MATINEE SHOW ADDED! Join us on May 25, 2025, at Assembly in Kingston, NY, for A Night An Afternoon of Community & Song, a special concert benefiting the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network (UIDN). This unforgettable event will feature performances by Sara Bareilles, Natalie Merchant, and Rachael Yamagata, three internationally-acclaimed singer-songwriters coming together in the spirit of community and compassion.
UIDN provides crucial support to immigrants in Ulster County, helping to ensure food and housing security, legal assistance, case management, know your rights training, resource access and pathways to economic mobility.
Expect a night filled with inspiring performances, collaboration, and a powerful sense of community. Tickets are limited, so secure yours today. Enjoy an extraordinary afternoon of music, while directly supporting vulnerable Ulster County families in need.
SARA BAREILLES
SARA BAREILLES is an award-winning singer, songwriter, actor, producer, activist, and New York Times best-selling author whose accolades to date include two Grammy® Awards, three Tony® Award nominations, and three Primetime Emmy® Award nominations. As a recording artist and songwriter, she has sold more than 3 million albums and 15 million singles in the U.S., and her songs have been streamed more than 3.5 billion times worldwide. On Broadway, she composed music and lyrics for Waitress, stepping into the lead role both on Broadway and in the West End. Other musical theater credits include her Tony-nominated performance as ‘The Baker’s Wife’ in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, a song on the Tony Award-nominated score for SpongeBob SquarePants, and an Emmy Award-nominated appearance as Mary Magdalene in NBC's “Jesus Christ Superstar Live.” She plays Dawn Solano on the Emmy-nominated musical comedy series “Girls5eva”, the third season of which is streaming now on Netflix, and is currently at work on a musical theater adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s best-selling novel The Interestings, alongside author Sarah Ruhl.
NATALIE MERCHANT
Natalie Merchant is a multi-platinum-selling, American singer-songwriter and producer known for her distinctive voice and captivating literary-pop songs. She has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Tigerlily and Ophelia, and has received numerous awards and nominations for her work. Her music blends folk, rock, and world music influences, and she continues to be regarded as a pioneering figure in alternative music. Her newest record, Keep Your Courage (due to be released April 14 on Nonesuch Records), finds Merchant in peak form with songs about love and human connection in its many forms, and a voice to keep you hanging on every word.
RACHAEL YAMAGATA
Rachael Yamagata would defend you in a bar fight and then invite everyone out to stargaze in the parking lot. She's a wilderness guide for wanderers, a galactic diplomat, a dreamscape designer, a heartache survivalist, a pioneer.
She speaks to the misfits, the soul searchers, the silent types longing to be cracked open. Her hardcore fans find her for the major surgeries of life, finding refuge in the dissonant beauty of her chord progressions and songwriting that cuts to the bone. A vocal shapeshifter, she delivers live shows that spark both playful giddiness and profound catharsis. But Yamagata is not here to heal you — she's here to show you how to heal yourself.
Each record has marked a graduation for pivotal life moments. 'Happenstance' (2004) chronicled romantic heartaches. 'Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart' (2008) delved deeper into loss and broken promises, ushering in the confidence of 'Chesapeake' (2011). Going DIY, Yamagata found freedom, mixing lighter love songs with deep dives into what threatens and ultimately strengthens us. 'Tightrope Walker' (2016) expanded into resilience, empowerment, and forgiveness.
Her new record (yet to be titled) emerges from this lineage with a dare: sink or swim. Grounded by soul-stirring lyrics like "All of our best laid plans washed away like plastic in the sand" ("Empty Houses") it also winks at new dimensions, suggesting worlds beyond our reach with "The galaxy members are waiting for us/ they learn from our failures and they're sending us love" ("Galaxy"). This new record sees Yamagata as an emotional archivist, chronicling loneliness and connection and urging us to see our breaking points as opportunities to build something new.
Yamagata has earned her place amongst our top songwriters and vocalists, paving the way for the whispered intimacy of Billie Eilish and intertwining her own gravel and quirk. She will strip production bare on one track and build a story around orchestral arrangements in the next – whatever packs the greater punch. And she does it all with a tell-it-like-it-is honesty that can melt you in the moment and then become an anthem for life. Admirers of PJ Harvey and Fiona Apple find in Yamagata a kindred soul who dances on the line between tenderness and bold defiance, but whose sound is wholly her own. Mix in the songwriting honesty of Bruce Springsteen, the brooding flair of Rufus Wainwright, the gritty poetry of Lucinda Williams and you might come closer to pinning her down.
Having earned wide critical acclaim and sold over 400,000 records, she has headlined world tours and made numerous television appearances. She's performed for President Obama and Deepak Chopra, been a featured artist on NPR, and has over 38 million streams on Spotify. She's played Madison Garden, Carnegie Hall and collaborated with a diverse spectrum of artists including Conor Oberst, Mandy Moore, Ray Lamontagne, and Toots and the Maytals.
As we collectively face a reckoning with our planet and ourselves, Yamagata has been watching. And she's got more to say.