• Raul Midón & Sonya Kitchell
• 8pm seating / 9pm show
• Special event

Please note: show time has been updated to 9pm

Raul Midón is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Mexico, based in New York City. His distinct voice, strumming, beats, and a cappella sounds combine to create a unique one-man performance that encompasses a range of musical genres, including jazz, blues, R&B, Latin and folk. Midón began on backup vocals for a number of Top 40 acts, including Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias and Jose Feliciano. After touring with Shakira and recording with Alejandro Sanz in 2002, he moved to New York City to pursue a solo career, and soon after releasing an independent album was signed to Manhattan Records by Grammy Award-winning producer Arif Mardin who produced Midón's critically acclaimed debut album State of Mind in 2005. His most recent album, A World Within a World was released by EMI in October, 2007.

For his Pairings performance, Midón will be joined by Sonya Kitchell, a young singer/songwriter who has recently come of age with her most mature recording yet, This Storm. Her debut album, Words Came Back To Me, was released in 2006 when she was only 16, and critical acclaim soon followed: "Such warm honey-textured tones, arching smoothly through shifting layers of emotion, don't usually emerge from a 16-year-old," wrote the Los Angeles Times. Not just the critics noticed, and after hearing Kitchell sing, Herbie Hancock invited her to tour with him in 2006. This Storm is an impressive follow-up, and marks her arrival as an artist of merit.

Pairings is a unique "blend" at City Winery: an intimate concert series — served with fine wine — that will take place on City Winery's main stage every Thursday evening, starting in January 2009. Each concert will be preceded by an optional tasting or private dinner, followed by personal performances from some of today's most respected musicians. Pairings has been designed especially with City Winery's target audience of cool urban wine sophisticates in mind, and promises to be a stand-out program that draws from City Winery's core rudiments — wine, music and food — to create a holistic cultural evening unlike any other in Manhattan.