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Description
Join us for the public performances of the Kirkwood Vocal Jazz Festival on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 19-20, at 7:30 p.m. in Ballantyne Auditorium! These evening concerts feature Kirkwood's Jazz Transit and guest performers New York Voices, the internationally acclaimed jazz vocal group!
The evening performances are ticketed events; the performance is the same both evenings. Tickets are general admission. You may purchase tickets ahead of time and choose your seat when you arrive at the venue, based on what is available.
The daytime festival is free and open to the public, no tickets required, and will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Ballantyne Auditorium and Iowa Hall. You are welcome to join us for the daytime portion of the festival as well as the ticketed evening performance!
Tickets are available at the door or in advance at: https://kirkwoodarts.simpletix.com/. Tickets are free for Kirkwood students, faculty, and staff!
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New York Voices was born in the mid-1980s at upstate New York’s Ithaca College. Peter Eldridge, an aspiring jazz pianist who came late to singing; Kim Nazarian, who dreamed of a life on Broadway; and Darmon Meader, a saxophonist and self-described “choral geek,” came together in the school’s vocal jazz ensemble. Director Dave Reilly included all three of them, as well as Caprice Fox, in an ensemble he’d been invited to bring on a tour of European jazz festivals. “It seemed to go over so well that Darmon and I decided to keep it going, try to make something happen professionally,” Eldridge recalls. “Kim and Caprice were part of that original band, and we slowly but surely made the transition to New York City in 1988.” There they met Sara Krieger, who became the fifth member of the band Reilly had named “New York Voices.”
One of their debut performances as a quintet was at Preacher’s, a Greenwich Village club, which launched the beginning of a sizable following and noise enough to start attracting the interest of record labels. They signed with GRP in 1989 and quickly made their first recording, New York Voices, a mix of acoustic and electric, traditional and crossover jazz. They then hit the road, touring America in a motor home and making their first international excursions as they worked to build a worldwide audience.
Krieger left the band after their second album (1991’s Hearts of Fire), which began a long, arduous search for a new fifth voice. While that process was underway, Eldridge had what was intended as a oneoff songwriting session with Lauren Kinhan; impressed with her soprano vocal, he suggested she audition. “We’d heard maybe 70 auditions and hadn’t found the right fit,” says Eldridge. “Lauren came in and sang ‘God Bless the Child’ for us, and I remember looking at Darmon and going, ‘Oh. Okay.’”
After two more years as a quintet, Fox moved on to other things in 1994. The band had hoped that featuring five voices would stave off comparisons to vocal-jazz powerhouse Manhattan Transfer (it didn’t), but their increasing self-confidence—and their difficulty in finding Kinhan—led them to decide to continue on as a foursome. They declared their new identity with 1997’s New York Voices Sing the Songs of Paul Simon.
With the dawn of the 21st century, NYV increased its currency in the jazz world via collaborations with institutions such as the Count Basie Orchestra, Paquito d’Rivera, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. They also launched a jazz education initiative, inaugurating its Vocal Jazz Camp for aspiring jazz singers in 2008. (A European version of the Camp began in 2017). Each of its members has also established a career as an educator: Eldridge is a voice professor at Berklee College of Music; Nazarian vocal jazz instructor at Ithaca College and artist-in-residence at both Bowling Green State University and Tri-C Community College in Cleveland; Kinhan is an adjunct faculty member at the New School; and Meader is an artist-in-residence at Indiana University.
The geographical distance that these jobs require, along with each member’s active solo pursuits, is partly responsible for the long gap between New York Voices albums. Yet Reminiscing in Tempo finds both their individual chops and their collective chemistry to be as powerful as ever—and kicks off what NYV hopes will be another long stretch of work together. “The things that I’m really proud of are our longevity, which just surprises and shocks all of us; the fact that our music has grown and gotten better; and the fact that we all still want to make music together,” says Nazarian. “We’re not done. We all have a little something more to say together.”
"After 38 years of recording, touring and living our musical lives together, we are writing our final chapter. At the end of 2026, we are hanging up our microphones and waltzing into other solo endeavors that have been ruminating and retiring our beloved musical family.”
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This performance will be held at Ballantyne Auditorium on Kirkwood Community College’s campus, located at 6301 Kirkwood Blvd SW, Cedar Rapids. Enter campus at the southwest entrance, at the corner of Kirkwood Blvd. SW and Tower Rd. SW. Travel east on Tower Rd. SW, and take a left to stay on Tower Rd. SW as it continues northeast into campus. You will see ample parking and a building marked “Ballantyne Auditorium.” (See map below)
From there, you will be inside Iowa Hall in an entrance area near an Information Desk and Coffee Shop. Head straight to a set of downward stairs, and take those stairs directly down to the Ballantyne Auditorium entrance on the right. Alternatively, there is an elevator near the Information Desk. Take the elevator down one floor to 1st Floor Iowa Hall and make your way through the atrium area to Ballantyne Auditorium (follow signs).
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Accessibility:
It is the policy of Kirkwood Community College not to discriminate in its programs, activities, or employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, religion, and actual or potential family, parental or marital status. Kirkwood strives to provide all people access to the arts in a welcoming environment where each person has the accommodations they need to actively participate.
Designated accessibility parking is located outside of the west entrance to Iowa Hall. See map below and description above.
Accessible seating is available and marked on the seating chart when purchasing tickets; these are spaces without seats that can be used for wheelchairs or scooters. Companion seats are available next to these spaces and are also marked on the seating chart.
Accessible restrooms are available outside the entrance to Ballantyne Auditorium, including handicap-accessible stalls and single-stall bathrooms.
For patrons needing a break during the performance, a TV monitor is available in the lobby area outside the entrance to Ballantyne Auditorium for viewing the show in a quiet space.
For any questions, please contact arts@kirkwood.edu or 319-398-4913. Thank you!
Date & Time
Feb 19 - 20, 2026
Venue Details
Ballantyne Auditorium
6301 Kirkwood Boulevard SouthwestCedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
