MUSES & INSPIRATIONS
I'm back from Russia!!!
I just spent an amazing month touring Russia with the US State Department - Migguel Anggelo and I performed a program called "The Songbook of the Americas" in which we put "golden age" music composed in both North and South America in conversation with each other (there was a "Sound of Music" medley reimagined with Latin rhythms) AND GET THIS - we performed with a local Russian chamber orchestra in each town we visited. Our Russian audiences were so warm and receptive to this display of exciting and nuanced cultural diplomacy, and we were all present to witness grateful to experience this beautiful phenomenon of music as the language.
Before I move on, I must shout out to the amazing musicians I got to travel with these past weeks:
Migguel Anggelo: a dynamic performer, daring musician, and generous human being, you can catch him at Joe's Pub March 28 and April 4 performing his original music.
Mau Quiros: Mau composed beautiful arrangements of the classic songs we performed, and can play ANYTHING on the piano with ease and passion. He's also incredibly talented with a camera. Just, ugh.
James Quinlan: Bassist, arranger, and really good travel buddy, James works with everybody. Check out his work with Thai, Swiss, American, electro-jazz artist Sirintip.
Joel Mateo: Joel's got them yum yum drums. Groovy groovy jazzy funky pounce bounce dance... Also, great dancer (we got down at the Cuban club in Moscow...)
Ivan Llanes: speaking of Cubans, this dude is out of control on congas, bongos, and sooooo many little tasty toys. I'm excited to check him out fronting his own thang this Friday at Drom.
UPCOMING CONCERTS
Muses & Inspirations
Sheen Center for Thought and Culture
Friday, April 20 @730pm
I'm very excited to be a part of this new music series with the Sheen Center - I'll be presenting an evening of music by women who inspire me! We'll be re-interpreting classics by some musical giants, fairies, unicorns, and doing some of our own thing too. Expect medieval mystics, jazz greats, and magic mouthed harpists to make apple saucy appearances.
18 Bleecker St.
TICKETS
JACK Alive
Green Room 42
Monday, April 9 @7pm
I'm excited to join some fantastic performers at this benefit concert for JACK, an Obie Award-winning performance venue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Hosted by Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 composer Dave Malloy, “JACK Alive” is a vibrant evening of life-affirming music, featuring an adventurous group of performers from the Broadway, Downtown, and Brooklyn theater scenes, all celebrating JACK's mission to fuel experiments in art and activism.
570 10th Ave.
4th floor inside the Yotel
TICKETS
Grace McLean & Amber Gray
Feinstein's/54 Below
Thursday, August 23 @930pm
As part of the summer series Duo Shows at 54, Amber and I will combine forces to scelt and croon the songs that rocked a dressing room on 46th street. Expect 90s alt rock, disco duets, and downtown theatre composers to shake the walls and crack your cheeks… also snakes.
TICKETS
IN OTHER NEWS...
Hear Her Song is an initiative that brings together an extraordinary array of musical artists to celebrate the stories of remarkable women leaders. I was lucky enough to be commissioned to write a song inspired by Kathleen Turner's achievements as an actor and educator, and by her efforts to continually challenge and reinvent herself as an artist. The project premiers at Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art in March 18, 2018, and will be performed at the Hammer Theatre Center in San José, California on May 19, 2018. You can learn more about the project and the incredible women who are being honored here.
On Wednesday March 21 I'll perform a song from my musical about 12th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen for the Smithsonian's annual Giving Pledge Welcome Dinner at the National Museum of American History. This year’s theme is around the History of Cultural Philanthropy in the US, and I'm honored to have been asked to represent the future of performing arts as these philanthropists are asked to consider their role in that future. Learn more about Giving in America here.
And finally, I'm still working on my musical and it's picking up steam! I'll be doing a workshop this June with Lincoln Center, I'm going to spend a week with the PiTCH at Merry Go Round Playhouse in the Finger Lakes, and I've been accepted to the MacDowell Colony this summer! I'm so incredibly grateful for these opportunities to take the weird and wonderful things running around in my head and put them out in the world. Thank you for listening, watching, and supporting all the work along the way!
I want a lot of other things I've never had before,
Grace