MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The Music Hall has just announced that Feist and Natalie Merchant will be headlining the third annual Portsmouth Singer Songwriter Festival slated for Thursday April 10-Saturday April 12, 2014. (Click headline for full article)

 The event takes place at three venues in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire - The Music Hall’s Historic Theater, the Loft, and the Press Room (restaurant/bar featuring live music every night of the year).

With an all-inclusive pass at $125  for great music and fabulous deals at the restaurants, this is a destination festival right here on the East Coast, echoing food and music experiences in the great cities of New Orleans, Santa Fe, and Austin.  So happy to welcome our festival partners - The Press Room, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC), Restaurant Week Portsmouth and the Seacoast, and our media sponsor, 92.5 the River.  Moveable feast here we come!” 

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

THURSDAY APRIL 10

9pm: A Jay Smith Memorial Concert at The Press Room in collaboration with The Music Hall featuring: Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge

$13 in advance $18 day of show  

Hailed as “a giant in the making” by All About Jazz, Julian Lage has garnered much critical acclaim since his Grammy-nominated debut album Sounding Point in 2009, composing and performing Americana-tinged jazz on his arsenal of vintage guitars.  He has shared the stage with the likes of Béla Fleck and Gary Burton, and now with bluegrass guitarist Chris Eldridge, a member of the band Punch Brothers.  Eldridge’s father is famed banjoist Ben Eldridge, of the Seldom Scene.  Together, Lage and Eldridge perform a unique fusion of jazz, bluegrass, and Americana reminiscent of Bill Frisell, creating a complex yet inviting harmonic landscape with every tune.

“sure to bring joy to the hearts of jazz and Americana fans everywhere” - Paste Magazine

FRIDAY APRIL 11

6:30-7:30pm - Festival Bash in Loft

7:30pm Feist with special guest Johnnyswim

Historic Theater--$48; $42

8:50pm Feist (solo acoustic)

A Canadian singer-songwriter, Feist performs and records both as a solo artist and as a member of rock group Broken Social Scene.  Her music is a unique blend of of rock, folk, and jazz-pop, and her haunting soprano is instantly recognizable.  

8:15pm:Lady Lamb The Beekeeper - Loft –$20 Bar seating: $5

The alias of one Aly Spaltro, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper recently released her debut album, Ripely Pine, recorded in Brooklyn but devised in Brunswick, Maine, where Spaltra spent six years honing her musical abilities. She always performed solo, with just her guitar and her voice, afraid others wouldn’t keep up with the seemingly—at least to an outsider—unorganized nature of her songs.  Her songs, which leap from hums to screams without a moment’s notice, are full of life, energy, and individuality.  Touring now with a full band, Lady Lamb’s live show is even more majestic than the record.

SATURDAY APRIL 12

4pm: Youth and Teen Round Robin

Loft $5 Individual tickets are only available at the door beginning one hour before show time.

Students from our Explore + Learn Partner of the Year, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC) will showcase their songwriting craft in Round Robin format. Hosted by PMAC Executive Director, Russ Grazier.

8pmNatalie Merchant  

Historic Theater $70; $64

Lead singer and primary lyricist of 10,000 Maniacs until she left the group to pursue a solo career in 1994, Natalie Merchant has now released five solo albums, the most recent being Leave Your Sleep in 2010.  Her literate, socially conscious songs solidified her position as a frontrunner among women in pop music in the early ‘90s, and she has enjoyed even more success in her solo career than she did with 10,000 Maniacs. Natalie’s band will be joined on stage by the New England String Quartet.

To purchase passes and tickets

The Portsmouth Singer Songwriter Festival will take place Thursday - Saturday April 10-12, 2014. Passes and individual tickets go on sale to members Sat., 2/1. Passes and individual tickets go on sale to public noon Fri., 2/15. Passes are not available online. Individual tickets to events at the Loft are only available at the door beginning one hour before show time. Contact The Music Hall box office at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by phone at 603-436-2400, or online atwww.themusichall.org.

First Saturdays for Members

Special ticket on-sales, early-bird box office hours, merchandise discounts,the first Saturday of every month! On Saturday February 1, the Box Office at the Historic Theater will open at 10am, with bagels, muffins and coffee in the Founders Lobby.  Our Membership Coordinator will also be there if you’d like to sign up or renew your membership.  At noon, online and phone sales begin. Tickets go on sale to non-members at noon, Saturday, February