Rob Mathes Music

Hello, good and kind people checking in to this repository of my existence!

Get tickets for the 2024 Rob Mathes Holiday Concert-->https://www.artscenter.org/events/the-rob-mathes-holiday-concert / or call 914-251-6200.

The Holiday Concerts are coming around again, this time for the 31st year! Last year's concerts were sell-outs and we did three: Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm and Sunday matinee at 3pm. The dates for this year are December 20th, 21st, and 22nd.

The concert is at the very center of my musical year. To get another crack at this music is a gift. For newbies, the question remains: what is the concert, and why thirty-one years?? What is the material?? Well,....... issues of faith and hope and darkness and light always hit me as a writer during the winter days. When I was very young, steeped in a slightly schizophrenic musical universe of Joni meets Duke meets Dylan meets Thom Yorke, I started writing songs around this season and it wasn't Jingle, Jangle, Bangles and Beads, the Elves, and Santa. It was the boy in the manger, and the three kings, etc etc. and, once Rabbi Mark Golub became a fan and came every year to hear that six-piece horn section of studio superstars and Will Lee on Bass (among the other magicians), Judah and the Maccabees. Anthems and jams on all sorts of winter warblings.

I put a ridiculous band together featuring NYC all-stars and eventually started writing arrangements of the more swinging and barnstorming holiday songs to keep the horn players on their toes and to keep the aisles full of dancing bears so to speak. Therefore, the concert became both a reflective candlelit music service of sorts and a celebration of musical joy.

The band will be there in force, Will Lee on Bass, Billy Masters, and crew, the horn section, and the choir. We will, as always, honor the late great Rabbi Golub and have other musical surprises. Vaneese Thomas and D-Train will be singing. It will be the festival of love we set it up to be every year.

Please join us. Any seat in the PepsiCo Theater at SUNY/Purchase College is great. It only seats around 700 and change. I have friends who purposely pick the balcony!

We don’t take the concert for granted nor your continued support!!!!!!!!!!!!

Below is an extract from the press release for some background. See you there!.

Ring in the Holidays with the Rob Mathes Holiday Concerts at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College

Get tickets for the 2024 Rob Mathes Holiday Concert-->https://www.artscenter.org/events/the-rob-mathes-holiday-concert / or call 914-251-6200.

PURCHASE, N.Y., October 1, 2024 – The Rob Mathes Holiday Concert, a beloved annual tradition, is set to return to The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College for three unforgettable performances this December. Shows will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, December 20, and Saturday, December 21, with a special matinee performance at 3 p.m. on Sunday, December 22. Tickets are available at artscenter.org, with prices ranging from $40, $65 and $85, or $150 for VIP tickets (with back-stage access) through Food Rescue US - Fairfield County (a portion of the VIP tickets are tax deductible).

Each year, Rob Mathes and his Holiday Concerts are renowned for their unique take on holiday classics. The performances offer a blend of Rob's introspective singer-songwriter pop, with strong jazz and blues overtones, and feature original Rob Mathes holiday songs and classics with a signature Mathes twist. Joining Rob on stage is his all-star band, which includes Will Lee on bass, Billy Masters on guitar, Gunnar Olson on drums, Rick Knutsen on keyboard, and the incredible horn section with Jeff Kievit, Tony Kadleck, Andy Snitzer, Aaron Heick, Mike Davis, and Jeff Nelson. R&B singers James "D Train" Williams and Vaneese Thomas are also fan favorites at the concerts, and the shows are rounded out with an incredible “Choir of Saints & Friends” who bring the spirit of the holiday season to many of the songs.

A celebrated arranger, composer, producer, director, and Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated musician, Rob Mathes has been performing his holiday concerts, which have become an annual cherished holiday tradition in the New York City/Connecticut area for 30 years, much to the joy of his ardent fans.

Rob Mathes has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Sting, Elvis Costello, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Beck, Bettye LaVette, Bonnie Raitt, Butch Walker, Carly Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Eliane Elias, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, George Michael, Ghostface Killah, Hall and Oates, Harry Connick Jr., Jay-Z, Lenny Kravitz, Lou Reed, Luciano Pavarotti, Marc Anthony, Melissa Errico, Natalie Cole, Mary J. Blige, Panic At The Disco, Rascal Flatts, Ray Charles, Rod Stewart, Sade, Rufus Wainwright, Chris Botti, Lady Gaga, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Train, Vanessa Williams, and many more.

This year, Rob Mathes worked on a series of symphonic concerts with Sting with the Philadelphia Orchestra, The San Francisco Symphony, and the Florida Orchestra. He produced Melissa Errico’s Sondheim in the City album, which was released to rave reviews. He also spent the year working with Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello on projects, with Elvis’ new show Face in the Crowd opening in London. He also musically directed both the MusiCares Artist of the Year event honoring BON JOVI, with performances by Bruce Springsteen, Melissa Etheridge, Jelly Roll, Shania Twain, Lainey Wilson, Larkin Poe, Jason Isbell, Train and Brandy Clark, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards, which honored Steely Dan, Timbaland and R.E.M., who played together for the first time in years.

Get tickets for the 2024 Rob Mathes Holiday Concert-->https://www.artscenter.org/events/the-rob-mathes-holiday-concert / or call 914-251-6200.