The Gramercy Park Block Association and Calvary-St. George's Church partnered in hosting Make Music New York, an annual event organized by the parish music director Kamel Boutros.
Make Music New York is a free musical celebration with over 1,000 concerts on streets, sidewalks, and parks across the five boroughs. MMNY also takes place simultaneously with similar festivities in more than 514 cities around the world - a global celebration of music making and harmony.
This year's celebration on the sidewalk in front of 61 Gramercy Park North featured Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass performed by children and seniors, and The Jazz Conceptions Orchestra, led by trumpeter Alex Nguyen.
The Jazz Conceptions Orchestra is a nine-piece collective of performers, composers and arrangers, devoted to performing a wide spectrum of music in the jazz idiom. Their repertoire draws from members' original compositions, adaptations of jazz masterworks, and original arrangements of standards. The band has performed at numerous concert series, clubs and festivals, including repeat engagements at Iridium Jazz Club, performances which have been met with considerable praise.
Rev. Jacob Smith welcomed the enthusiastic crowd, thanked the musicians, and also GPBA President Arlene Harrison, who was responsible for publicizing the event throughout the greater Gramercy Park neighborhood.
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The crowd enjoying the music
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