Ten days, almost forty events! The Village Trip 2025 went by at dizzying speed and presented a dazzling array of events. A coda to summer, a prelude to fall – depending on your viewpoint – the seventh annual celebration of culture and community once more entertained, elevated and energized the folks of Greenwich Village and the East Village/Lower East Side.
“A Meeting Place for Those Interested in New Ideas” was the motto of the old Liberal Club, which met in shabby rooms above Polly’s Restaurant on MacDougal Street from around 1912 and was disparaged by H L Mencken as a place for ''all the tin pot revolutionaries and sophomoric advanced thinkers in New York.” But the old curmudgeon scarcely left Baltimore, so what could he have known? And thinkers and revolutionaries are always appealing! The Club’s motto serves well as a description of the Village – all of it, before realtors poked their unwelcome oars in – and as a description of The Village Trip, which honors the Village as the forge in which 20th-century culture was hammered out, the place where ideas and movements cross-pollinated and merged with activism, shaping society well beyond its borders. And as we all know, the Village is “a spiritual zone of mind; it has no boundaries,” said Hippolyte Havel, anarchist, writer, waiter at Polly’s Restaurant, and the inspiration for Hugo Kalmar in The Iceman Cometh.
Over a century ago, the Village was where people came to escape society’s tiresome cultural and social restraints and to celebrate free expression. In so doing, they helped transform the world. The Village Trip seeks to honor that important history. But as we honor the past, we also celebrate the present, and hope to inspire the future, championing both new and established talent in art, music, poetry, film, and comedy.
“Freedomland” was the theme of our art show, curated once again by Village artist and art historian Marc Kehoe, who also created the festival’s much-admired poster. It was chosen to remind us that, even in these tricky times, everything is still possible below 14th Street! The opening party for the exhibition, in the bucolic surroundings of the courtyard of St John’s in the Village, drew a big crowd and set the tone for the rest of the festival. Not long into the party, we had to send out more wine! (Back in the day it would have been Thunderbird!)
For the festival’s first musical event, Village Voices, on September 19, Village Trip Artist Emeritus David Amram had composed Five American Voices, a new song cycle reflecting “the diverse voices of our cultural mosaic." Along with other premières, by Carman Moore and Maria Thompson Corley, it was sung by James Martin, whose day-long high fever did not diminish the power of his rich baritone, which was sensitively accompanied by pianist Lynn Raley.
The opening weekend was chock-full of goodies, of which more later, but the focus was on Leonard Bernstein, with two concerts that celebrated his legacy as composer and natural-born teacher. The first, Classical Cool! at St John’s in the Village, was a family concert that tipped its hat to the Maestro’s Young People’s Concerts. Fittingly, it highlighted two young talents: soprano Melanie Chin, a recent Berklee graduate, and Opal Garg, a pupil at Third Street Music School who studies with Joan Forsyth, the festival’s co-director of classical and new music. Nine years old and already a seasoned performer, Opal was making her concerto debut under the baton of Victoria Bond, who conducted The Village Trip Festival Players, aka The Going the Distance Players, an ensemble founded by pianist Alexander Wu. He, along with Forsyth, Tomoko Uchino and Kevin T Chance, a distinguished pianist and educator – and President-Elect of event sponsor the Music Teachers National Association – took turns contributing the piano parts to that family favorite, Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. The narration was by Nina Bernstein Simmons, the youngest of Leonard and Felicia’s three children, who read the 2010 text by Jack Prelutsky, America’s first Children’s Poet Laureate.
On Sunday evening, it was over to City Winery for the all-star lollapalooza that was Bernstein Remix!, which was moved into the venue’s largest space because of the long waitlist of people who wanted to buy tickets. Lovingly curated and presented by Jamie Bernstein, the Maestro’s eldest daughter, who opened her address book and invited friends to “reinterpret and reimagine” some of her father’s works, it was designed as “a collective reflection of Bernstein’s own artistic multiplicities.” Perhaps even Lenny could not have imagined Janis Ian’s deconstruction of “Cool,” written with Stephen Sondheim for West Side Story! It was an evening of all-highlights, so it’s invidious to pick just one. But we can’t resist mentioning Queer Urban Orchestra’s performance of Rhapsody in Blue, an abbreviated and witty arrangement for a truly unique collection of instruments (that is: whatever was to hand!) by Lenny when he was a 19-year-old camp counsellor – largely so he could play the piano part! It brought the house down. In addition to the stars on stage, there were special video contributions from Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera; actors Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons, who read from Bernstein’s poetry; and conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who next year becomes Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic. It sure was a night to remember – and we are delighted to be able to feature two very special collections of photos, by Steve Sherman and Jamie Kalikow, below this round-up.
Both concerts were conceived months ago as benefits for Artful Learning, the visionary and joyful teaching model founded by Alexander Bernstein, himself a teacher who touched many young lives. The plan had been for him to narrate Classical Cool! but tragically he lost his life to cancer over the summer. The Village Trip is both honored and touched that Jamie and Nina, and his daughter Anya, wished both concerts to go ahead. They ended up being celebrations, as Jamie said, of “our two generations of brilliant Bernstein guys.”
Other events on the festival’s opening weekend included Gamelan Yowana Sari and Friends, and Damien Sneed and Chorale Le Chateau, the latter performing a diverse set of music in honor of Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity. There was also a very special walk of Woody Guthrie’s Village, led by his grandchildren Anna Canoni and Cole Quest, and, of course, the annual Village Trip Lecture, delivered this year by author and New York Times reporter Clay Risen. It struck a blow for First Amendment Rights.
After a break for Rosh Hashanah, which allowed Trippers to catch their breath, we returned with our comedy night featuring Ophira Eisenberg and April Boddie, and a truly mesmerizing performance-with-music of Allen Ginsberg’s generation-defining masterpiece Howl. Justin Jay Hines and Kirk Knuffke were magnificent in bringing alive that epic Beat poem; so good we plan on a reprise next year. Dr Fabio Fantuzzi gave an illuminating lecture on artist Norman Raeben and one of his famous pupils, Bob Dylan, while composers Victoria Bond and William Anderson celebrated the Poets of Patchin Place, their settings brought to life by among others baritone Michael Kelly, a festival regular fresh from his triumph in Harvey Milk at the San Francisco Opera. Michael Jacobsohn’s moving documentary The Cornelia Street Café in Exile enjoyed a sell-out screening at the IFC, where it was followed by a Q&A with Robin Hirsch, who presided over the Café for 43 years.
Then it was into the final stretch, with yet more illuminating walks and a raft of terrific music, including Kennedy Administration who got everyone dancing in Washington Square Park at our signature free concert. There were more world premières from string quartets Bergamot and ETHEL. The latter – the resident quartet at the Metropolitan Museum – closed with their wonderful arrangements of Gershwin, Hersch and Bernstein. “Somewhere” is surely the most universal of prayers.
I was so glad Steve Sherman could be at "Bernstein Remix" to work his photographic magic. He's been taking pictures of our whole family for many years now, so he had a visceral understanding of what we were trying to accomplish with this fundraising night for my brother's visionary Artful Learning teaching model. And the results are stunning; Steve really captured the excitement and the emotion of that evening - Jamie Bernstein
The Village Trip wishes to thank Steve Sherman (stevejsherman.com) for generously allowing us to feature some of his wonderful photographs which so perfectly capture the excitement and surprise of Bernstein Remix! Thanks also for his special reminiscence about photographing the Bernstein children, which you can read below.
Photographing Lenny – and Jamie, Alexander and Nina Too
By Steve J Sherman
Photographing Lenny was always an event. There was always a buzz in the air, an excitement, an anticipation. When Lenny was in the house, something was going to happen.
You could feel it. Lenny would walk out on stage to begin a rehearsal, and everyone would stop talking or tuning, and focus on him. There were always detours on his way to the podium, saying hi to old friends or new ones, with a warm smile, a reminiscence, and always a hand on an arm or a one-handed, one-squeeze shoulder massage – he was a very tactile person. But once he hit the podium, he made it clear that he expected 100% from each and every musician on the stage. He didn’t have to say it – he simply led by example.
He gave all of himself, and allowed his love, his extreme passion, his raw charisma, his powerful convictions, to guide his heart and mind. His stunningly fresh and sincere exhilaration for the music, and his insatiable lust for and curiosity about life, infected everyone in the room. As a result, we gave him 150% back… and the results are legendary.
I say we, as if I were one of the musicians. But I was also on stage (or hovering close by), and I found myself equally compelled to rise above my limits, and break through my upper expectations...
And that was good. I was never able to let my guard down for a second – my concentration had to be complete if I wanted to follow where he was going – his energy could burst forth suddenly and then recede just as quickly. He could conduct with only his shoulders, or his eyebrows, or his feet as he gently bounced his otherwise still body… Whatever it was, it was total immersion.
I think my photos of Lenny are just a bit better than most everything else in my archive. And I wish I could claim credit for that. But I can’t – it was simply the way things had to be when photographing Lenny.
Adapted from the Preamble to Leonard Bernstein at Work – His Final Years 1984-1990 by Steve J Sherman (Amadeus Press 2010)
© 2016 Steve J. Sherman. Used by permission
Afterthoughts, October 2025: Over the years, while working with Lenny, I got to know his children Jamie, Alexander and Nina. Eventually, I started photographing them as well. Jamie and I had developed a strong friendship – as it turned out, she was always needing new head shots and stage shots – and in time, Alexander and Nina also began appearing in front of my lens. I was especially delighted to get to know them not just as individuals but as siblings, as a threesome with their own unique dynamic, and thus discover yet another facet of the “Bernstein Mystique.”
Like their dad, they could engage on most any subject and remain focused with clarity. Yet they often couldn’t help but blur the lines between good and bad, hot and cold, sacred and profane… They could be serious and frivolous at the same time… They could speak in eloquent terms with florid language, all the while making up words (and bastardizing others) with authority and impunity…. Intellectual jousting poured forth with spontaneity and competitive gut-busting humor. Oh, how they loved to laugh... Life was endlessly curious, whether fascinating or annoying, but it was never a spectator sport. They could dive deep on the inhale and then rip that depth to shreds on the exhale. It all came very naturally to them. I guess it’s no surprise...
I find the past tense seeping in as I write this. We all miss Alexander terribly, and the thought of him gone is still untenable, and incapacitating. Just when we would need it the most, the world will never laugh quite as much as when he was here. And for the hundreds of thousands of young people whose lives he turned around and made so much richer and better through Artful Learning, one can only hope there is a special place out there in the great beyond for a person of such goodness and decency.
The Village Trip wishes to thank Steve Sherman for generously allowing us to feature some of his wonderful photographs which so perfectly capture the excitement and surprise of Bernstein Remix! Thanks also for his special reminiscence about photographing the Bernstein children.
Photographs and text © Steve J Sherman - stevejsherman.com. Used by permission of the photographer and author.
Jamie Kalikow
Jamie Kalikow is a City-based photographer specializing in music and street photography. She graduated from Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in photojournalism. Directly after graduating, she moved to Greenwich Village and has maintained an apartment on Bleecker Street since 1979. From the late 1970s till the present, she has photographed the streets of New York City and in the last decade photographed and videotaped over a thousand NYC music events.
Thank you to all friends and volunteers who helped The Village Trip 2025 run smoothly, and very special thanks indeed to production director Laurie Green, who made it all happen with patience, grace, and good humor.
And thank you all for coming.
Keep in touch, tell your friends – and we’ll see you September 25 through October 4 next year.
And if you enjoyed this year’s festival, please consider a donation. The Village Trip is a 501c3 non-profit organisation. We are volunteers, but all performers, producers and venues need to be paid, as do designers, printers, accountants and other service providers. With so many grant-giving bodies being deprived of cash, your contribution – however modest it may be – means a lot to a small community non-profit such as The Village Trip. If you value what we do, please don’t forget us as giving season approaches.
Thank you - keep Tripping!
Liz & Cliff
We are delighted to share with you some photos from our two recent Person, Place Thing live podcast recordings with Jamie Bernstein and Janis Siegel, which were broadcast on WAMC Northeast Public Radio in early September.
The Village Trip is now in its eighth year, and our annual celebration of culture and community has never been more important, for it shines a light on the people whose lives and work have shaped not only the Village, and not only New York City and these United States but in many cases the world. We owe it to them not to forget. We owe it to them, and ourselves, to honor their achievements. Let’s keep the flame burning.
And please consider a donation. However modest, please know that your money makes a big difference to our small non-profit. Every cent goes to performers and production costs – the organizers all volunteer their time.
THE VILLAGE TRIP READING LIST
A selection from the reading list compiled for The Village Trip by Three Lives & Company, Booksellers
The Village Trip has been named Best Urban Celebration Event 2025
in the LUXElife Magazine Travel & Tourism Awards 2025
