July News

Volume VII, 2026

In this Edition:

Greetings
Transparent on Tour
Friendraiser
New Talking Jazz Episode:
Event Calendar
Shop

I always enjoy getting invited to share music at the Eskenazy Hospital for their Marianne Tobias Music Program. The concerts are live streamed to all the rooms and on Facebook and everyone waiting for their appointments in the lobby shares requests. Such a wonderful way to leave your worries on the door step for a little while - here is the livestream from last Wednesday.

Thank you to Kyle Long for a beautiful feature of Transparent on the Cultural Manifesto program on WFYI Indianapolis.

This month's very short poem

I shall not

miss

the mosquitoes!

—L.L. Barkat, author of Love, Etc.: poems of love, laughter, longing & loss

In May 2010, I was invited to perform at the Clarksville, VA Jazz Festival in the Occoneechee State Park. I even got my own cabin and ended up accompanying a 13-year old Veronica Swift, swinging away! My feature set was at 8pm, just at sundown. I had a great trio with Michael Hawkins on bass and Kip Williams on drums from Rickmond, VA and was really looking forward to the set. The music went great, however, early into the set I realized why Avon's Skin So Soft cream was so popular in the area. Apparently, it keeps the Mosquitoes away. Instead, I did a Mosquito swat dance all through the set. It kind of looked like a Bavarian Schuhplattler Dance where you slap your thighs and Lederhosen every so often.

In any case, the occasion inspired the melody of this song - Mosquitoes - subsequently recorded on the first Sheroes album, The Whole World in Her Hands - enjoy!

There is even a Big Band arrangement recently published by Alfred, maybe a fun addition to the repertoire for the upcoming school year - order info here.

Some picture impressions from our very special Indy Sheroes show for Animals & All That Jazz at the Indianapolis Zoo.

And enjoy this special Talking Jazz Live episode featuring vocalist Emma Hedrick together with Peter Kienle and myself, filmed at the Spielraum in Vienna's Gasometer by Jam Music Lab University. This special setup a la Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz is my dream and eventually it'll manifest with the necessary financial, technical, infrastructure resources needed to create live episodes on a regular basis. However, the recorded episodes are just as special and I'm privileged to get to talk to my Heroes and Sheroes - recently to Steve Swallow, Ayn Inserto, Mary Halvorsen and so many more! The podcast channel Talking Jazz with Monika Herzig features all episodes and the show is live on WETF South Bend and WICR Indianapolis - here is a subscription link.

Dear Friends

Happy August, and Back to School month for many. I hope everyone made lots of good memories and had minimal mosquito encounters this summer. One of my favorite moments was our Animals & All That Jazz concerts this year with a group of amazing musicians and dear friends and an audience of 650 plus all the animals in the zoo! Enjoy the picture impressions above.

However, summer is far from over, there are a few more special Indiana events coming up, please check the calendar below. The make-up date for our rained out Parks concert is August 23, 7pm in Bryan Park/ Bloomington. Also please find initial ticket links for the Transparent Tour in Europe - Berlin friends, here is the link for October 9, spread the word.

The August issue of DownBeat Magazine features this beautiful article on the Transparent project. Thank you to Veronica Johnson for the insightful writing.

The music is still riding the airwaves and I regularly receive feedback from listeners touched by the compositions. Here is the bandcamp link.

A few more items to share - the Brown County Arts Gallery is featuring a special anniversary exhibit of T.C. Steele's art until September 20 in Nashville, IN - daily free admission. This is the largest exhibition of his art work in 100 years, here is info. We performed our House of the Singing Winds music for the opening exhibit on July 18 and got to admire the collection - if you live close, don't miss it! There are also copies of the House of the Singing Winds project available in the gift shop.

And finally, we will join Cathy Morris on August 11 for a friendraiser house concert event for her organization Arts With A Purpose in Indianapolis at Purple Sue's House - here is signup info for the limited 30 spots available. Cathy's organization has funded countless community outreach events in the Indianapolis area and reached hundreds of thousands of people in need. The organization has also supported our Jazz Girls Days and the Indiana Jazz Exchange with Cologne. Join us in supporting her selfless efforts in making our community a better place.

On a different note, applications for our degree programs at the Jam Music Lab University in Vienna are still open for the upcoming school year - consider studying in the cultural capital of the world: jazz and popular music performance, education, arts administration, and media music - and brand new: Doctor Arts, an Artistic Research Doctorate in Jazz and Popular Music - info here.

Many more special events in the calendar below, hope to see you somewhere soon.

Best Wishes

Monika