Venessa Vacanti

Arts at the Palace’s Artist in Residence program was created to invite emerging artists to Hamilton, offering them the time, space and resources to take their work to the next level. We were introduced to Vanessa Vacanti, a jazz vocalist from Buffalo, NY, after booking her for our Thursdays on the Village Green summer concert series on July 31, and quickly knew she’d be an ideal fit for a residency ahead of her performance.

For Vanessa the weekend became a deeply personal project - centered around five never-before-heard songs written years ago by her grandmother’s close friend, New York City-based composer Susan Reichen. Discovered unfinished, these pieces sparked Vanessa’s vision for the weekend: to bring them to life through collaboration, arrangement, and performance. The result was one of our most memorable public showcases to date, with Susan herself who traveled to Hamilton with her daughter to attend the live performance of her own reimagined music. “I feel very grateful to have had this opportunity with her.”

Vanessa arrived for the residency with a handpicked ensemble - Dave Solazzo on piano, Mark Shiner on drums, and her father Matthew Vacanti on bass. Together, they explored different grooves and styles, shaping each piece through open and creative rehearsal. “I came into the weekend with a few ideas—what feels I wanted the tunes to be in, whether I wanted them to be developed into bossas, swing, or funk - then the musicians helped me turn those ideas into beautiful recordings,” she shared.