The Annual Arts and Crafts Festival Saturday will include a children’s crafts workshop at 11 am, and Director Morna Martell with the Dramatune theater company returns at 1 pm to reprise the “play within play” from this season’s “Mini Midsummer’s Nights Dream.”

The Sunday program features Greg Lorenz in a song recital with a Lute player and piano from 1-2 pm. The Vivian Sansom Reading series at 2 pm will again feature writers from our local New York City community. Howard Pflanzer, Victoria Sullivan, Rosalie Calabrese and other writers will be featured, and we have a new story from the Sansom archives!

There will be a reception for the artists and writers at 4 pm and Steven Jacobson and with the New York String Orchestra will serenade us between 4:30-5:30 pm.

There will be a Book Sale both days.

Note the slightly earlier time for this weekend’s concert, 5 PM.

In the event of rain, the concert will be relocated to the Stephen Gaynor School, 148 West 90th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues, just down the block from the garden.

Our remaining schedule:

JUNE 28 New York Consort of Viols – Renaissance music, with a children’s slant, 5 pm

JULY 5 Geoff Burke  – Bebop alto sax master and friends, 6 pm

JULY 12 Sweet Plantain – Classical Latin String Quartet that is tight and skillful, 6 pm

JULY 19 Community Sing-Along – Jackie Bukowski and her Met Opera friends lead us all in song, 6:30 pm

Andre O’Neil will play J.S. Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello #3 and #6 on an authentic baroque instrument.  Please join us for what promises to be a special evening.

As always, all our concerts are free and open to the public.  The remaining schedule is as follows:

JUNE 21 Andre O’Neil  – plays 2 Bach Unaccompanied Suites on Baroque Cello, 6 pm

JUNE 28 New York Consort of Viols – Renaissance music, with a children’s slant, 5 pm

JULY 5 Geoff Burke  – Bebop alto sax master and friends, 6 pm

JULY 12 Sweet Plantain – Classical Latin String Quartet that is tight and skillful, 6 pm

JULY 19 Community Sing-Along – Jackie Bukowski and her Met Opera friends lead us all in song, 6:30 pm

Here is the tentative schedule:

SUNDAYS  AT  6 PM

June 14    Bill Saxton Quintet (Jazz)

June 21    Andre O’Neil (Bach Cello Suites)

June 28    New York Consort of Viols (Renaissance)

-      -      -      (Viols at 5 pm)

July 5       Geoff Burke Quartet (Jazz)

July 12      Sweet Plantain Quartet (Classical Latin)

July 19      Community Sing-Along

JUNE 29, SUNDAY at 6 pm:
TODD BASHORE QUINTET
Bebop Jazz with a master Alto Sax Soloist as the lead

JULY 13, SUNDAY at 6 pm:
GEOFF BURKE QUARTET
More Bebop, this Alto Sax Leader has great time, and it will be his first appearance in our Garden

Free and open to the public
89th St. betw. Amst. & Columbus Aves.
Refreshments sold
Please come, and bring a friend!

Our Summer Concert Series continues at the Garden this week with two concerts, at two different time slots:

THURSDAY, JUNE 19th at 7 pm:
NEW YORK CONSORT OF VIOLS
playing Elizabethan & Renaissance music from England and Iberia

SWEET PLANTAIN
SUNDAY JUNE 15
6 PM

Lemonade and Iced Tea will be available. Great music will be heard. This is the exciting String Quartet called SWEET PLANTAIN, a real crowd pleaser.

Please come and bring a friend!

The series grew out of a blending of many traditions and ideas. Initially the architect who built the garden was told to include a rotunda-type space, which could be the setting for public performances of plays, concerts, and readings. Over the years we have seen the amphitheater as a focal point for Fundraising Dinners, Shakespeare in the Garden, Poetry Readings, Community Sing-Ins, and Classical and Jazz concerts. We attract members, neighborhood residents, and music-lovers citywide. In other words, the space works!

Garden members Edith Marks and Sandy Owen have volunteered many long hours filling out detailed grant proposals for the Summer Concert Series. Their often unsung efforts paid off: the Garden has received $1,700 from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, a project of the Lower Manhattan Community Council. In addition, Edith and Sandy have obtained a grant from Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal for $3,000. The combined $4,700 is what makes these high grade concerts possible. All musicians who play are paid professionals. Garden member Randa Kirshbaum volunteered her time to contract the players and publicize the events.

Unless otherwise noted, the performances will run from 6 to 7 PM. This year, our schedule includes the following concerts:

SUNDAY JUNE 15:
Sweet Plantain
Classical and Modern Latin String Quartets

THURSDAY JUNE 19, 7 to 8 PM:
New York Consort of Viols
Musical Garlands from England and Iberia

SUNDAY JUNE 22:
Andre O’Neil
Two Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello

SUNDAY JUNE 29:
Todd Bashore Quintet
Jazz on a High Plane

SUNDAY JULY 13:
Geoff Burke Quartet
Bebop Swing Machine

The Summer Concert Series is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Bring the kids this summer and be part of the fun. Saturdays and Sundays at 5 PM, from July 19 through August 17.

MORNA MURPHY MARTELL (Adapter/Producer) was an actress on Broadway then began writing and directing Off Off Broadway. She went West and ran the Next Stage Theatre in Hollywood. She has written dozens of plays and musicals in New York, Hollywood, Edinburgh and London. She has received grants for playwriting from the NEA, DCA/NY and Staten Island Arts (COAHSI). Her book “Classics 4 Kids – 5 plays for Children” is published by Puck Press and is available through www.shakespeareinc.com. Morna is a member of The Dramatist Guild and Actors Equity Association.