FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 23, 2020
(New York, NY) Wednesday, July 29 at 7:00 p.m. (EST), The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, the arts center of the Archdiocese of New York, presents A Conversation with Harry Connick, Jr. This special livestream event with the Grammy® and Emmy® Award winner, and Tony® nominated artist can be viewed online, at no charge, on The Sheen Center’s Facebook page or YouTube channels or at www.SheenCenter.org. Following the July 29 live-stream event, the program will be available to view on the Sheen Talks YouTube channel, www.YouTube.com/SheenTalks.
With a music, film, television and Broadway career spanning three decades, New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr. is a Renaissance man. He recently released the album, “True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter.” While the pandemic has not slowed his creativity, it has touched his life in significant ways. Two beloved people in his life were taken by COVID-19 this year: his teacher, mentor, and friend Ellis Marsalis, Jr. who recognized Connick’s talent early on; and Monsignor Richard Guastella, a close friend who gave him his first job in New York, married Connick and his wife, and baptized the eldest of Connick’s daughters. This Sheen Center conversation between Harry Connick Jr. and David Di Certo, Interim Executive Director of The Sheen Center, will focus on these two influential figures in Connick’s life; his work with the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music and Musicians Village; Connick’s distinguished career; and his Catholic faith.
Harry Connick, Jr. has exemplified excellence in every aspect of the entertainment world. He has received recognition with multiple Grammy and Emmy awards as well as Tony nominations for his live and recorded musical performances, his achievements on screens large and small, and his appearances on Broadway as both an actor and a composer. In 2019, after 30 million albums sold worldwide, 13 No. 1 jazz albums in the United States, and a music, film, television and Broadway career over three decades long, Harry Connick, Jr. released “True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter,” his debut album on legendary Verve Records, his new home label. Comprised exclusively of Cole Porter compositions, “True Love” highlights Connick’s talents as pianist, singer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor, as he breathes new life into popular songs from The Great American Songbook including “Anything Goes” and “You Do Something To Me.”
“A Conversation with Harry Connick, Jr.” is the final Wednesday talk event in The Sheen Center’s “Faith, Hope & Love” series. During this time when we are unable to gather in the Loreto or Black Box Theaters on Bleecker Street, The Sheen Center took its mission digital with new, original online content inspired by the sustaining virtues of the series’ title. Past programs in the “Faith, Hope & Love” series, including events with Melissa Errico, Adam Gopnik, Jeannie Gaffigan, American Slavery Project’s Judy Tate, Sesame Street’s Henry Louis Mitchell, and more, are available for free viewing on our Sheen Talks YouTube channel. The Sheen Center will present new online programming this fall.
For more information about upcoming programming, please visit www.SheenCenter.org.
The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (www.sheencenter.org) is a New York City arts center located in NoHo that presents a vibrant mix of theater, film, music, art and talk events. The arts center of the Archdiocese of New York, The Sheen Center serves all New Yorkers by presenting performances and artists that reflect the true, the good, and the beautiful. Named for the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best remembered as an inspirational author, radio host and two-time Emmy Award-winning television personality, The Sheen Center reflects his modern-day approach to contemporary topics. The Sheen Center is a state-of-the-art theater complex that includes the 270-seat off-Broadway Loreto Theater, equipped with five-camera high-definition TV and live-stream capability and a multi-track recording studio; the 80-seat off-off-Broadway Black Box Theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery.