Jazz guitarist Michaela Coppola and vocalist Amanda Bellitto will perform at Best Video Performance Space on Thursday, July 7. The show starts at 8 PM and the cover is $5.
Amanda Bellitto is a jazz vocalist out of Fairfield, Connecticut. She has been singing for eight years, and performing professionally since the age of 15. She performs regularly in a jazz duo with Michaela Coppola on guitar, and a pop/folk duo with Jerome Goosman. She is also part of a quartet with Jake Epstein, Esdras Lubin and Jack Srebnik.
At age thirteen, Michaela Coppola became the youngest performing member of the Fairfield County Jazz Guild, where she developed her Jazz improvisational skills on the stage of local Jazz Club, Two Boots, in Bridgeport. During this time, she mainly played with college music majors and made some guest appearances with local professional Jazz artists.
For the past three years, Michaela has been performing semi-professionally with her father, renowned jazz guitarist Michael Coppola, at many events such as the Montreal Jazz Festival in Montreal, Canada; The Chet Atkins Festival in Nashville, Tennessee and Connecticut’s Levitt Pavilion and other venues. She is a regular performing artist in the house band of the monthly Jazz Jam at Café Nine in New Haven, Connecticut as well as other local Connecticut clubs and restaurants. She was featured at Bridgeport’s Discovery Museum’s Guitar Series with Master Jazz Guitarist, Gene Bertoncini and has also performed with Jazz Piano Legend, Don Trenner and many others.
Her thirst for knowledge brought her to the Litchfield Summer Jazz Program under the tutelage of masters such as Claudio Roditti and Dave Stryker and the Neighborhood Music School Summer Program with Wayne Escoffrey.Michaela just graduated from ACES Education Center for the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut and studied with Jeff Fuller and Jim Martin. Michaela was selected as the lead guitarist for the 2012 and 2013 Connecticut Regional Jazz Festival, 2013 Connecticut All State Jazz Festival and the 2013 National Honor Jazz Ensemble. Michaela is also a member of the Shoreline Community Big Band. Currently Michaela is a student at The New School of Jazz in New York City. She studies with Vic Juris, Jimmy Owens, and Gerard D’Angelo.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
• Friday, July 1. POST-PUNK: TELEGRAM SCAM, SPECTRAL FANGS
• Sunday, July 3. FREE AFTERNOON BLUEGRASS JAM
• Wednesday, July 6. STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW
• Thursday, July 7. JAZZ: MICHAELA COPPOLA & AMANDA BELLITTO
• Friday, July 8. SINGER-SONGWRITER: JOSÉ OYOLA, REBECCA KESSLER OF VIOLENT MAE (SOLO)
• Saturday, July 9. FILM SCREENING: A DARK ROOM FILM FEST WITH TONY JULIANO
• Sunday, July 10. MARK SCHENKER: HOW TO READ A FILM—FOUR BY BILLY WILDER (“WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION”)
• Monday, July 11. FILM SCREENING: “REMEMBER”
• Wednesday, July 13. ROCK: HOLIDAY PING
• Thursday, July 14. SINGER-SONGWRITER/INDIE ROCK: DANIELLE CAPALBO
• Friday, July 15. SINGER-SONGWRITER: KATH BLOOM, BOP TWEEDIE
• Monday, July 18. FILM SCREENING: “LIFEBOAT”
• Wednesday, July 20. BLUEGRASS: DUDLEY FARMS STRING BAND
• Thursday, July 21. JAZZ: BRETT BOTTOMLEY
• Friday, July 22. FOLK: HOMEMADE JAM
• Sunday, July 24. INDIE, HIP-HOP: RUNNING LAPS & NATHAN CORP, THE FOREST ROOM, CHEF THE CHEF, ZAK G.
• Monday, July 25. FILM SCREENING: “ACE IN THE HOLE”
• Wednesday, July 27. DR. CATERWAUL’S CADRE OF CLAIRVOYANT CLAPTRAPS PRESENTS THE MUSIC OF ENNIO MORRICONE
• Thursday, July 28. DIY/EXPERIMENTAL: PAINTED FACES, BIG NURSE
• Friday, July 29. ART-ROCK: FE FI FO
• Monday, Aug. 1. FILM SCREENING: “THE TRAIN”
• Wednesday, Aug. 3. INDIE ROCK: JELLYSHIRTS
• Thursday, Aug. 4. ECLECTIC ACOUSTIC: THE NAMELESS TRIO
• Friday, Aug. 5. INDIE ROCK: THE LYS GUILLORN BAND, EARTHLINGS
• Monday, Aug. 8. FILM SCREENING: “MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION”
• Wednesday, Aug. 10. BLUEGRASS: EAST ROCK RAMBLERS
• Thursday, Aug. 11. INDIE ROCK: ZOO FRONT
• Wednesday, Aug. 17. SINGER-SONGWRITER POP: THE SHELLYE VALAUSKAS EXPERIENCE, TINY OCEAN
• Friday, Aug. 19. SINGER-SONGWRITERS: PONYBIRD, FRANK CRITELLI, CHRISTOPHER BOUSQUET
• Tuesday, Aug. 30. BLUEGRASS: STACY PHILLIPS & HIS BLUEGRASS CHARACTERS
• Sunday, Sept. 25. SURJ FILM SCREENING: “RACE: THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION”
• Friday, Oct. 7. BLUEGRASS/NEW ACOUSTIC: JOE WALSH & FRIENDS (A GUITARTOWN CT PRODUCTION)
• Saturday, Oct. 8. THE NEW ENGLAND UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL