A farewell tour in four-part harmony

New York Voices headline Northampton Jazz Fest, culminating two days of live music, Sept. 26 & 27

by Carolyn Brown September 12, 2025, Daily Hampshire Gazette

The Northampton Jazz Festival will return on Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, for live jazz at a variety of downtown Northampton venues.

This year’s headliner will be New York Voices, a vocal jazz quartet that began as an ensemble at Ithaca College, at the Academy of Music on Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. After nearly 40 years together, the group is embarking on their farewell tour, “The Grand Finale,” which includes their performance in Northampton.

“We hope [audiences] like the energy of the music, the heart behind the music, the musicality behind the music, and the fun of it,” said New York Voices musical director Darmon Meader in an interview with Jazz Fest board member Ricard Torres-Mateluna. “People who really like harmony singing can get really excited about groups like ours, whereas jazz audiences sometimes aren’t really thinking that way, but we hopefully are bringing as many jazz elements to the experience [as possible], as well as the experience of a four-part harmony.”

Ruth Griggs, president of the Northampton Jazz Festival, said a vocal group was a good fit for the Pioneer Valley because the area itself already hosts a number of vocal groups in its communities and colleges.

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Elena Sharnoff

Elena Sharnoff, Ph.D., principal of B Strategic Communications, creates customized communication and web strategies that combine ingenuity, insight, and impact. She offers more than 20 years of experience in communications, strategic planning, project management, and audience engagement, with a focus on organizations in the education, non-profit, and sustainability sectors. Her communications background includes strategic marketing and communications, website strategy and management, branding, messaging, digital campaigns, content development, publications, art direction of multimedia collateral, and media relations.

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New York Voices: The Grand Finale in the Valley