Art Garfunkel
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Art Garfunkel, a legendary singer and hitmaker in his own right but perhaps best known as one-half of the iconic folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, will perform in a rare concert appearance at The Clark on Saturday, August 11, 2012, at 8 pm. Garfunkel’s concert takes place a few weeks before the release of The Singer, a new 34-song collection that spans Garfunkel’s entire musical career, from the first Simon & Garfunkel album of 1964 (Wednesday Morning, 3 AM) through 2007’s Great American Songbook album (Some Enchanted Evening).
The forthcoming retrospective album also includes two newly recorded performances (“Lena” and “Long Way Home”) and is scheduled for release on August 28. The two-CD retrospective will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets through Columbia/Legacy, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.
Blessed with what the New York Times described as a “beautiful countertenor” voice, the singer has made an indelible mark on the music world both as a solo artist and as half of the unrivaled Simon & Garfunkel.
Tickets are $55 ($50 members and students) and may be purchased online at clarkart.edu or by calling 413 458 0524, beginning July 13.
The voice and soul of a true American poet have illuminated the work of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Art Garfunkel for nearly five decades. It is there on record — the Simon & Garfunkel LPs of 1964 to 1970 on Columbia, and his deep catalog as a solo artist starting in 1973 (the first six albums also on Columbia) — as well as in film, and on the printed page (his collection of prose poetry, Still Water, was published in 1989). The five-time Grammy Award winner has always approached every new project with a poet’s perspective.
Garfunkel’s work with Paul Simon earned seven Grammy Awards, starting off at the 1969 ceremony, with two for “Mrs. Robinson” (from the movie The Graduate), named Record of the Year and Best Contemporary Pop Performance/Duo or Group.
The young Art Garfunkel
Two years later, Bridge Over Troubled Water was voted Album of the Year and the title song swept Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, and Best Engineered Recording.
In 1977, Bridge Over Troubled Water received England’s prestigious Britannia Award as the Best International Pop LP and Single of the previous 25 years. Garfunkel added another Grammy Award nomination in 1998—Best Children’s Album—for his solo album Songs From a Parent To a Child.
Garfunkel’s roster of #1 hits includes “All I Know” (his debut single as a solo artist in 1973, a Jimmy Webb composition); the 1975 reunion duet with Simon on “My Little Town” (premiered on the second show of NBC’s Saturday Night Live); and “Breakaway” (written by England’s Gallagher & Lyle, one of the three consecutive #1 hits from the Breakaway LP.
In addition to his music and writing, Garfunkel has made regular appearances on the silver screen. After working with director Mike Nichols on The Graduate soundtrack, Garfunkel followed up with feature roles in Nichols’s Catch-22 (1969) and, opposite Ann-Margret, Candice Bergen, and Jack Nicholson, Carnal Knowledge (1971)—for which he received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actor. Garfunkel went on to garner acclaim for roles in Nicholas Roeg’s award-winning Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession, starring Theresa Russell and Harvey Keitel (1980); Good To Go (1986); the controversial Jennifer Lynch film Boxing Helena (1993); and most recently in 2010, The Rebound, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Set amidst 140 acres in the Berkshires, the Clark is one of the few major art museums that also serves as a leading international center for research and scholarship. The Clark presents public and education programs and organizes groundbreaking exhibitions that advance new scholarship. The Clark’s research and academic programs include an international fellowship program and conferences. Together with Williams College, the Clark sponsors one of the nation’s leading master’s programs in art history.
The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The galleries are open daily in July and August (open Tuesday through Sunday from September through June), 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $15 June 1 through October 31; free November through May; and free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit The Clark or call 413 458 2303.