A very special Thursday night concert, featuring opera and musical theater performances directed by Dr. Pamela Levy and Dance Visions NY, will be held at Steppingstone Park on Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. The show, entitled Summerfest—Music and Dance Under the Stars, will also feature the repertoire of Isadora Duncan and contemporary works, highlighting nature as a theme, under the direction of Beth Jucovy.
Actress, TV personality, teacher and arts activist Shirley Romaine will narrate the performance. Romaine, who has been the host/producer of Cablevision’s award-winning Artscene on Long Island for more than 20 years, has been partnering with Dance Visions for the past decade, and has performed in multimedia pieces incorporating dance, music and visual art.
Music Director Levy, who has worked at Great Neck South High School for many years directing its acclaimed opera program, has mentored several outstanding singers who have gone to become professionals, such as soprano Jessica Fishenfeld. She and tenor Scott Joiner will headline the evening in Something Blue, a new short-film opera, which will include other Great Neck students. Fishenfeld will also be debuting at the Music for Montauk summer festival and will be returning to the Palm Beach Opera as a young artist-in-residence for the 2016–17 season.
The program will include selections from classics, such as La Bohème, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, La Traviata and Porgy and Bess.
Long Island’s celebrated dance company Dance Visions NY, based within the Great Neck Park District, brings Duncan’s artistic legacy up-to-date through the presentation of authentic works, as well as through original works created by Jucovy. These include a revival of Shades of Blue, the company’s beloved dance-to versions of the blues song “St. Louis Woman,” selections of Fire, Water and Earth from her work Through the Portals and the most recent work, A Cautionary Tale, performed to the music of the late great David Bowie. Dance Vision NY performers include Louisa Armstrong, Danielle Atkinson, Anastasia Benedetti, Vanessa Ferranti, Forrest Hersey, Natalie Isaza, Jucovy, Laura Marciano and Adrienne Ramm, pianist Mark Fiedler, soprano Patti Dunham and flutist Sam Levine, a student from Great Neck South High School.
Admission is free to Park District residents with valid park card, which will be checked at the gate. Each park card holder can bring two guests. In case of rain, the performance will be held at Great Neck North High School. Call 516-482-0355 to confirm the location.
