Our present
a Grass-roots success story
Flying Cat Music is an all volunteer effort dedicated to bringing roots, Americana, and singer-songwriter musicians from across the globe into Phoenicia, New York, located in the greater Woodstock region of the Catskill Mountains.
Celebrating Live Music
Flying Cat Music, begun in 2009, produces a dozen or more concerts each year at the United Methodist Church in Phoenicia, New York.
To those who are already familiar with the house concert phenomena, our shows embrace that spirit. House concerts and “listening rooms,” such as ours, exist to both celebrate live music and support the musicians who make it. They are distinctly non-commercial ventures except for one shared core conviction: highly talented and dedicated musicians deserve to be able to support themselves through their music.
We help musicians from all over the world cover the costs of traveling through our locale by connecting them with new fans here in Phoenicia. Each open night that becomes a paying show helps support their touring efforts. Across the nation others are doing the same in their communities; helping musicians passing through to find new audiences, keeping the music alive.
We also believe that little compares with audiences getting to experience live music in a setting intimate enough for them to actually meet and greet the performers.
Our Past
local to global
Flying Cat Music grew out of an earlier monthly concert series called Phoenicia Phirst Phriday where many of our area’s leading musicians gave performances in a downtown art gallery for the benefit of local charities. Within a few years, we began presenting notable national and international artists in a historic venue.
Flying Cat 1.0
Our second venue was the acoustically stunning Empire State Railway Museum. Our concerts were staged in what used to be the wood-paneled passenger waiting room of the Phoenicia train station, which musicians likened to "playing inside of a cello" and seated 60 lucky attendees. We have deep appreciation for the Empire State Railway Museum for hosting our concert series for the first ten years.
Flying Cat 2.0
In 2019, we moved to the beautiful United Methodist Church, at 29 Church Street, Phoenicia, doubling our capacity to 120, while maintaining our goal of having musicians perform in an intimate and historic space.
Those of you who have attended a Phoenicia Festival of the Voice event held inside the church are already aware of how special a space it is. It is graced with a high ceiling, good sound, beautiful dark wood arches, and glorious stained-glass windows.