Six On The Square set to host a free concert in Lafayette Park on July 2
OXFORD – On Sunday, July 2 at 2 p.m., 6 On The Square closes out their 10 Anniversary season with Matt Nakoa, an internationally recognized performer with ties to Chenango County.
Nakoa, a Smyrna-native, has spent more than a decade as a professional musician who has performing in Texas, Oregon, North Carolina, the midwest, and NYC. When not traveling the country on tour, Nakoa usually spends his time writing and recording in Boston.
Within the last three decades, Nakoa has dropped deep roots into more music genres than most ever hear and has found a way to use all of them. He began with the intent to become a concert pianist and composer, which is evident every time he sits at a keyboard and makes it shimmer quietly or curl around a song like a cresting wave.
Nakoa also studied vocal performance at the Berklee College of Music where he worked alongside Grammy winners St. Vincent and Esperanza Spalding, and began mastery of a deeply intimate and always articulate voice that honors every lyric. Nakoa then found a ripe and ready piano bar scene in New York City where audiences lined around the building to hear him play at Brandy’s Piano Bar.
But it was in the Fox Run recording studio in Boston, where producer Neale Eckstein first introduced Nakoa to the contemporary acoustic music scene. Major folk music festivals organizers immediately noticed his unusual gifts and gave him an opportunity to share his quieter and more intimate work. Listeners responded: he was a Kerrville New Folk Winner for original songwriting, as well as a Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Most Wanted Artist. His CD “A Dozen Other Loves” was named a Sundilla Radio Hour Favorite Album of the Year, and Nakoa was also a WFUV Discovery of the Year.
When first meeting a Matt Nakoa fan, it’s an exercise in creativity to learn which part of Nakoa’s musical work first brought them into the multigenerational, bicoastal, genre-inclusive fold. “I didn’t know you could do that!” is heard frequently in the post-concert cluster of fans who want to greet him. Keyboard fanatics marvel at the breadth of his reach and classical music vocabulary, both revealing his early start as a concert pianist. Singers include hometown locals who first loved his work on area music festival stages, to new audiences nationwide who hang on every note of his liquid tenor voice.
Guitarists note his left-handed mastery on an acoustic guitar and, in the right setting, on electric guitar. Pop music listeners often find him through the video covers whose views number in the thousands, and reintroduce classic songs in deeply personal ways. The rockers still talk about the unexpected stage raging at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival when he and other headlining musicians closed a musical festival stage with channeled Led Zeppelin. And still, more is coming.
This performance is sponsored with funding from the R. C. Smith Foundation, donations from the community, and with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts, with support from Governor Cuomo and the NYS Legislature.
Six On The Square, Inc. is a not for profit, volunteer-based community music and arts venue located at 6 Lafayette Park in downtown Oxford.For more information about Six On The Square or about upcoming performances please visit their website at www.6onthesquare.org
Nakoa, a Smyrna-native, has spent more than a decade as a professional musician who has performing in Texas, Oregon, North Carolina, the midwest, and NYC. When not traveling the country on tour, Nakoa usually spends his time writing and recording in Boston.
Within the last three decades, Nakoa has dropped deep roots into more music genres than most ever hear and has found a way to use all of them. He began with the intent to become a concert pianist and composer, which is evident every time he sits at a keyboard and makes it shimmer quietly or curl around a song like a cresting wave.
Nakoa also studied vocal performance at the Berklee College of Music where he worked alongside Grammy winners St. Vincent and Esperanza Spalding, and began mastery of a deeply intimate and always articulate voice that honors every lyric. Nakoa then found a ripe and ready piano bar scene in New York City where audiences lined around the building to hear him play at Brandy’s Piano Bar.
But it was in the Fox Run recording studio in Boston, where producer Neale Eckstein first introduced Nakoa to the contemporary acoustic music scene. Major folk music festivals organizers immediately noticed his unusual gifts and gave him an opportunity to share his quieter and more intimate work. Listeners responded: he was a Kerrville New Folk Winner for original songwriting, as well as a Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Most Wanted Artist. His CD “A Dozen Other Loves” was named a Sundilla Radio Hour Favorite Album of the Year, and Nakoa was also a WFUV Discovery of the Year.
When first meeting a Matt Nakoa fan, it’s an exercise in creativity to learn which part of Nakoa’s musical work first brought them into the multigenerational, bicoastal, genre-inclusive fold. “I didn’t know you could do that!” is heard frequently in the post-concert cluster of fans who want to greet him. Keyboard fanatics marvel at the breadth of his reach and classical music vocabulary, both revealing his early start as a concert pianist. Singers include hometown locals who first loved his work on area music festival stages, to new audiences nationwide who hang on every note of his liquid tenor voice.
Guitarists note his left-handed mastery on an acoustic guitar and, in the right setting, on electric guitar. Pop music listeners often find him through the video covers whose views number in the thousands, and reintroduce classic songs in deeply personal ways. The rockers still talk about the unexpected stage raging at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival when he and other headlining musicians closed a musical festival stage with channeled Led Zeppelin. And still, more is coming.
This performance is sponsored with funding from the R. C. Smith Foundation, donations from the community, and with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts, with support from Governor Cuomo and the NYS Legislature.
Six On The Square, Inc. is a not for profit, volunteer-based community music and arts venue located at 6 Lafayette Park in downtown Oxford.For more information about Six On The Square or about upcoming performances please visit their website at www.6onthesquare.org
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