Music on the Mountain

David Temple

David Temple has performed as a classical guitarist and composer throughout the country. He is dedicated to presenting guitar performances that are full of color and variety, and to making the concert experience as enjoyable for the newcomer as for the experienced listener. Concerts have included the Festival of the Arts at Mohonk, the Ulster Chamber Music Series, the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, the Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, the Foothills Performing Arts Center in Oneonta, NY, and many others. A graduate of the music school at Eastern Michigan University, David is Artistic Director and Vice President of the Mid-Hudson Classical Guitar Society, and teaches both guitar and composition at Bard Conservatory, Preparatory Division, and at his home studio in Red Hook, NY. He has produced four recordings, which include an eclectic selection from the repertoire, as well as original arrangements and compositions.

Fleur Seule

Fleur Seule is an authentic 1940s Jazz & Swing band that plays hits from all around the world. Songbird/Bandleader Allyson Briggs sings in 6 languages to accommodate a wide variety of New York audiences. Whether an All-American USO style set, or an exotic voyage through Europe, Fleur Seule will take you on a memorable musical journey, as they revive hits made famous by Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, Dinah Shore, and more.

Scott Robinson

Scott is one of today’s most wide-ranging instrumentalists and has been heard on tenor saxophone with Buck Clayton’s band, on trumpet with Lionel Hampton’s quintet, on alto clarinet with Paquito D’Rivera’s clarinet quartet, and on bass saxophone with the New York City Opera. His discography now includes more than 190 recordings. Scott has performed in some thirty nations, in such diverse venues as Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, the Library of Congress, and the Vienna Opera House. Scott’s group was selected to be the closing act at the Knitting Factory’s Sun Ra Festival in New York City. Scott has also written magazine articles and liner notes, and was an invited speaker at the Congressional Black Caucus Jazz Forum in Washington, D.C.

MAMA JUKE

MAMA JUKE is a gumbo of New Orleans influenced blues, blue-eyed soul, funk, and folk. Actor/singer Elijah Bridges brings elements of bluegrass and rag with his soulful harmonica, acoustic guitar, and voice. Amos Rose is a world traveling multi-instrumentalist who also sings and plays lead Telecaster guitar, and was recently featured by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Brendan O’Grady is an in-demand session musician, composer and arranger. Drummer Jon Wert is a sought-after musician in the NYC rock and jazz scene with an extensive discography. The band has original music as well as a crowd-pleasing repertoire of hundreds of cover songs in every genre of American music.

Helen Sung

Pianist/Composer Helen Sung is a holistic artist who had a jazz epiphany during undergraduate classical studies. An in-demand and acclaimed performer and clinician, she seamlessly integrates the jazz and classical worlds with a soulful, modern sensibility. In addition to her own band, Helen also appears with fine ensembles including the Mingus Big Band and Cecile McLorin Salvant’s “Ogresse,” and has served on the jazz faculties of the Berklee College of Music, Juilliard School, and as the first Jazz Artist-in-Residence at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute (in 2019). She was named a Steinway Artist in 2020.

Shana Falana

NY psych/shoegaze rocker Shana Falana explores extreme contrasts and the process of conversion in her music. A prolific veteran of both the San Francisco (‘90s) and Brooklyn (‘00s) experimental pop scenes, the Kingston, NY artist crafted her album Darkest Light with her core team of drummer Mike Amari and producer D. James Goodwin (Kevin Morby, Wand, Heather Woods Broderick). A female songwriter in her 40s, Falana is acutely aware of the challenges that mature artists face in a field characterized by youth, established reputation, and rapid turnover. “As in so many entertainment industries, the music industry feels like there is an expiration date on artists,” she says, “but songwriters get better with age. With all the cultural shifts regarding race, gender, religion, body image, maybe it is time to create an argument for ‘older’ artists as well. I’ve never hidden from the fact of my age, but now I feel ready to feature it.”

Sue Anderson

Sue’s career has been full and varied, ranging from Broadway productions to films to recordings. As a conductor and musical director, Ms. Anderson has worked with the Broadway and national touring companies of Pirates of Penzance, Me and My Girl, and Cats. She played in the orchestra pits of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Woman in White and is currently playing in Spamalot. She has conducted Pops concerts with the Milwaukee, Detroit, Phoenix, Portland and Shreveport orchestras and most recently conducted the London Philharmonia at Abbey Road Studios. Some of the fun and unusual things Ms. Anderson has done were coaching Rex Harrison in the revival of My Fair Lady, teaching Peter O’Toole to play the piano, enjoying the finest chocolates with Katherine Hepburn, and being repeatedly kissed by Kevin Kline.

Cris Groenendaal

After originating the role of Andre in the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, Cris went on to play the Phantom some 860 performances with three major companies: New York, Toronto, and the Canadian National Tour. Other Broadway credits include Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd, the roles of George, the Soldier, and Louis the Baker in Sunday in the Park With George, Major Rizzolli in Passion, and Miles Gloriosus in the 1996 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He originated the role of Father in the National Tour of Ragtime, and he played Jules in the Kennedy Center revival of Sunday in the Park With George. With the New York City, Cleveland, Portland, Tulsa, and Syracuse Opera companies he has played Danilo in The Merry Widow, the title role in Candide, Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Caliph in Kismet, and Ravenal in Show Boat.

Richard Baratta

After 35 years of making over 50 films such as: Joker, The Irishman, Chicago Seven, The Wolf of Wall Street, 5 Spiderman Movies, The Pink Panther, The Taking of Pelham 123, Big, Working Girl, and Across the Universe, Richard Baratta is back to his first passion, music. Equally accomplished as a drummer, Baratta’s Mohonk return features jazz, and Latin takes on songs associated with many of our favorite movie scores. His latest heralded recording, Music in Film – The Reel Deal, was on the Top Jazz Radio Playlist Charts for over 10 straight weeks, and has received over 950,000 streams on Spotify. The quartet includes jazz and latin great Bill O’Connell on piano, Michael Goetz on bass and percussionist Paul Rossman.

Peter Calo

Peter Calo has performed and/or recorded with such diverse artists as, Dionne Warwick, Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson, Hall and Oates, Sophie B. Hawkins, Andrea Bocelli, Jimmy Webb, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Shaiman, Julie Taymor, Lesley Gore, Crash Test Dummies, Harvey Fierstein and more. “Peter Calo is the musician you meet early in your career and all of a sudden you’re 70 years old and you’re lucky enough to still be playing and writing with him. This album shows his ability to merge styles and introduce new structures and harmonies with himself singing lead vocals. Always an inspiration and always quite surprising. Life sure does shine bright on an ordinary day!! Oh, wait a second, I think he wrote that!!” – Carly Simon

Anne Carpenter

Anne Carpenter, is a bright star on the Westchester music scene. Anne, a singer/songwriter who has had her songs recorded by such artists as Sloan Wainwright.

Natalie Merchant

Natalie Merchant has toured extensively and collaborated with a diverse array of artists on stage and in the studio including: Billy Bragg, Philip Glass, David Byrne, The Chieftains, Tracy Chapman, Mavis Staples and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Throughout her entire career Merchant has been dedicated to supporting a variety of non-profit organizations by lending both financial support and raising public awareness. Scenic Hudson, Riverkeeper, Association to Benefit Children, The Fresh Air Fund, and The Center for Constitutional Rights, Doctors Without Borders, Tibet House, Greenpeace, and Planned Parenthood are among the social justice groups to which she has been devoted. In 2007, Merchant served a five-year term on New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). In 2013, she spearheaded an effort to stop the advance of hydraulic fracturing in New York State with a concert-protest film, Dear Governor Cuomo. Merchant used the same format to address the domestic violence crisis in the Hudson Valley with Shelter (2014). She is currently artist-in-residence with Head Start, developing a music and movement curriculum for pre-school aged children in The Hudson Valley.