Young Jazz Keyboard Sensation Coming to Caroga!

On Friday, August 3 and Saturday, August 4, New York City teen piano/Hammond organ powerhouse Matthew Whitaker will bring his unique gift to the stages of Nick Stoner Inn and Sherman’s Amusement Park.

The Caroga Arts Collective is proud to promote the return of Sherman’s Amusement Park to its former glory as a lakeside summer destination for fun, frolic, and events. Join us at Sherman’s this summer for seven special events!

“If you thought God was good to grant us one Stevie Wonder, what would you say to two? Hackensack’s Matthew Whitaker happens to be blind – that’s the least of the resemblance – but he’s also a 15-year-old piano powerhouse who has rocked Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and festivals in France, Italy, Morocco and Japan.” – 17 People to Watch in 2017, North Jersey News, December 29, 2016.

Born prematurely at 23 weeks, Matthew survived and was given a small keyboard at age three. He taught himself to play piano, then the Hammond organ. Now 17, Matthew studies classical piano and drums at The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School of the Lighthouse Guild in New York City. It is the only community music school for the blind and visually impaired in the US. He also attends the Manhattan School of Music’s Pre-college Jazz Program.

Matthew has received the “Outstanding Soloist Award” from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Charles Mingus High School Competition & Festival and the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. Read his full biography.

 

At Caroga Lake Music Festival, the Matthew Whitaker Trio will perform selections from his first album, “Outta the Box,” and other electrifying jazz charts, in addition to performing with the CLMF Orchestra.

 

• Encore! Jazz Sessions: Friday, August 3 at 10pm at Nick Stoner Inn with the Matthew Whitaker Trio
• Sherman’s Revival Series: Saturday, August 4 at 7pm with the Matthew Whitaker Trio and the CLMF Orchestra

Matthew’s father, interviewed on the Today Show, had this to say about this son: ” Matthew just assumes that everyone he meets, they’re smiling at him. And that is the reason why he’s so full of love.”