Join Mark Houghtaling and Neil Herlands for an afternoon of original music and storytelling at Arbor Ridge at Brookmeade. Drawing on cabaret, jazz, and pop, Mark's songs range across themes of love, self-reflection, and the wider world — crafted with lyricism, wisdom, and humor.
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Mark and Neil met while studying theater at Binghamton University — the start of both a creative partnership and a life together spanning nearly fifty years. Mark's musical journey began in choirs and vocal ensembles in grade school and plunking out tunes on an old upright piano at the family home in Utica, NY. For Neil, the lifelong passion for singing first found expression in high school and community theater in Rockland County, and deepened through years of vocal study in New York with Helen Gallagher, Craig Carnelia, and Melissa Errico.
Together their musical collaboration has taken many forms: the 80s rock band Pop Heroes; original musicals and cabaret performances in Manhattan; The Bridge, a NYC-based vocal trio with Pam Brennan; Easier Said, a CD of Mark's original songs; and a host of community and fundraising events throughout the Hudson Valley.
Newly settled in Rhinebeck Village, they have performed as part of the Morton Memorial Library Acoustic Fridays series, the World Famous Colony Open Mic in Woodstock, and Broadway in Beacon, and are exploring other musical adventures in the area.
Off the stage, Neil is a psychoanalyst in private practice and faculty member and frequent presenter at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Mark, a retired marketing executive, maintains a small integrative bodywork practice in Woodstock and volunteers with Rhinebeck at Home, the Holistic Health Community, and other local organizations. Throughout their lives, music has been a constant source of expression, joy, and community, and the two can often be found jamming with family and friends in their music room overlooking the Landsman Kill.