The Koleda (Christmas) concert at Plovdiv Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts on December 18 featured the Academy Folk Orchestra, great soloists, and a special presentation of Milcho Vasilev’s “Concertino” for piano and orchestra. This was my debut performance with a Bulgarian orchestra, with more than two dozen excellent musicians and conductor Vladimir Vladimirov. Thank you all!
My first concert at Plovdiv Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Bulgaria on December 5. I played a beautiful composition by Dimitar Nenov titled “Meditation” and four of the very modern 24 bagatelles for piano by Ivan Spassov. Half a dozen pianists from Bulgaria, China and the United States presented an hour of powerful piano music from the 20th and 21st centuries.
My solo concert of original compositions, arrangements and improvisations of Bulgarian traditional folk melodies, and favorite classical and film music selections. “Music without Borders” is an increasingly popular concept in live performances around the world. It is one of the easiest ways to promote mutual understanding and cultural exchange and a creative foundation for peace.
This end of summer epic celebration with dozens of performers and hundreds of people celebrating life and community together is a unique event. It has been my pleasure to produce this free concert every year since 1994. From the energetic opening drumming to the final anthem, we all have a great time.
Laura Cappello is well known for her popular performances as Patsy Cline in productions since 2002. Cape Cod Times hails Cappello’s “sweet and sometimes husky alto, and spot-on period stylings” and the ease in which she “mixes torch song with poignancy and honky tonk”. I was the music director and concert pianist for the 2018 Provincetown Theater production Always… Patsy Cline starring Cappello. We created this concert to celebrate old and new songs.
It’s Carnival time in Provincetown! The 2019 “Enchanted Forest” theme is the inspiration for the mid-August Broadway concert of singing divas and divos delivering grand performances from musicals celebrating all things festive and fun and… enchanted.
A favorite of the Broadway ensemble singers and audience, this special theme features men singing songs originally performed by women, and women belting out tunes originally performed by men. The concert runs the gamut from wild humor to sweet poignancy and is a hugely popular event.
I played synthesizer keyboard with the excellent musicians of the Cape Symphony conducted by the phenomenal Jung-Ho Pak at a “live to film” performance of John Williams’ iconic score for “Jaws” on August 9 at the Beach Road Weekend festival on Martha’s Vineyard, where much of the classic film was shot. To see the movie outdoors on a huge screen while hearing a symphony orchestra pound through the unforgettable “Jaws” theme and the richly complex score is an awesome experience.
Legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has written two dozen musicals during half a century of creativity. He has an Academy Award, 8 Tony Awards, 8 Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and more. Sondheim is the Great Music on Sundays @5 Broadway ensemble’s favorite musical theater composer/lyricist. The Sondheim concert is always spectacular and filled with well-known and obscure gems.
Accomplished musicians play beautiful, rhythmic melodies from their home countries and the rich cultural heritage of the Balkans. Petar Dimitrov is a graduate of the National Music School “Filip Kutev” in Kotel. Elena Mancheva is a graduate of the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv. Zoran Matich plays music in Serbia, the United States, England, Italy and China.
A powerful and joyous concert that focuses on families and friends and the homes we create in our hearts and in our world. The music includes Broadway, classical, film, popular and international songs that bring us all closer to home.
A piano duo for more than a decade, John Thomas & Paul Bisaccia perform themes from classic cinema by composers Elmer Bernstein, Philip Glass, Bernard Herrmann, Dario Marianelli, Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, John Williams and others. The concert features a simultaneous live widescreen projection of the pianists’ hands on the Steinway grand piano.
“[H]igh praise must be reserved for music director John Thomas, who does more with three musicians than might seem possible. His interpretation of Sondheim’s sophisticated motifs is graceful and emotional and jarring when it needs to be. The choral moments in ‘Sweeney Todd’ will reach down to your bones.” – Provincetown Banner
“[T]he company finds all the emotion lurking in the corners of this dark tale, from gut-wrenching grief to the soaring joy of young love.” – Cape Cod Times
“John Thomas and the band are impeccable.” – ptownie.com
Johnny & The Washashores (John Thomas, Mark van Bork, Trevor Pearson, Joe Hoyt & special guest Ken Field) take the beach on July 7 for a summer party like no other. From New Orleans to Bulgaria and back again, the band gets everyone dancing, and occasionally limboing too.
Combining two perennial favorite Broadway concert themes – musicals with an American ambience and those with an international setting – this event takes Broadway to a global level in a cultural extravaganza that includes history, politics, peace, war, love, loss, community, migration, home… all the great themes of musical theater presented by wonderful singers.
Johnny & The Washashores makes a musical gumbo mix of New Orleans, the Caribbean and the Balkans, with healthy dollops of funk, rhythm and blues to serve up performances that get audiences rockin’ and rollin’. Jump in the line! Hey pocky way!
A dozen singers perform great songs from stage musicals that became movie musicals, as well as cinematic musicals that reverse migrated to Broadway. The Great Music on Sundays @5 Broadway concerts are wildly popular audience favorites. Curtain up!
The WorldFest concert is a highlight of the beginning of the summer season in Provincetown where workers from dozens of countries are the indispensible foundation of the tourism economy. The 2019 WorldFest concert includes rock, rap, ballads, folklore and classical music performed by people from Bulgaria, Jamaica, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia and Thailand.
A musical voyage through the Balkans. Genuine folk music with a modern twist. Beautiful and rhythmic melodies from Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia.
Mozelle is one of Cape Cod’s most mesmerizing vocalists. Her interpretations of classic songs, especially the music made famous by Billie Holiday, are unique and powerful. It is a delight to make music with Mozelle.
Laura Cappello and John Thomas perform jaunty, fun and memorable melodies from yesterday and today, including songs made famous by Patsy Cline and other vocalists. This is the inaugural event in the “Tin Pan Artist Jam” winter performance series in Provincetown on Thursday evenings with music, art, food, drink and conviviality.
Jay Baer writes delightfully fresh and witty lyrics for famous Broadway songs to celebrate an unusual and unique community at the tip of Cape Cod. The concert, first presented in 2018 at the Great Music on Sundays @5 series in Provincetown, makes its Boston debut at Club Café.