The Rochester International Jazz Festival is the Godzilla in the room this week. But there’s other music in town, and the opportunity to walk among trees as well. You’ll find the complete CITY calendar here.
CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival
Throughout the week
Various downtown venues
Alongside the intimate club shows, which are ticketed, there are an enormous number of free outdoor shows in downtown Rochester during the event’s 19th season. Headlining at Parcel 5 on this evening, at 9 p.m., is a free performance by the longtime jazz-fusion outfit Spyro Gyra. Daily coverage of the festival, which runs through Saturday, is at wxxinews.org.
- JEFF SPEVAK
Go Skateboarding Day
All day
Roc City Skatepark, 241 South Ave
The Summer Solstice doubles as a beloved holiday for skateboarders. There’s no better time to break out the board and head down to the Roc City Skatepark, where celebrations will likely run from sunrise to sunset.
— GINO FANELLI
Marco Benevento
8 p.m.
Abilene Bar & Lounge, 153 Liberty Pole Way
Too late, this one sold out. But the club quickly added a second show for the experimental jazz pianist, one day earlier, 8 p.m. Tuesday, during a week ripe with Jazz Fest fervor. Benevento is a player that aims to stretch the bounds of conventional jazz, employing toy keyboards and strange circuit board fiddling to explore new sonic concepts. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door.
— GINO FANELLI
Carolyn Wonderland
7:30 p.m.
Abilene Bar & Lounge
Wonderland is a Texas blues powerhouse. Her most-recent album, Tempting Fate, has earned her two nominations from the Blues Foundation’s 43rd Blues Music Awards: Contemporary Blues Female Artist and Song of the Year for the high-octane “Fragile Peace and Certain War.” Tickets are $40 advance, $45 the day of the show, available through the club’s web site.
— JEFF SPEVAK
20 Foo Pilots
9 p.m.
Nashvilles, 4853 W. Henrietta Road
Do you like the Foo Fighters? Matchbox 20? Stone Temple Pilots? If the answer is “yes” to some or all of those groups, then this Rochester cover band should be a dream come true. Personally, I’d love to hear a mashup of “The Pretender” and “Unwell,” mostly out of curiosity and a misguided sense of humor. Anyway, I’m having flashbacks to the St. John Fisher dorms in the late 1990s — if you’re of a certain age and you lived in a college dorm, you know what I’m talking about.
— JEREMY MOULE
Orchestra in the Pines
3 p.m.
Cumming Nature Center, 6472 Gulick Road, Naples
On my endless journey to be surrounded by beauty as much as possible, I find myself seeking experiences where I can put music and nature together, harmoniously. A performance of pops and light classical by the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra in the middle of the forest is how I’ll achieve my goal of “music and nature in harmony” this summer. Tickets are $20 for members of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, $25 for the general public. Children 12 and under are $10 for members, $12 for the general public.
— JACOB WALSH
Watercolor workshop
9 a.m.
Ferris Hills at West Lake, 1 Ferris Hills, Canandaigua
It’s not often you’ll meet someone who has worked on more than a dozen of Disney’s feature films. It’s even less common to have the opportunity to take artistic instruction from them. But Canandaigua’s Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery is hosting 14-year Disney veteran artist Yong Hong Zhong for two watercolor workshops, including one for beginners on June 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A workshop for those with intermediate or advanced skills will be held the following day, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Yong was born in China and raised in New York City. He studied at Pratt Institute and has been collaborating on feature films with Disney since 1995. Classes are $125 each, $225 for both.
— REBECCA RAFFERTY
CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival
Throughout the week
Various downtown venues
Alongside the intimate club shows, which are ticketed, there are an enormous number of free outdoor shows in downtown Rochester during the event’s 19th season. Headlining at Parcel 5 on this evening, at 9 p.m., is a free performance by the longtime jazz-fusion outfit Spyro Gyra. Daily coverage of the festival, which runs through Saturday, is at wxxinews.org.
- JEFF SPEVAK
Go Skateboarding Day
All day
Roc City Skatepark, 241 South Ave
The Summer Solstice doubles as a beloved holiday for skateboarders. There’s no better time to break out the board and head down to the Roc City Skatepark, where celebrations will likely run from sunrise to sunset.
— GINO FANELLI
Marco Benevento
8 p.m.
Abilene Bar & Lounge, 153 Liberty Pole Way
Too late, this one sold out. But the club quickly added a second show for the experimental jazz pianist, one day earlier, 8 p.m. Tuesday, during a week ripe with Jazz Fest fervor. Benevento is a player that aims to stretch the bounds of conventional jazz, employing toy keyboards and strange circuit board fiddling to explore new sonic concepts. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door.
— GINO FANELLI
Carolyn Wonderland
7:30 p.m.
Abilene Bar & Lounge
Wonderland is a Texas blues powerhouse. Her most-recent album, Tempting Fate, has earned her two nominations from the Blues Foundation’s 43rd Blues Music Awards: Contemporary Blues Female Artist and Song of the Year for the high-octane “Fragile Peace and Certain War.” Tickets are $40 advance, $45 the day of the show, available through the club’s web site.
— JEFF SPEVAK
20 Foo Pilots
9 p.m.
Nashvilles, 4853 W. Henrietta Road
Do you like the Foo Fighters? Matchbox 20? Stone Temple Pilots? If the answer is “yes” to some or all of those groups, then this Rochester cover band should be a dream come true. Personally, I’d love to hear a mashup of “The Pretender” and “Unwell,” mostly out of curiosity and a misguided sense of humor. Anyway, I’m having flashbacks to the St. John Fisher dorms in the late 1990s — if you’re of a certain age and you lived in a college dorm, you know what I’m talking about.
— JEREMY MOULE
Orchestra in the Pines
3 p.m.
Cumming Nature Center, 6472 Gulick Road, Naples
On my endless journey to be surrounded by beauty as much as possible, I find myself seeking experiences where I can put music and nature together, harmoniously. A performance of pops and light classical by the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra in the middle of the forest is how I’ll achieve my goal of “music and nature in harmony” this summer. Tickets are $20 for members of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, $25 for the general public. Children 12 and under are $10 for members, $12 for the general public.
— JACOB WALSH
Watercolor workshop
9 a.m.
Ferris Hills at West Lake, 1 Ferris Hills, Canandaigua
It’s not often you’ll meet someone who has worked on more than a dozen of Disney’s feature films. It’s even less common to have the opportunity to take artistic instruction from them. But Canandaigua’s Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery is hosting 14-year Disney veteran artist Yong Hong Zhong for two watercolor workshops, including one for beginners on June 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A workshop for those with intermediate or advanced skills will be held the following day, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Yong was born in China and raised in New York City. He studied at Pratt Institute and has been collaborating on feature films with Disney since 1995. Classes are $125 each, $225 for both.
— REBECCA RAFFERTY