Larson Legacy Concert Showcases 2021 Recipients at Adelphi PAC on April 9
Garden City, NY (03/25/2022) — The Larson Legacy Concert featuring the 2021 recipients of the Jonathan Larson Grants, Shayok Misha Chowdhury and Laura Grill Jaye, takes place at Adelphi University Performing Arts Center (PAC) on Saturday, April 9. Chowdhury and Grill Jaye make up the musical-writing duo "Grill and Chowder." A talented cast joins the grant-winning duo on stage as part of the exciting concert.
Chowdhury is a writer, director and music-maker. Grill Jaye is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, improviser, educator, performer and music director. Their work has been seen or developed at Ars Nova, New York Theatre Workshop, SPACE on Ryder Farm, NYMF, HERE Arts Center, and Joe's Pub @ The Public Theater.
Chowdhury and Grill Jaye have written many musicals together including the recent "How The White Girl Got Her Spots And Other 90s Trivia" (Joe's Pub, Ars Nova.) Their current collaboration, "Blood Oleander," reimagines a century-old Bengali drama in Tennessee coal country.
The Larson Legacy Concert Series celebrates the next generation of artists at the college home of the creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "RENT," Jonathan Larson, who graduated from Adelphi in 1982. Each year, the American Theatre Wing presents emerging creators of musical theatre with The Jonathan Larson Grants.
Chowdhury is currently writing "Public Obscenities" (Soho Rep, NAATCO), a new bilingual play, and "Rheology (HERE Arts)," a concert-memoir-physics-symposium. His recent works include Brother, Brother (New York Theatre Workshop) with Aleshea Harris and "Mukhagni" (Under the Radar) with Kameron Neal. Chowdhury is also the creator of "Vichitra," a series of sound-driven, cinematic experiments including In Order To Become (Bushwick Starr), which he is developing into a queer Carnatic opera. He was a soloist and collaborator on the Grammy-winning album "Calling All Dawns" and has been awarded fellowships from Sundance, Fulbright, NYSCA/NYFA, Jerome, New York Theatre Workshop, and Kundiman. He received his MFA in Directing Theater from Columbia University.
With the Laura Grill Band, Grill Jaye has written and produced two records, "Never Before" and "Tell All Your Friend" and toured nationally. The Boston Globe called her original music "jump jazz, barroom rock, chamber folk, and downright infectious." She has collaborated with Jacob Collier, Audra McDonald, Luciana Souza and Jason Moran. Grill Jaye received her MM in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory and her BM in Jazz Voice and Composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. She is on faculty at Meridian Academy in Boston and MIT's Music and Theater Arts program.
The cast for the concert also includes Max Chernin, Fima Chupakhin, Matt Consul, Tomas Cruz, Saskia Lane, Geena Quintos, Terran Scott, Kristen Sieh and Vuyo Sotashe.
The Larson Legacy Concert takes place at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 9, at the Olmsted Theatre at Adelphi's PAC Concert Hall. The show will also be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.
Tickets are $25, with discounts available to seniors, students, alumni and employees. Livestream access is $15. For more information, call the Lucia and Steven N. Fischer Box Office at 516-877-4000 or email boxoffice@adelphi.edu. The box office is open Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. and is also open two hours before most scheduled performances. Ticket sales, livestreaming details, and additional information are available online.
Adelphi PAC is one of Long Island's premier cultural arts venues for entertainment of all kinds. See more about other upcoming Adelphi PAC offerings at pac.adelphi.edu.
About Adelphi: A modern metropolitan university with a personalized approach to higher learning
Adelphi University, New York, is a highly awarded, nationally ranked, powerfully connected doctoral research university dedicated to transforming students' lives through small classes with world-class faculty, hands-on learning and innovative ways to support academic and career success. Adelphi offers exceptional liberal arts and sciences programs and professional training, with particular strength in our Core Four-Arts and Humanities, STEM and Social Sciences, the Business and Education Professions, and Health and Wellness.
Recognized as a Best College by U.S. News & World Report, Adelphi is Long Island's oldest private coeducational university. It serves more than 7,500 students at its beautiful main campus in Garden City, New York -- just 23 miles from New York City's cultural and internship opportunities -- and at dynamic learning hubs in Manhattan, the Hudson Valley and Suffolk County, as well as online.
More than 118,000 Adelphi graduates have gained the skills to thrive professionally as active, engaged citizens, making their mark on the University, their communities and the world.
###