Charlie Rauh: Live Performance

Join author and composer Charlie Rauh for a live performance marking the culminating event of Overlapping Empires.
About this Event

Saturday, August 29, 2026 at 2 PM

VCHM Lawn
Author/composer Charlie Rauh will perform music from his album, “A Hymn To The Morning”, and read from his forthcoming book, “Amizdel”: both of which examine the life and work of Phillis Wheatley Peters. As the first enslaved person to publish a book of poetry in 1773, Wheatley Peter’s’ story sprawls from her home in coastal Africa, to being trafficked as a slave to the American colonies, to her emancipation in the center of the English Empire. Through her insightful writing we are given a powerfully layered account of humanity; the power structures that seek to silence, and the conquering spirit which quietly outlasts them.

Rauh also created Hum, the original sound work heard throughout Overlapping Empires. Within the exhibition, fragments and reverberations of the piece move through rooms suffused with magenta light, tracing histories of enslaved African and African-descended people whose labor, knowledge, and lives formed the foundation of the wealth represented throughout Van Cortlandt House.

This free performance offers a final opportunity to experience Overlapping Empires before the exhibition closes on August 30th!

FREE. RSVP is suggested but not required.
This program was supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Van Cortlandt House Museum's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Accessibility: The performance is outdoors on the museum lawn. The exhibition is installed throughout the historic house, which, at this time, is accessed using stairs. A 360-degree tour of the historic house is available on a tablet in our Welcome Center. The exhibition will be available for online viewing shortly.
Getting here:

Address for GPS:Van Cortlandt House Museum is located inside Van Cortlandt Park at Broadway and West 246th Street in The Bronx. There is a paved tree-lined pedestrian path leading from Broadway to the museum.
Public Transportation:

• Subway: #1 to 242nd Street Station, then walk north on Broadway to the tree-lined pedestrian path leading into the park.
• Bus: Bx9 to West 246th Street and Broadway, then walk into the park on the tree-lined pedestrian path leading into the park.
• BxM3 Express Bus to 246th Street and Broadway, then walk into the park on the tree-lined pedestrian path leading into the park.
• Metro-North Hudson River Line to Marble Hill Station, transfer to the Bx9 bus or #1 subway as above.

By Car:
You can park in Van Cortlandt Park's free parking lot, which is a 5 minute walk on park trails from the museum () or you can pay for metered street-parking on Broadway ().
To Van Cortlandt Golf Course Off-Street Free Parking Lot
From Queens and Long Island:
Take the Tri-Boro Bridge to the Major Deegan Expressway North (87). Take the 230th St. Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/VanCortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.
From Manhattan:
East Side: Take FDR Drive to Willis Avenue Bridge. Go over bridge and bear left for the Major Deegan Expressway North (87). Get off at the 230th Street Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/Van Cortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.
West Side: Take West Side Highway North to Cross Bronx Expressway East.
Take Cross Bronx Expressway to Major Deegan North (87). Take the 230th St. Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/Van Cortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.
From New Jersey:
Take the G.W. Bridge to Major Deegan Expressway North (87). Take the 230th St. Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/Van Cortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.
From Westchester County & Points North:
Take 87 South to Van Cortlandt Park South Exit. At top of the exit, make a left. At next light, make another left and follow the signs to golf course, bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.