Matt Nakoa, Sherburne legend to play at Earlville Opera House on Saturday, March 23 at 7 p.m. (Submitted Photo)


EARLVILLE - Back by popular demand, hometown prodigy Matt Nakoa will be appearing at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 23, at Earlville Opera House, touting a newly released CD "Antique Pieces.”

Matt is an award-winning internationally known touring singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. A modern troubadour, he makes his home on the highways and concert stages of America, and he appears regularly with folk music icon Tom Rush. The Boston Globe says of Nakoa, “Between his piano chops and heartfelt originals on guitar, he drops jaws.”

Growing up on a small goat farm in rural Smyrna, NY, Matt discovered music as a means of teenage escape and trained to be a concert pianist. A graduate of Sherburne-Earlville School District, he was ultimately accepted as a vocalist to Berklee College of Music where he studied alongside soon-to-be Grammy winners St. Vincent and Esperanza Spalding, among others. After school, Matt landed in NYC’s vibrant piano bar scene. There he quickly became a star performer at Manhattan’s famous Brandy’s Piano Bar, with lines waiting outside the door each Saturday night.

It was in Manhattan’s all-night piano bars that Nakoa developed an uncanny ability to command the attention of any audience. As if illustrating two sides of himself, Matt’s first album, “Light In The Dark” (2012), is a sweeping pop opus, while “A Dozen Other Loves” (2014) explores an intimate acoustic palette. Across the board, Matt’s songcraft has garnered awards, including a win at Kerrville Folk Festival’s prestigious New Folk Competition. Though not easily pinned down, “In sum,” as a recent review put it, "Matt Nakoa is a musical adept, one of those well-kept secrets you just can’t help but celebrate: intimate and genuine, soulful and bittersweet, a rich poetic songbook sung in praise to a complicated, emotionally present world." 

As stated by Matt, "Long before I ever sang songs, I wrote piano music. My new album ‘Antique Dances’ is a special selection of original works that I dusted off and polished up during my COVID lockdown retreat. They have an old-world sound and are based on old-world dance forms. Sometimes, when modern life feels too fast and loud, it’s good to escape to distant times and places." We can’t wait to welcome Matt back home to the EOH stage.  

This is a performance you do not want to miss. Tickets are $30 General / $27 Members / $10 Students (17 and younger). Premiums apply to select rows. Tickets can be purchased online at: earlvilleoperahouse.showare.com. For more information about Matt, visit his website at: www.mattnakoa.com 

Thank you to our show sponsors: Preferred Mutual Insurance Company; Hamilton Community Chest; Bruce Ward, Architect; and NBT Bank.

Earlville Opera House Arts Center is located at 18 East Main Street in the quaint Village of Earlville, NY. At EOH we believe accessibility and inclusion are critical to everything we do. Our historic Opera House has been upgraded to ensure accessibility throughout the building, including a hearing loop system in our 1892 theater provided by Hamilton Hearing LLC.

EOH events are made possible with support from the Office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, administered by the New York State Council on the Arts, and through the generosity of EOH members.

– Information from the EOH