The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC) invites you to join us for Jazz at the Kramer! A music series in partnership with Paul Carr’s Jazz Academy of Music presenting a free evening of jazz at the Betty Mae Kramer Gallery & Music Room on the second Wednesday of every month.
Admission is FREE but advanced registration is required due to limited capacity. Kindly be aware that reservations are limited to 2 tickets per person. For group reservations, feel free to contact us directly at publicart@creativemoco.com.
** Please Note: Outside food and beverages are not permitted in the gallery with the exception of water.
Second Wednesdays: Jazz at the Kramer featuring Vocalist Lavenia Nesmith and Pianist Allyn Johnson
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Second Wednesdays: Jazz at the Kramer featuring Bhagwan Khalsa on Bass + Eric Byrd on Piano and Chris Latona on Piano + Andrew Latona on Guitar.
Jazz at the Kramer
Event Listing
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
*NEW START TIME* 6:30 p.m. at the Betty Mae Kramer Gallery and Music Room
Join us for a night of jazz featuring vocalist Lena Seikaly and pianist Tony Nalker! RSVP Here!
January Musicians
Lena Seikaly
A fixture on the D.C. jazz scene for over 15 years, vocalist and DC area-native Lena Seikaly is already making her mark in national and international jazz circles as a revivalist of traditional jazz vocals, as well as an innovator in contemporary vocal jazz styles. She was one of eleven semi-finalists for the prestigious 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocals Competition in L.A., is an alum of the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program in DC, the Jazz Aspen Snowmass program directed by Christian McBride, and the Strathmore Artist-in-Residence program in Maryland.
Both as a bandleader and featured artist, Lena has headlined at Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai (China), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Strathmore Music Center, Blues Alley, the Hamilton, West Virginia Public Radio’s Mountain Stage, Sidney Harman Hall, various Smithsonian venues and DC’s famed Westminster Church, as well as the Elkhart Jazz Festival (Elkhart, IN), Mel Bay Jazz Festival (St. Louis, MO), Chestertown Jazz Festival (Chestertown, MD), DC Jazz Festival (Washington, DC), and Center City Jazz Festival (Philadelphia, PA). She has performed alongside Byron Stripling, Christian McBride, Sean Jones, Cyrus Chestnut, Norman Simmons, Walter Blanding, Michael Feinstein, Duduka da Fonseca, and various big bands including the USAF Airmen of Note, U.S. Army Blues, Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Capitol Bones Big Band, Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra and the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra.
Lena has released four albums under her name between 2009 and 2018, all of which were released at Blues Alley. Her music is played regularly on DC’s jazz station WPFW 89.3, and “A Little Closer” was featured on Washington DC’s NPR station, WAMU 88.5 shortly after its release.
As an avid educator and workshop instructor, she has taught privately and led regular workshops on jazz vocals at the Strathmore Music Center, served as the jazz vocal instructor at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts during 2008-09, and currently teaches privately in Washington, DC. Lena is also a classically-trained operatic mezzo-soprano, having studied at the University of Maryland School of Music under the instruction of François Loup. She was the first-place winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters’ 2008 DC chapter opera competition, and continued to win fifth place at the national competition in Bloomington, IN. She is very active in the DC area as a professional classical mezzo-soprano, and regularly performs as a soloist alongside the city’s top orchestras and choirs, having been featured in works by Handel, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Durufle, Vaughn Williams, Barber and Bernstein, as well as 20th century and early sacred music. In April 2023, she was the mezzo-soprano soloist for the world premier of “The Unknown Sea” by David Conte, a commissioned work featuring the Washington Master Chorale and Orchestra. As an arranger, Lena had the unique privilege of being commissioned to arrange a suite of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s music for a 16-piece version of the New Orchestra of Washington, which premiered in 2012.
A proud Palestinian American, Lena has also been involved in many Arabic fusion projects both in the U.S. and abroad — in summer of 2015, she toured in Palestine (West Bank) and Israel as the featured vocalist with Al-Manara, a European-Palestinian ensemble performing original music based on the life of its Palestinian composer and founder, Ramzi Aburedwan.
Visit Lena’s Website: https://lenaseikaly.com/
Follow Lena on Social Media! Instagram
Tony Nalker
Tony Nalker performs widely in the Washington, D.C. area, currently serving as jazz pianist with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra Pops.
From 1989-2016 Tony was the pianist of the premiere jazz ensemble of the U.S. Army, the Army Blues, and served as the group’s enlisted leader. Nalker played for the highest levels of the U.S. government and military and performed on USO tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also toured on musical diplomacy missions throughout the world on behalf of the U.S. State Department.
Since 2005, Tony has served as pianist of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, performing throughout the country to share the Smithsonian’s collection of iconic jazz works with the American public. Since 2012, he has also performed with the National, Maryland, and Baltimore Symphonies.
Over the past 25 years, Nalker has performed with many artists across a multitude of musical genres. He has also performed on hundreds of recordings in a variety of styles including jazz, folk, children’s music, pop, Broadway, religious, and country.
Tony is also the pianist for Hal Leonard Publishing’s Jazz Play-Along series which has produced nearly 200 instructional books with CDs and for Alfred Publishing’s Jazz Play-Along and big band series. His numerous compositions and arrangements range from works for big band and smaller jazz ensembles to theater, dance, and film.
Tony received his undergraduate degree in music from James Madison University and his M.A. in music from the University of Iowa.
Visit Tony’s website: https://www.tonynalker.com/