An Evening of Jazz at Silvermine Arts Center

On March 10, Silvermine Arts Center will host a special evening to celebrate 25 years of its Outreach Education Program, Art Partners. The Melissa Newman Trio including jazz singer Melissa Newman, guitarist Tony Lombardozzi and bassist Phil Bowler will perform in Sara Victoria Hall at Silvermine. The evening will begin with a reception in the Gallery at 7pm.  The performance begins at 7:30 pm.

After a lucrative career singing jingles for companies like AT&T and Chevrolet, Newman began performing at numerous area venues including The Dressing Room, The Blue Lemon, and 323 Restaurant and Bar.  Her repertoire includes selections from both traditional and arcane jazz songbooks, and her unique stylings are masterfully accompanied by Lombardozzi and Bowler on guitar and bass.

Newman’s musical influences are many—her interests have included classical, alternative, R&B, and jazz. She also studied opera. Early on she was a fan of Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt.  “I used to sing rounds in the car with my sisters,” she remembers, and “the first vinyl I ever bought with my own money was Stevie Wonder's ‘Innervisions.’ I learned every note of every song. That was my first musical instruction.”  Newman counts herself lucky to have had some successes singing jingles, but it is jazz that she loves: “I keep coming back to Ernestine Anderson, Anita O’Day, and Ella.”

A sculptor as well as a singer, Ms. Newman works in ceramic and porcelain, and her work has been exhibited at the Silvermine Galleries. She has been part of Silvermine’s community of artists since the early 1990s.

The Art Partners Program, under Director of Outreach Education Sophia Gevas, offers professional Teaching Artists to students in targeted, under-resourced Norwalk and Stamford schools.  The program got its start in 1992. The Teaching Artists create curriculum-infused studio art classes, which integrate the much needed 21st-century skills of critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and communication--- while offering students the joy of focused art creation.

Tickets for the performance are $50 each and all proceeds benefit Art Partners.  To reserve your ticket for the March 10 performance, call (203) 966-9700 x 2 or visit silvermineart.org/events/performances.php.

Silvermine Arts Center is one of the oldest artist communities in the United States. Its five­acre campus in New Canaan, Connecticut, consists of a nationally renowned artist guild, an award­winning school of art offering classes for all ages, an arts and fine crafts shop, and a gallery offering over twenty contemporary and historic exhibitions annually. Silvermine is a non­profit 501c3 organization that also offers an educational outreach program, Art Partners, and hosts lectures, film screenings, and special events. 

Gallery Hours: Silvermine Galleries are open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (203) 966­9700 ext. 20 or visit the website: www.silvermineart.org. 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan, CT 06840 

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Submitted by Norwalk, CT

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