Local entertainment company hoping to amp up Rochester’s nightlife scene
Aventi Entertainment, formerly Apollo Music Group, is joining forces with Twin Cities-based Entourage Events Group to operate a bar and lounge inside the new Hilton hotel project on North Broadway.
(The same partnership also submitted a proposal for the Chateau Theatre.)
The lounge will be open daily, and on Friday and Saturday nights will transform into a nightlife venue with DJs and specialty cocktails.
In addition to the Hilton venture, Aventi Entertainment will also offer up their services for event marketing, full-spectrum hospitality staffing, and setups for weddings and corporate functions.
Sunny Prabhakar, one of the partners in Aventi Entertainment, told us the goal is to create a dynamic nightlife experience that will keep people from leaving town on the weekends. The community is growing, he said, and now is the time for the nightlife to grow along with it.
“Having a vibrant nightlife is a key aspect of any thriving city,” said Prabhakar. “It aids to the quality of life that prospective talent looks for when they are deciding where to move.”
Prabhakar will run the business along with John Boss, a former IBMer who grew Apollo Music Group into a full-service DJ management company that performs at more than 600 events a year. Boss described Apollo as a great foundation for learning what works and what doesn’t work in the industry.
As DJs, he said, it is their job to create a good experience by dictating the energy in the room and facilitating good memories with music.
“Music is truly a physical, emotional and powerful experience that can bring different human beings together around a common sound,” he said. “A good musical experience will allow everyone to put all their troubles aside and be with others who want to be a part of something greater.”
While this will be their first formal business partnership together, it will not be their first time collaborating. Prabhakar and Boss were the masterminds behind the popular music series known as Elysium.
Although Aventi will not be a direct extension of Elysium, Boss said many of the same elements will continue to be planted into Aventi’s model.
“Elysium was a pure expression of our creative desires for nightlife in this city and we believe it was an amazing success,” said Boss. “There was tremendous support from both local artists and attendees which pointed to a bigger need in the city to have high quality, creative and well executed events. There was never a long term intention of us working together, but after seeing our synergy around event planning, idea creating and execution it made sense for us to partner up.”
The lounge inside the Hilton is scheduled to open this spring. The project also includes a 264-room hotel and a Pittsburgh Blue steakhouse.
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