Past Event: Soul of the City: Juneteenth with Queen Esther

Celebrate Juneteenth at MCNY with a live performance by songwriter, musician, and storyteller Queen Esther.  Special introduction by Harlem style intellectual Lana Turner.

Described by Vanity Fair as "...a brutal, original, explosive singer..." and Feedback as "...the unknown queen of Americana", Queen Esther will perform selections from her substantial body of alt-country, jazz, Black Americana to fearlessly subvert all-too-common historical narratives, revealing the powerfully triumphant resolve of Black folk in the 19th century. She will lean heavily on her latest release, Rona -- a pandemic album that explores themes about love: those we hold close near and far, the ever-evolving landscape of a desolate city and finding a place to call home in a changing and restless world. With Brandi Disterheft on bass, Jeff McLaughlin on electric guitar, and Sharp Radway on piano.

Our Juneteenth program will be introduced by Lana Turner.

Your concert ticket includes all-day Museum admission.

Soul of the City: Live @ MCNY is a series of intimate concerts featuring a wide range of New York artists, both upcoming and veteran, performing acoustic sets and sharing the personal stories behind their music.

About Queen Esther
Queen Esther is a vocalist, lyricist, songwriter, musician, producer, solo performer, playwright and librettist. Raised in the unapologetically Black bastion of Atlanta, Georgia – ensconced in the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement and the sonic undertow of the Black church – and rooted in Charleston, South Carolina's culturally rich and enigmatic Lowcountry, a region with African traditions and Black folkways that span centuries and deeply inform her work, Queen Esther embraces lost American history along with her wide-ranging and ever changing aural influences, as she leans heavily on the bluing of the note to create reclamation-driven Black Americana. Her Southern penchant for storytelling entwines historical truths with personal anecdotes that reinterpret traditional and original songs, blurring the past and present, and embracing the connectedness of the human spirit. Queen-Esther.com

Lana Turner, a native of New York’s Harlem, is a reader, writer, thinker and researcher with a keen interest in the elements of art and style in black culture and why this meditation matters. Ms. Turner works as a real estate professional, archivist, and produces chamber music salons and literary events.  She is co-founder and chair of The Literary Society (1982), a New York City book discussion group based in Harlem. Read more about her in this New Yorker profile here.

Event Logistics (subject to changed based on NYC regulations):

• Please contact programs@mcny.org with any questions or ticketing issues.
• All sales are final; refunds not permitted. Exchanges and credit for future programs only. Programs and dates may be subject to change.