Centenary Stage Company launches 2018 with an exciting line – up of jazz events through the month of January with the annual January Thaw Music Festival in the Lackland Performing Arts Center.  This year’s festival features Freda Payne in a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on Sunday, January 14 at 2pm, Danny Bacher in Swing that Music! A Jazz Tribute to the Three Louis on Sunday, January 21 at 2 pm and the Brazilian Bluegrass of Matuto on Saturday, January 27 at 8 pm.

Freda Payne scored a No. 1 hit with her 1970 pop anthem, “Band of Gold”.  She has toured the world in concerts, theater performances, one – woman shows, as well as, appearances in films and television.  Today Payne celebrates Ella Fitzgerald’s 60+ year career from her 1934 award – winning Apollo Theater debut and through her celebrated career as a vocalist.  The performance will be held on Sunday, January 14 at 2 pm in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.  Tickets for Freda Payne:  A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald are $30.00 for all seats in advance.  As with all jazz, concerts and special events ticket prices increase $5 day of the performance.

Then on Sunday, January 21 at 2 pm the January Thaw Music Festival continues with Swing that Music! A Jazz Tribute to the Three Louis.  Vocalist – saxophonist Danny Bacher performs a tribute to the three Louis; Armstrong, Prima and Jordan.  The performance pays homage to the era of jive with a dollop of Dixieland.  “It is about making hot music but staying cool, about cutting up while maintaining effortless self – control, about having a blast with friends” Stephen Holden, The New York Times.  The performance will be held in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.  Tickets for Swing that Music! A Jazz Tribute to the Three Louis are $25.00 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance.

Finally, Centenary Stage Company closes the January Thaw Music Festival on Saturday, January 27 at 8 pm with the Brazilian bluegrass of Matuto.  “The joyous, ebullient music of Matuto merges the folkloric music of Brazil with the sounds of all – American bluegrass” says the Chicago Tribune.  In Brazil, Matuto is slang for Country Boy, but these urbanized virtuosos have headlined renowned Bluegrass, Jazz, and World Music Festivals across North America, as well as recent collaborations with Carnegie Hall.  The performance will be held in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.  Tickets for Matuto are $22.50 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance.

Centenary Stage Company’s January Thaw Music festival is sponsored in part by season sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community and series sponsor Home Instead Senior Care.  Centenary Stage Company also offers a Series C Flex Pass for $66.  A Series C Flex Pass grants entry to any 3 events and provides savings.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979 – 0900.  The box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Avenue, Hackettstown.

The 2017-2018 season of performing arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Premier Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, The House of the Good Shepherd Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Medical Center, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington),  and Fulton Bank of New Jersey, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.