Rivertown Gets Its Own Musical In Tony Kieraldo's "Hudson Ragtime Piano Suite"
Tony Kieraldo’s new album, "Hudson Ragtime Piano Suite," tours the river city one street at a time.
The streets of Hudson, New York, define the city — historically, visually, culturally and emotionally. Five long parallel streets rip downhill to the river, each with its own distinct characteristics. Accomplished international recording artist, pianist, musical director, and composer Tony Kieraldo’s new album, Hudson Ragtime Piano Suite captures the essence of the thoroughfares in a way only music can, linking the past to the present with five bops, each dedicated to one street.
The album will be launched with a special performance at Hudson Hall October 8 in partnership with the Hudson Area Library’s History Room. The tunes will also be interstitially peppered with historical, personal, and often hilarious stories from residents and historians as Kieraldo takes the audience on a musical tour of Warren, Diamond (now known as Columbia), State, Union and Allen. A songbook, including the music and histories provided by the History Room, will also be avalible for purchase.
“The idea came about during the pandemic last year,” said Kieraldo. “As a working artist it changed everything.”
Tony Kieraldo (Photo by JD Urban)
Along with his local endeavors, the Hudson-based musician is also currently the pianist with Postmodern Jukebox, musical director for the National Dance Institute in NYC and Celebrate the Beat in Colorado. In 2017, Tony performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with the rock band Bash & Pop. He’s performed at the Kennedy Center and even twice at the White House for the Obamas. Despite his impressive resume, like all artists, COVID-19 threw a monkey wrench in the piano.
Early in the pandemic, Kieraldo received grant funding from the Hudson Emergency Arts Fund, which was established to support artists put out of work by the 2020 lockdown. While he had other projects in the works, Kieraldo felt it was important to support the community that has supported him by creating the suite for the city.
“I got the grant and that was the seed to begin doing something. I also did a lot of walking through the streets of Hudson at the time because, you know, that was all you could do, and I started conceptualizing a ragtime suite. I was kind of making the correlation that ragtime was popular the last time there was a pandemic and that was the time Hudson was also at its peak with population and business.”
The longest and most varied rag, ‘Diamond Street’ (renamed Columbia Street a century ago in an attempt to whitewash its seedy past), is an homage to what was once New York’s most infamous red light district. He mixes a veriety of ethnic music styles to tell the story of the diverse community that lived and still lives on the street as well as playfully and wordlessly spinning the tale of the red light district and its eventual raid by the Feds. Likewise, the “Warren Street” rag bustles, while “Allen Street” reflects the high-class residential street’s Victorian refinement.
The evening features a live performance by Kieraldo alongside filmed interviews with Hudson personalities who have intimate historical knowledge, including Reverend Ed Cross, Carole Osterink of Gossips of Rivertown, former Mayor Richard Tracy, and local historian Ken Sheffer. The History Room has also sourced archival images of the streets to project on Hudson Hall’s movie screen.
“Tony has always supported the Hudson Area Library with his enthusiastic engagement as a patron as well as his artistic talents,” says History Room Coordinator Brenda Shufelt. “We are particularly proud to have worked with Tony to research the history of the five main streets of Hudson for his book.Tony so obviously loves Hudson and its representative and sometimes quirky history. His compositions will add, fittingly, to our understanding of this city and why so many of us are taken with it and feel so at home in it.”
Kieraldo is modest about the project, despite how much care and hard work it clearly represents. His affection for the city and the community was his driving force behind crafting the admittedly niche piece of work.
“I wanted to do it at Hudson Hall because it fits so well into the history of the work and is such an important place now,” said Kieraldo (he directed the first opera at Hudson Hall when it reopened). “Because it’s only five songs I wanted to involve the community and make it more of a historical piece. It’s standard ragtime style but I do deviate in color and musicality.”
“It’s important to invest in art,” Kieraldo added. “It’s the lifeblood of society and what makes this community unique, I hope that continues. This is my way of saying a big thank you to Hudson and the community.”
Tickets are $15, with a portion of proceeds to benefit Kite’s Nest. Spotty Dog Books & Ale will be on site as well to sell copies of the vinyl album and songbook ($25). For more information and to purchase tickets visit Hudsonhall.org.
