The Levitt AMP Utica Music Series announced the lineup for their ninth season in the community. The free concerts will run Mondays and Fridays on July 7 through Aug. 29 at Kopernik Park in the heart of downtown Utica. Shows start with the local openers at 5:30 p.m., youth performers at the 6:30 p.m. intermission and at 7 p.m. the headliners take the stage.
Levitt AMP Utica is one of 33 mid-sized town/city Levitt AMP locations in the country by the Levitt Foundation. These free concerts aim to bring together Utica’s diverse community and create opportunities for youth in the area. Each concert gives local and youth performers the opportunity to open for national touring acts. The Levitt AMP Utica Music Series also mentors over 30 “Leviteen” interns who work to help make the concerts happening from production management to concert videography.
“The whole premise of Levitt is to strengthen the social fabric of our community and it starts with music,” Gabriella Marchesani, Levitt AMP Utica talent booker said. “Music is the catalyst for that.”
The series welcomes a family-friendly, non-alcoholic environment for social bonding in the community each week. For the youth performer intermission, many young artists will experience their first “paycheck” as an artist and getting a standing ovation from a crowd of hundreds.
The public is encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs. The series will offer art activities for young concert-goers as well as food trucks and vendors on site.
Each of the ten headlining artists represent a different genre, making each show unique to the last. Starting out the series, Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers take the stage July 7 with blues rock described as “face melting and soul stirring guitar solos” by Utica native Joe Bonamassa.
Aug. 15 features performers Küf Knotz and Christine Elise blending hip-hop and harp playing. Knotz has opened for The Roots, Lauryn Hill, Arrested Development and Bruce Springsteen blending hip-hop poetry with lo-fi and soul. Elise, a classically trained harpist, pianist and vocalist studied music therapy at the masters level, leading her to facilitate group sessions and present at music therapy conferences around the world.
The concert series closes out with Joslyn and the Sweet Compression, an R&B singer with inspirations of Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and Whitney Houston.
Concerts go on rain or shine with rain locations at either Munson Art Museum or Delta Hotels by Marriott. For more information about Levitt AMP Utica, see here.
2025 Levitt AMP Utica Music Series Lineup
Monday, July 7 — Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers (blues/rock) w/ Grit N Grace
Monday, July 14 — Jessica Lynn (country) w/ Filled to the Brim
Monday, July 21 — Afro Andean Funk (latin/world) w/ Vinyl Logic
Monday, July 28 — Colleen Orender w/ Cait Devin
Monday, Aug. 4 — Bermuda Search Party (alternative/indie) w/ Soul Injection
Monday, Aug. 11 — The Lee Boys (gospel/blues) w/ Astena Williams
Friday, Aug. 15 — Küf Knotz and Christine Elise (hip-hop/new age) w/ J Easy
Monday, Aug. 18 — Alysha Brilla (folk/world/soul) w/ Steve Falvo’s Big Easy Money Band
Monday, Aug. 25 — Hermitage Green (Irish) w/ The Shawn Smith Band
Friday, Aug. 29 — Joslyn and the Sweet Compression (R&B/soul) w/ Rising Ghosts
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