The 2022-23 Fine Arts Series at SUNY Brockport kicks off on Friday, September 9, at 7:30 p.m. with a concert by The Brothers Blue. The trio includes three Finger Lakes-born songwriters who flirt with bluegrass, Celtic, and swampy Cajun country sounds as they weave three-part harmonies over a tapestry of fiddle, banjo, and guitar virtuosity. Their concert will take place at the Tower Fine Arts Center, 180 Holley Street, Brockport. Tickets are $17/general, $12/senior citizens, Brockport alumni, faculty and staff, and $9/students, and are available online now, at http://fineartstix.brockport.edu. The Tower Box Office will reopen on Monday, August 29, when tickets will be able to be purchased by phone at 585-395-2787, or in person.
Who are these three music makers? They are Matthew Sperber (guitar, bass), Benny Haravitch (banjo, bass, guitar), and Charlie Coughlin (fiddle, mandolin), and they have been friends since their teens. Together, they have been featured as emerging artists by both the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival and the Golden Link Folk Singing Society. Their musicianship and performance style led no less than the late Joe Dady, the revered string player, to exclaim “These guys are the real deal!”
The Brothers Blue have gone into the recording studio several times, with their album Ghost Town being called “a well-honed, fine-tuned record that expertly cuts a piece out of the bluegrass lexicon with its stark instrumentation and lush — plaintive at times — vocals,” by Rochester’s City Newspaper.
According to Haravitch, the bard of the three, their performances are “as well-rounded and polished as river rocks, always reflective of the hills and lakes” of Western New York.
SUNY Brockport’s up-to-date COVID-19 prevention guidelines can be found on its ticketing website, the Fine Arts Series Facebook page, and at http://www.brockport.edu/coronavirus. Compliance with campus protocols is required in order to attend any performances or events.
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