BRIC Announces Celebrate Brooklyn! 2015 Season

April 29, 2015

Celebrate Brooklyn!, the borough’s signature performing arts festival presented by BRIC in partnership with the Prospect Park Alliance, will kick off its 37th season at the Prospect Park Bandshell on June 3. Taking place through August 12, the festival will present a wide array of free, world-class performances that represent the diversity of Brooklyn’s communities.

“Providing high quality, free public programs to the diverse communities surrounding Prospect Park is an important part of our mission,” said Sue Donoghue, Prospect Park Administrator and President of the Prospect Park Alliance. “We are delighted to partner with BRIC to present Celebrate Brooklyn!, which has enjoyed nearly four decades of tremendous success.”

Beginning with an opening concert by the Queen of Funk, Chaka Khan, Celebrate Brooklyn! will feature 24 free performances that represent a mix of music, film, dance and multimedia works. A highlight of the season is the July 30 world premiere of Harmonium Mountain, a site-specific, multi-screen installation by the artist Clifford Ross. A live score from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s will accompany the piece, featuring works by Wojciech Kilar, Bryce Dessner, Vivaldi and John Adams, including selections from “The Four Seasons” and excerpts from “Shaker Loops.”

The lineup consists of artists from Brooklyn and around the world—across the U.S., the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and Europe, including:

Terrence Simien & The Zydeco Experience will headline this year’s Ezra Jack Keats Family Concert on June 6, performing Creole For Kidz!, a special rendition of their famous dance party. There will be performances by DanceBrazil with a special opening set by Forro In The Dark (June 20); as well as a program featuring LeeSaar The Company with a special duet choreographed by their mentor Ohad Naharin and performed by dancers from Batsheva Dance Company (August 6). Music & Movies series events include a special Pride Week screening of Paris Is Burning, with an opening set by JD Samson (June 26); and the 1926 classic The Son of the Sheik, with a live score by Alloy Orchestra and an opening performance by Ghost Train Orchestra (July 17).

This summer’s benefit concerts provide support for the free performances and include Damien Rice (June 17), Interpol (July 21), Modest Mouse (July 22), Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (August 4) and a season-closing show by Willie Nelson & Family with openers Old Crow Medicine Show (August 12).