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America…. I think that’s it?

As always, keep checking back here (and on the calendar page) for more details. Wishing you all a happy fall (and a happy 5779)!