Art in the Garden: Fall Sundays

Performances: Sunday, October 18

Osborne Garden

1–2:15 p.m.

Alexandra Jean-Joseph & Sky Menesky of Imamou Lèlè

Enjoy traditional Haitian dance and drumming from the founder and artistic director of Imamou Lèlè, an ensemble of dancers, drummers, and vocalists working to teach, heal, and uplift the beautiful island’s culture.

2:45–4 p.m.

Craig Harris

Harlem-based composer and trombonist Craig Harris’s work spans nearly five decades and covers multiple disciplines. What brings them together is the exploration of notated composition and spontaneous improvisation, and the point where they intersect and become one. Join the Brooklyn Botanic Garden artist in residence as he presents a group of improvisations for solo trombone entitled “Sick of Being Sick and Tired.”

Craig Harris Website ›

4:30–5:45 p.m.

Jackson Lynch

Jackson Lynch plays old-time, string band fiddle music with the Down Hill Strugglers. Stop by and move to traditional American breakdowns, rags, waltzes, and other foot-stompin’ tunes.

Jackson Lynch Website ›

Cherry Esplanade

1:15–2:30 p.m.

Shane Shanahan & Sabrina Hayeem-Ladani

Percussionist, composer, and educator Shane Shanahan tours the globe performing with Yo-Yo Ma as a founding member of the genre-defying, Grammy-winning Silkroad Ensemble. In this performance Shanahan and Hayeem-Landani create a percussive soundscape with instruments and voices from the Middle East, India, and Central Asia.

Shane Shanahan Website ›

3:15–4:30 p.m.

Cameron Mizell

Brooklyn-based guitarist Cameron Mizell has been a respected figure in the NYC music scene for more than a decade, performing a variety of genres from experimental improvisation to bluegrass musicals. In this Cherry Esplanade performance he showcases new acoustic works along with music from his recent releases on Destiny Records.

Cameron Mizell Website ›

4:45–6 p.m.

Frank London

This special performance by world-renowned trumpeter and composer Frank London is an invocation of fall. Don’t miss the coleader of the Klezmatics’ trumpet improvisations that resonate with influences of jazz, klezmer, salsa, bhangra, and maqam—the sounds of Brooklyn.

Frank London Website ›

Plant Family Collection

1:30–2:45 p.m.

Feral Foster

Well-known in the roots music scene, singer-songwriter Feral Foster draws from the deep wellspring of early blues, country, and jazz to tell contemporary, human stories with impassioned vocals and powerful songs.

Feral Foster Website ›

3:30–4:45 p.m.

Melanie Charles

Vocalist and flutist Melanie Charles presents an homage to female Haitian musicians through the ages, accompanied by guitarist Eddy Bourjolly.

Melanie Charles Website ›

Water Garden

1:45–3 p.m.

Babacar Top

Babacar Top is a Senegalese dancer, choreographer, and musician, and the artistic director of Topdance. Top has been performing contemporary and traditional African dance forms since childhood. His Water Garden performance is a journey between past and present, inspired by an event that took place in a Senegalese village in 1820.

Babacar Top Website ›

3:45–5 p.m.

Charlie Burnham

Singer and string-instrument specialist Charlie Burnham was raised just steps from Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Hear songs performed on violin and banjo from his latest project, “Birth Cycle,” including a few that harken back to the year Burnham was born, 1950.

Performances: Sunday, October 25

Osborne Garden

1–2:15 p.m.

Sheila Anozier

Singer, dancer, choreographer, and visual artist Sheila Anozier sings songs of Haiti.

Sheila Anozier Website ›

2:45–4 p.m.

Craig Harris

Harlem-based composer and trombonist Craig Harris’s work spans nearly five decades and covers multiple disciplines. What brings them together is the exploration of notated composition and spontaneous improvisation, and the point where they intersect and become one. Join the Brooklyn Botanic Garden artist in residence as he presents a group of improvisations for solo trombone entitled “Sick of Being Sick and Tired.”

Craig Harris Website ›

4:30–5:45 p.m.

Joe Bergen

Joe Bergen is a percussionist, composer, and educator from Jersey City. A founding member of TRANSIT New Music and co-artistic director of Mantra Percussion, Bergen presents an original site-specific sound installation for the Garden, presented in three 15-minute sections, and concludes with James Tenney’s 1971 landmark percussion solo “Having Never Written a Note for Percussion.”

Cherry Esplanade

1:15–2:30 p.m.

Philippa Thompson & Hilary Hawke

Swing by Cherry Esplanade for upbeat traditional tunes on banjo and fiddle from Philippa Thompson and Hilary Hawke of the string band M Shanghai. The duo is known for playing with unbridled joy, raucous energy, and intimate subtlety.

M Shanghai Website ›

3:15–4:30 p.m.

Ali Dineen

Ali Dineen’s songs highlight the intersections between personal experience, larger histories, and systems of power. This performance includes original songs from her third album, Hold On, released in February, and some favorite covers.

Ali Dineen Website ›

4:45–6 p.m.

Josh Levine

Specializing in Caribbean-American music, jazz, and music for kids, Josh Levine plays acoustic upright bass and sings in English and Spanish.

Josh Levine Website ›

Plant Family Collection

1:30–2:45 p.m.

Erica Mancini

Performing a solo set of original and improvised music featuring accordion, vocals, and electronics/pedals, Erica Mancini is a freelance multi-instrumentalist who plays in dozens of different projects ranging in style from avant-garde, experimental, jazz, and free improvisation to polka, county, klezmer, folk, Latin, and rock.

Erica Mancini Website ›

3:30–4:45 p.m.

Fritz Bernardin

Haitian musician, composer, and educator Fritz Bernardin performs his original “Suite Folklorique Haitienne” and traditional Haitian folk songs on viola.

Fritz Bernardin Website ›

Water Garden

1:45–3 p.m.

Garvin Blake

Enjoy African percussions, jazz motifs, and Caribbean rhythms from one of the world’s leading steel pan jazz improvisers. Born in Trinidad, Garvin Blake has played at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, and many of New York’s hottest jazz clubs, as well as music festivals in the Caribbean.

3:45–5 p.m.

Ross Martin

Ross Martin is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and singer whose love for the American musical vernacular is reflected in original songs that cross the borders of bluegrass, jazz, and folk music. Stop by the Water Garden for a homegrown mix of bluegrass standards and original compositions.

Ross Martin Website ›