Stepping Out

It's time to get funky

The latest edition of the Folk-2-Funk Festival hits Long Beach this weekend

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Musical Delights

Folk-2-Funk Festival
The South Shore welcomes spring with some vibrant tunes as the annual Folk-2-Funk Festival, now in its fifth year, returns to the City by the Sea. The weekend offers up an eclectic mix of folk, Americana, funk and blues, Producer Johanna Mathieson-Ellmer shines a local spotlight on acclaimed Chapman Stick virtuoso and Long Beach Jazz Festival producer Steve Adelson and his trio on opening night, along with Pamela Lewis and John Hurley’s “Funky Folk” friends. The weekend’s lineup also includes longtime James Brown bassist Fred Thomas and his band, Jalopy Theatre Roots and Ruckus producer/performer Feral Matt Foster, along with singer-songwriter Robin Greenstein, who puts the spotlight on women’s folk voices, and Scott Barkan, who brings a focus to the New York indie music scene. Husband and wife duo and former Nanci Griffith band members, the “Kennedys,” also appear during the weekend, on the same bill with the Brooklyn-based Americana group M Shanghai. In addition, the Suzanne Sheridan Band presents a special program featuring the music of two famous Canadians: Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.
Friday through Sunday, March 27-29. Admission is free to all events, however seating is limited. Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Ave., Long Beach. For more information, visit www.aip-arts.org.

In Concert

South Shore Symphony
The South Shore Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of guest conductor Marc Kissóczy, continues its season at the Madison Theatre, with “Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Old Friends.” Kissóczy leads an exciting program of orchestral standards featuring the renowned violinist Ming Feng Hsin, of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The program includes the Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, op. 43 in D major and Finlandia, op. 28. along with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, op. 35 in D major. This concert is a musical reunion of sorts for Kissóczy, South Shore Symphony’s musical director Maestro David Stewart Wiley and Hsin (who led the orchestra prior to Wiley) who all met at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in the early ‘90s. Kissóczy has traveled from his home in Switzerland to conduct this performance, which includes Wiley, who joins the orchestra as a member of the French Horn section.
Saturday, March 28, 8 p.m. $20, $15 seniors and Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts members, $5 students. Madison Theatre, Molloy College, 1000 Hempstead Ave., Rockville Centre. (516) 323-4444 or www.madisontheatreny.org or www.sssymphony.org.