Music will fill the air nearly everywhere in Sag Harbor this weekend, making it the place to be for both art and music. Returning for its sixth edition, the Sag Harbor American Music Festival offers four days of live music taking place from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. Most of the concerts are free. The music festival is designed to celebrate the unique community of Sag Harbor by featuring genres of American music including Jazz, Blues, Folk, R&B, Americana and more.
Festival highlights include a headline benefit concert by singer Joan Osborne on Friday at 8 p.m. at the Old Whalers Church, the indoor main stage for the festival. Osborne performs with the Joan Osborne Acoustic Trio, featuring Jack Petruzzelli and Andrew Carrillo. Tickets are $35 to $100. A second festival highlight takes place on Saturday night with the Gene Casey & the Lone Sharks Dance Party, taking place beneath the big tent at Dodds & Eder Home on Bridge Street from 9 to 10 p.m. Tickets for both events can be purchased at www.sagharbormusic.org.
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The heart of the Sag Harbor American Music Festival (SHAMF) is two days of free concerts set throughout Sag Harbor Village. On Saturday, performances by over 20 solo musicians and groups unfold in a variety of unusual local public spaces and businesses. The day kicks off with Escola de Samba Boom on Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Long Wharf (near Bay Street) and continues with new acts opening every half hour in different locations through 7:30 p.m. For the concert schedule, click here. On Sunday, the Mini New Orleans Jazz Fest takes place from noon to 3 p.m. on the Marine Park stage. Performing are the HooDoo Loungers and The Lost Bayou Ramblers.
While the Sag Harbor American Music Festival is about music, there are direct connections to the visual arts. Art galleries and a museum are included in the venues. Grenning Gallery will host two concerts on Saturday, running consecutively from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The Sag Harbor Whaling Museum hosts concerts at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The concert at Harbor Books at 1:30 p.m. allows the opportunity to browse books on art and design. Romany Kramoris Gallery presents the painting created for this year's festival.
Maryann Lucas made her fifth painting for this year's music festival. The original artwork will raffled and signed posters are available. The art work, Musician at the Library, depicts a single guitarist strumming on the steps of John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. The painting, posters and raffle tickets can be found at Romany Kramoris Gallery and Shop at 41 Main Street.
"Musician at the Library" by Maryann Lucas. Courtesy Sag Harbor American Music Festival.
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Musician at the Library is the fifth original painting Lucas has made for the festival, according to SHAMF. Each year, Lucas makes a painting featuring musicians in front of different locations in Sag Harbor. Prior paintings have set musicians in front of the Windmill near Bay Street Theater, the American Hotel and the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. Click here to see the art works. Maryann Lucas is based in Sag Harbor and works en plein air and in her studio. She has studied with master painters Ben Fenske, Melissa Franklin, Ramiro Sanchez, Jack Riggio (1930-1999) and others, according to her biography.
Headlining events and free live music by quality musicians all contribute to the reasons why the American music festival has demonstrated such staying power. Since the start, it's been the ability of founder and festival producer Kelly Connaughton to link live music with Sag Harbor businesses. Concerts are programmed in way that performances flows seamlessly from one to the next, providing a unique way to explore Sag Harbor Village while hearing an array of musical styles and musicians. Part of the success of the music festival might belong to Sag Harbor Village itself--it's the perfect place to create a one-weekend-only mecca for live music as it's a village already known for art and culture. It's equally known for its eclectic and unique character as well as a community that cares about its village.
Sag Harbor Village is one of the art centers in the Hamptons art scene. Along Main Street there are no fewer than five active fine art galleries presenting curated shows in changing exhibitions. Fine art can also be found installed in stores throughout the village. The Sag Harbor Whaling Museum is an important venue for curated art shows in season. A few of the art highlights to be found this weekend include:
Romany Kramoris Gallery opens a new exhibition on Saturday with an Opening Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. "Peter Lipman-Wulf: Watercolors From France" presents seven rarely seen watercolors by the late sculptor, graphic artist and painter Peter Lipman-Wulf (1905-1993). Also on view is a mini exhibitions of contemporary painters Christopher Engel with paintings by Barbara Groot available. The gallery is located at 41 Main Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963. www.kramorisgallery.com.
While the Opening Reception for RJD Gallery's 4th Annual "Women Painting Women" Show takes place next Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. (October 8, 2016), the exhibition is now installed, allowing for a quiet preview of the paintings by no fewer than 17 artists selected from a national open call for women figurative painters with a female as subject. In addition, the gallery exhibits paintings by 14 gallery artists who are female. Click here to see some of the art online. RJD Gallery is located at 90 Main St, Sag Harbor, NY 11963. www.rjdgallery.com.
Grenning Gallery is hosting two free singer/songwriter concerts on Saturday: Sofia D'Angelo plays at 6:30 p.m. and Branch Line performs at 7:30 p.m. The gallery exhibits painters working in Old Masters's techniques in contemporary ways in both subject matter and composition choices. Grenning Gallery has a stable of master painters as part of its exhibition program and expect to find their paintings on view. Grenning Gallery is located at 17 Washington Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963.
For a full list of galleries located in Sag Harbor, click here for our Art Guide.
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BASIC FACTS: The Sag Harbor American Music Festival takes place from Thursday, September 29, to Sunday, October 2, 2016, with most of the festival free to attend. For a concert schedule, tickets for headline events and festival information, click here.
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