New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum) On Friday, October 4, Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and Bronx
Music Heritage Center will present the incomparable pianist, composer, and educator
Valerie Capers for First Friday! from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Dr. Capers, a lifelong Bronx resident, has performed across the country and in
Europe in solo concerts, with her highly acclaimed ensemble, and with a roster of outstanding artists, including
Dizzy Gillespie, Mongo Santamaria, and Tito Puente.
A lifelong Bronx resident who received her early schooling at the New York
Institute for the Education of the Blind, Dr. Capers went on to obtain both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School of Music. (She holds the distinction of being Julliard's first blind graduate.) She served on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and from 1987 to 1995 was chair of the Department of
Music and Art at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY), where she is now professor emeritus.
Honors she has received include awards and commissions from the
National Endowment for the Arts—including a special-projects grant to present a jazz series at the Bronx Museum of the Arts—Meet the Composer, the CUNY Research Foundation, the Smithsonian, and The Fund for Artists of Arts International. Dr. Capers received the prestigious Bronx Living Legend award from the Bronx
Music Heritage Center for excellence in jazz music performance and music education.
Free Transportation and Refreshments
In addition to enjoying the music, visitors may explore the mansion; view the fall exhibition, A Gardener's Library: Vintage Books from the Bartow-Pell Collection; stroll the grounds (including the newly restored formal garden); and partake of light refreshments from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The free Bronx Seaside Trolley makes a continuous loop from the Bx29 bus stop at Pelham Bay Park/#6 Pelham Bay Park subway station to Bartow-Pell and to City Island.
First Friday! begins at 5:30 p.m.
Valerie Capers will play from 6 to 8 p.m. Registration requested: call 718-885-1461 or email
[email protected]. Cost $10 adults, $8 seniors & students, BPMM members free.
First Friday! music at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum is made possible with public funds from the Bronx Council on the Arts through the New York
State Council on the Arts decentralization program.
