According to that famous groundhog, we’re looking at six more weeks of winter. Ugh! Luckily we have some suggestions to brighten your mood even when it’s cold and dark outside, with a focus on some of the extraordinary artists and programs you’ll be able to experience at The Purchase PAC in the coming weeks.

Last month I looked back at 2011 Kennedy Center honoree Yo-Yo Ma as he performed at the re-opening of Notre-Dame de Paris, but I didn’t look far enough back.  This time we are going back to November 29, 1962 to watch Leonard Bernstein introduce 7-year-old Yo-Yo Ma and his 11-year-old sister Yeou-Cheng Ma to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower at “An American Pageant of the Arts.” The purpose of the event was to raise funds for the National Cultural Center, begun under Eisenhower’s administration and encouraged under Kennedy’s. Two months after President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law legislation renaming the National Cultural Center as a “living memorial” to John F. Kennedy.
Watch the video of 7-year-old Yo-Yo Ma on YouTube

On November 9 of last year, Grammy-winning alum Samara Joy returned to Purchase College for a joyous homecoming concert in our Concert Hall. On February 2, she won another two Grammys! Let’s look back at her 2021 live-streamed performance with Emmet Cohen, who is bringing his trio to Mamaroneck’s Emelin Theatre for a sold-out show later this month.
Watch Samara Joy on “Live From Emmet’s Place”

On February 14, audience favorite and long-time PAC partner Paul Taylor Dance Company will present a very special Valentine’s Day program of iconic Taylor works at The Purchase PAC.  One of the pieces they will perform is the haunting “Scudorama” (1963).  Watch this archival recording with a cast that includes Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp, before she left to found her own company.
Watch Paul Taylor’s “Scodorama” on YouTube

On February 15, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will present Spanish Journey, an eclectic program of works by Spanish composers, at The Purchase PAC.  This program was created by violinist Kristen Lee, who tells us more about it in this brief video.
Watch Kristin Lee discuss “Spanish Journey” on YouTube

On March 1, Victor Quijada brings his dance company, RUBBERBAND, to The Purchase PAC.  Learn more about Quijada and RUBBERBAND in this video from CBC Arts, in which the Los Angeles native talks about his breakdancing roots and how they influenced his Montreal dance company.  As he puts it, “My first contact with dance was not in the dance studio but it was in the street with ciphers, with b-boy and breaking, popping. And that hip hop culture became a huge part of my life throughout my childhood, my adolescence.”
Watch Victor Quijada on CBC Arts

On March 8, The String Queens will bring their signature authentic, soulful, orchestral sound to The Purchase PAC for the first time. Perhaps they are new to you too? Get to know this dynamic trio on WUSA9’s “Her Story” segment, and then listen to their 2022 performance on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. And if you like what you hear, tickets to see The String Queens at The Purchase PAC are still available on our website!
Listen to “Her Story” featuring The String Queens on YouTube
Watch The String Queens – Millennium Stage (October 1, 2022)
Get tickets to see The String Queens at The Purchase PAC

The Rye Arts Center presents Unseen Photographs of Rock n’ Roll Legends
In the RAC’s Main Gallery at 51 Milton Rd. Rye, NY 10580
Through February 15, 2025
At our neighboring arts organization, the Rye Arts Center,  catch an exhibition of rock and roll photographs from Michael Friedman’s Lost Negatives Project, with rare, intimate images of iconic artists including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and The Band.
Learn more on Rye Arts Center’s website

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Culture Picks celebrates the performing arts. In each post, PAC staff member Coni Guhl shines the spotlight on work by artists that you know and love from their appearances at The Purchase PAC, and offers recommendations about other performing arts events that you really should not miss. Experience them all!

All times are EDT unless otherwise noted.

Pictured: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center artist Kristin Lee (c) Lauren Desberg