SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024 AT 8:00PM
Ari Hest & Chrissi Poland
The partnered charity for this concert is God’s Love We Deliver
Ari Hest
Ari is a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter who began his career as an independent artist in 2001. He built a loyal following touring the college circuit extensively between 2000 and 2003, after which he released two albums on Columbia Records, Someone To Tell (2004) and The Break-In (2007) all the while touring both in the U.S. and abroad with artists such as Martin Sexton, Suzanne Vega, and Ani Difranco.
In 2008, Ari wrote, recorded and released a new song every Monday in his 52 project, and released Twelve Mondays in 2009, a collection of re-mixed fan favorites from 52. From 2010-2016, Ari continued to tour relentlessly and released four other LP’s: Sunset Over Hope Street(2011), The Fire Plays(2012), Shouts And Whispers(2015), and the Grammy- nominated Silver Skies Blue(2017), a duets album with Judy Collins.
Many of Ari’s songs have appeared on TV and film – The Path, The Lincoln Lawyer, Private Practice, Army Wives, and One Tree Hill to name a few.
To mark 20 years of making music, Ari released a retrospective album entitled I Remember When in December of 2021.
Chrissi Poland
When Grammy-award winning producer Nile Rodgers called Chrissi Poland on the phone to personally request her in the studio that same day for a recording session, the Massachusetts native was “ready for that fire”, she recalls.
Singer, songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist, Poland weaves together the sounds of soul, blues, jazz and pop to create a uniqueness that has elevated her as an artist and linked her with some of the best in the business. A vocalist with such a diverse stylistic range, Chrissi has drawn comparisons from Aretha Franklin to Adele, Joni Mitchell to Prince A touring member of Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame legend Sam Moore’s band (Same & Dave) from 2008-2012, Poland also appeared with Bette Midler as an official “Harlette” for Bette’s 2014 album release promo tour of “It’s The Girls”, again exhibiting her vast diversity as a performer. Poland’s original songs have appeared on the HBO, NBC, Bravo networks, as well as Netflix. Her song “Possible” has been featured in a Bare Minerals TV campaign in the UK and in Season 2 of Bravo’s “Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce”. She has toured with and opened for a wide range of artists, including the Grammy-winning Blood, Sweat & Tears, Marc Cohn, and Suzanne Vega. Currently splits her time between touring with Grammy- winning soul singer Michael Bolton as his duet partner and writing/recording/producing from her home studio. With four solo albums, three EP’s and a slew of singles released, Poland will be releasing singles and EP’s throughout 2021.
In a recent review, John Barry of The Poughkeepsie Journal writes: “She crafts original tunes that harness soul; rhythm and blues; and rock. And she wraps it all up in reflective lyrics that give the music thrust and momentum, without sacrificing any tenderness.”