Guests signed up for the tour at the Arts Center and received a map with a route to each open artist's studio and a badge to let artists know who they are. There were also two artists inside the arts center, Pal Gyomai and Ed Dabronski.

Studios not shown in pictures below include Dina Herrmann and Bruce Iacono

Bill Ullman's Studio

Harvey Ehrlich's Studio

Deb Leece's Studio

Mike Keropian's Studio

Roy Volpe's Studio

Kate and Jan Hoekstra

Neil Hickey

Senator Vincent Leibell

Midhat Serbagi

Open Mouth Night

A Celebration of St. Patrick's Day

Friday, March 14 at 8 p.m.

Joining Arts on the Lake in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day were Heidi Upton, Emily Mitchell, Jan Hoekstra, Midhat Serbagi, James Shearwood, Neil Hickey, James McGuire, Stuart Hample, Kate O'Connor Hoesktra, Judy Allen, Peggity Price, Patricia Sebastian, Nancy Johnston, Lora Lee Ecobelli, Caitlin O'Heaney, Roger Hendricks Simon and dancers from the Kelly-Oster School of Irish Dance.

There were readings from W. B. Yeats, scenes from Becket's "Waiting for Godot," Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa" and Finley Peter Dunne's " Mr. Dooley's America," songs, poems, traditional limericks and what St. Patrick's Day would be complete without step dancing?

Photos by Jeff Green

With the theme of "Songs Without Words, Words Without Songs", some of the area's most talented instrumental performers shared the stage with regional and national talent of stage and screen.

Opening the show was a 12 minute up-to-date version of Hamlet starring Lora Lee Ecobelli, Jeff Green, Peggity Price, Midhat Serbagi, Richard Lopez, Daniel Simon and Roger Simon. Poison, sword fights and all.

Following Hamlet, poet and storyteller Harvey Ehrlich took the stage to read a new creation "Sadie's Story", which, as his works always do, charmed the audience with a tale of love and redemption and ultimate hope.

The first musical performer of the evening was Putnam Valley's Joe Giannini who, for 12 minutes, brought the audience into an ethereal, introspective world of blues/jazz improv on an orchestral double-base.

Twenty-four year old Richie Lopez, one of the few people known to have alarmed fellow poet and youth icon Raegan Butcher, grew up in Kent and now lives in upstate New York, made a return visit to the stage last evening to read three of his latest poems, "Attic", "Blackbox Independence", and "Redefining Gravity".

Finishing the First Act was also a return visitor, Alan Goodman, a flamenco guitarist who performed on this stage a few weeks back in "Music for Four Voices". Playing both the guitar and a tenor ukulele, Alan, once again mesmerized the audience as he always does. "I love playing this place, it's got such a great feel to it", Alan said after his set.

The Second Act of the evening opened with a short play, "Balls" written by Patrick Davin, was one of the highlights of Westchester's Axial Theater's festival of short plays. Ron was played by Doug Darwin and Tom was Matt Walton. This hilarious short play, originally directed by Chuck Bradley, examined the story of two stay-at-home dads, former competitors, who accidentally meet at a driving range and renew their rivalry on a new field of play.

Following, came Carmel High School's Rayon Al-Shahrani on violin who performed pieces by Mozart and Wieniawski. Rayon is both an accomplished violinist and a student of violin making. He plans to continue his studies in both areas after graduating Carmel this spring. Ray was accompanied on piano by Westchester-based music therapist and performer, Angeline Brown.

Taking command of the stage was Lora Lee Ecobelli, no stranger to Open Mouth and other Arts on the Lake performances and events. Ms. Ecobelli, who directs the Blue Horse Repertory Company, read from her upcoming novel, "Wanda Allen" the story of two young women coming of age.

Ending the evening on a bright musical note, Lake Carmel's Steve Schreiber entertained the audience with three jazz/blues guitar solos sending the audience out into the cold, star-filled February night with a song in their hearts and one more wonderful Open Mouth event under their belts.

Click here for the Program.

Music for Four Voices brought four artists from around the Hudson Valley together on one stage and provided an evening as varied as it was magical.

Starting off the evening was Sarah Chesler. Born and raised in Sweden but for the last 10 years a resident of USA, she writes songs in both English and Swedish and performed both on piano and a capella last evening. Sarah is regularly performing and has recently appeared at such venues as: the Towne Crier Cafe in Pawling NY, Caffe Vivaldi, in New York City, and Bistro Du Soleil in South Norwalk CT.

Next on the bill was Newburgh singer/songwriter Todd Guidice. Frank Mathis, host of "Bon Ton Roulet" on WVKR (91.3FM) said of him,

"Todd Giudice has a fire and determination in his songs that compel attention. I think his fame time is coming soon, when the world will all catch on to the great stuff he is doing. When it comes to sheer talent and song power, he is definitely there with the "A" league. You can put his songs next to anyone and know he belongs right there with the big names. He was a big hit on my show".

Todd performs around the Northeast, having played at such New York City venues as The Living Room, The Knitting Factory and The Bitter End, along with the Colony Cafe in Woodstock and the prestigious Towne Crier Cafe in Pawling where he has opened for Graham Parker and Chris Trapper. Todd has been receiving airplay on area radio stations such as WDST, WKZE, WBAI, WPKN and WVKR, all of which I heartily recommend you add to your regular radio listening regimen.

After a brief intermission, Lake Carmel's own Maggie Seligman took the stage. Maggie, producer of last evening's performances, is not a stranger to Arts on the Lake, having performed for us on several occasions over the past couple of years.

Maggie grew up in NYC and has opened for singer/songwriter Christine Lavin and performed at Pawling’s Towne Crier Café. She describes her music as “eclectic acoustic;” a repertoire that includes traditional, folk, jazz and standard selections. Her CD “Rubato” will be released this Spring and a three song sampler was available for sale last evening.

As part of Maggie's set she was joined by Todd on slide guitar in which she was able to help her express her lyrical, very interesting and somewhat unique style of music.

Closing the evening was Alan Goodman, a critically acclaimed flamenco guitarist who has been performing for over 35 years. Alan's career spans not only the years but musical styles and venues as varied as ABC NO RIO in the East Village to crafting children's albums today.

Alan spent a year in Spain leading a jazz trio and studying the history and origins of flamenco music. Alan's last two albums, "Under the Bed" and "Backyard Guitar" have garnered national attention and have won several awards including the Parent's Choice Gold Award.

Alan opened his set last night with George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" on tenor uke and later in the set was joined by Sarah Chesler on piano for his hauntingly beautiful, "Cancion De La Casa", which is on his album, "Backyard Guitar".

Photos by Jeff Green