AGAR's mission is to bring, commission and develop or present programs in professional arts, humanities, design, historic architecture, arts for young people, arts education, and arts in healthcare to residents of Amherst County, Virginia, and others around the world.

​"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!" Songs from 20th Century Musicals
Music of Ellington, Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers, Porter, Bernstein, Sondheim, Weill
Scott Williamson and Timothy Gaylard to Perform Favorites of ​20th Century Musical Theatre

Tenor Scott Williamson and pianist Tim Gaylard will celebrate their joint love for performing works from 20th century American Musical Theatre in a concert presented by Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Inc. (AGAR) on Sunday, August 27, 2017 at 4 pm at Amherst Presbyterian Church, 163 Second Street, Amherst, VA. 
 
Songs on the program range from popular jazz standards such as the Rodgers and Hart classic “My Funny Valentine,” Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are” and Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, to musical theatre favorites including the title song from Cole Porter’s Anything Goes,Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife” from Threepenny Opera, and Leonard Bernstein’s and Stephen Sondheim’s “Maria” from West Side Story, to virtuoso scenes such as “Soliloquy”, from Carousel, one of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein collaborations.
 
Says Scott Williamson, “When we talk about the creators of the ‘American Songbook’ we are talking about the giants of 20th Century musical theatre and songwriting. Most of these composers - Kern, Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers and Weill--were born at the turn of the 20th century and helped define a vibrant generation of European-American artists whose influence still resonates.”  
 
“The next generation of composers, Ellington (b. 1917) and Bernstein (b. 1918) celebrate their centennials this season. Of the composers we will be performing, Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930) is the only one still living. In 2017, Sondheim became the first composer-lyricist to win the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award, awarded to a “critically acclaimed writer whose body of work helps us understand and interpret the human condition.”  
 
Williamson says: “While Sondheim may aver that his lyrics aren’t poems, the craftsmanship and depth of his texts reveal a keen understanding of the art of lyric poetry.”
 
“This music has a harmonic richness combined with a wonderful eclecticism” says Scott Williamson, “it is music indebted to a European, mostly Jewish heritage, melded with American idioms, in particular jazz and popular song.”  
 
He continues: “All of these composers and lyricists were outsiders – immigrants, gay, or members of racial or religious minority groups -- which is particularly interesting since they are now considered to be the epitome of ‘American’ music.” 
 
“Ellington, of course, was one of the foremost African American artists in any genre in the 20th century – he was a giant of jazz, but in addition he composed music in a symphonic idiom, including large-scale oratorios. He still is appreciated in the jazz and big band world but much of his other work is less known now. Like Gershwin, he combines a colorful harmonic vocabulary with an inexorable rhythmic drive.” Kurt Weill was born to a religious Jewish family in Germany, where he spent his early career.  With playwright Bertolt Brecht he created political works prior to World War II. When the Nazis took power Weill fled, first to Paris in 1933, and then to the United States, where he composed works for both Broadway and Hollywood.  
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Dr. Williamson points out the connections and intersections of many of the composers and lyricists, both as official collaborators, and as friends and mentors. “Weill’s ‘Mack the Knife’ was written in German for Threepenny Opera, but the work was translated and performed widely in English. Leonard Bernstein was involved in one of those revivals. After his brother George’s tragic early death, Ira Gershwin wrote lyrics for Weill. Sondheim was a protégée of Oscar Hammerstein, a family friend. Rodgers worked first with Hart, later with Hammerstein, and then with Sondheim. Sondheim worked as a lyricist with Bernstein on West Side Story before writing both music and lyrics for such popular works as Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods.”
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Kurt Weill was born to a religious Jewish family in Germany, where he spent his early career.  With playwright Bertolt Brecht he created political works prior to World War II. When the Nazis took power Weill fled, first to Paris in 1933, and then to the United States, where he composed works for both Broadway and Hollywood.  
 
Dr. Williamson points out the connections and intersections of many of the composers and lyricists, both as official collaborators, and as friends and mentors. “Weill’s ‘Mack the Knife’ was written in German for Threepenny Opera, but the work was translated and performed widely in English. Leonard Bernstein was involved in one of those revivals. After his brother George’s tragic early death, Ira Gershwin wrote lyrics for Weill. Sondheim was a protégée of Oscar Hammerstein, a family friend. Rodgers worked first with Hart, later with Hammerstein, and then with Sondheim. Sondheim worked as a lyricist with Bernstein on West Side Story before writing both music and lyrics for such popular works as Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods.”

​Like their predecessors, Bernstein and Sondheim combined popular and classical music elements.  Williamson says, “These songs can be sung by opera singers or cabaret artists. The ‘standards’ of Rodgers and Hart and Jerome Kern remain popular in the jazz world, even though the musicals from which their songs come are now seldom produced.  Rodgers and Hammerstein, Weill, Sondheim and Bernstein are now as popular in the opera world as they are in their original musical theatre settings.”
 
Scott Williamson, in addition to singing tenor roles in opera and musical theatre, is the Artistic Director of Opera Roanoke. That company recently produced both Sweeney Todd and South Pacific. He says that he has worked with pianist and musicologist Timothy Gaylard for over 20 years, when Scott started teaching as an adjunct at Washington & Lee University.  In Williamson’s words, “Tim Gaylard is that rare blend of scholar and performer. He’s a distinguished professor and a great musician!”
 
Williamson continues, “We have done a lot of this repertoire over the years in recitals and seminars. We both have a deep respect and love for the genre, and we are very pleased to be asked to perform it for AGAR in Amherst.”
The program will be the first of Amherst Glebe Arts Response’s 2017-2018 season.  AGAR has been informed that the season will be funded in part by a General Operating Grant from Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Concert tickets are $15 for adults and $2 for students.  A supper and a “meet the musicians” reception will follow the concert, hosted by Amherst Presbyterian Church’s (APC)  Mission Committee, for a donation to benefit APC Pre-School.
Tickets can be purchased through LynchburgTickets.com in advance, or at the venue door one hour before the performance.  Questions: 434-989-3215or www.amherstglebeartsresponse.org. ​​
Amherst Glebe Arts Response in collaboration with Second Stage Amherst and the Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford will present the jazz quartet of Chris Magee - trumpet, Dana Ballard - piano, Ed Mikenas - bass, and Larry Scott - drums playing the French jazz classic "Toot Suite" at Second Stage Amherst on September 22, 2017 at 7:30 pm, and on September 30, 2017 at 8 pm at the Bower Center in Bedford. Season tickets for AGAR will be honored at both performances. Individual tickets can be purchased through LynchburgTickets.com or at the venue doors one hour before each concert.
 
Chris Magee is a well-known trumpeter who has played lead trumpet for such artists as Wayne Newton, the Temptations, The Four Tops and the O'Jays.  He was staff trumpeter and arranger at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  Chris is a native of Harrisonburg, Virginia and resides in Bedford. He received the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from James Madison University and the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Iowa in brass methods. He teaches music at Lynchburg College where he directs the Jazz Ensemble and teaches trumpet, Music Appreciation and courses in world music, music appreciation, conducting and brass methods.  Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Music at Northeast Lakeview College in Universal City, Texas, and directed the jazz ensemble at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Last season for AGAR he premiered the string quartet version of Larry Allan Williams' "Passages." 
 
Chris Magee will lead the group in the virtuoso trumpet work, a full evening piece in six parts.  Chris Magee points out that "Toot Suite" is so demanding for the trumpet player that he must have at least a day in between performances to recover.  Dana Ballard is a wonderful pianist and an accompanist at Lynchburg College. Ed Mikenas and Larry Scott are well-known jazz players in the Greater Lynchburg areas.   The group performed "Toot Suite" last year at Lynchburg College and Chris Magee says, "We were very happy to have AGAR give us two more opportunities to play the piece. This is such a fun work, and audiences love it!" 
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"Toot Suite" is a famous full-evening work in six parts, originally composed and performed in 1981 by  Claude Bolling a French jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and occasional actor working in collaboration with virtuoso trumpeter Maurice André. Bolling played jazz with Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge and Kenny Clarke. He has written music for over 100 films, Bolling was born in Cannes, studied at the Nice Conservatory, and then in Paris. A child prodigy, by age 14 he was playing jazz piano professionally, with Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, and Kenny Clarke. Bolling's books on jazz technique show that he did not delve far beyond bebop into much avant garde jazz. He was a major part of the traditional jazz revival in the late 1960s, and he became friends with Oscar Peterson. Bolling is also noted for a series of "crossover" collaborations with classical musicians. His Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio with Jean-Pierre Rampal proved extremely popular.  Bolling went on to work with many other musicians, from different genres, including guitarist Alexandre Lagoya, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, trumpeter Maurice André, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He has also worked with, and performed tributes to many others, including Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Stéphane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, and Oscar Peterson.
 
Maurice André (1933-2012) was a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field. He was professor of trumpet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris.  André inspired many innovations on his instrument, and his technical mastery and profound artistry has contributed over fifty years to popularize the trumpet worldwide. He was known worldwide as a classical trumpeter. His jazz collaboration on "Toot Suite" with Claude Bolling was a departure for him and became a very popular work in the jazz repertoire.
A NOTE TO OUR AGAR SUBSCRIBERS:
THE JAMES STRING QUARTET WAS UNABLE TO PLAY THE FINAL CONCERT OF THE AGAR SEASON for 2016-2017.
Full-season AGAR subscribers and half-season subscribers who did not use al the admissions to which they were entitled are offered the following choices (please let us know which you prefer)
(1) You can ask for a $10 refund on one unused concert.
(2) You can use $10 towards next season's season ticket.
(3) You can tell us you want to donate the $10 to Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Inc, (AGAR) a 501 (c) (3) organization.
AGAR: 434.989.3215   
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