YSO delivers Benny Goodman tribute
The York Symphony Orchestra, with guest artist Dave Bennett on clarinet, will present a tribute to “King of Swing” Benny Goodman at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, 50 N. George St., York.
The concert will feature familiar classics including “Sing, Sing, Sing,” “Moonglow” and “Body and Soul.” (Watch Bennett playing “Moonglow” with others at the 2010 Suncoast Jazz Clarinet Clambake in the embedded video; the music starts about two and a half minutes in.)
Tickets are $25-$65.
For all the details, visit the Strand website or the orchestra website or call (717) 846-1111.
A chat with David Bromberg
Guitarist and singer-songwriter David Bromberg and his Big Band will perform Friday, May 4, at the Strand-Capitol in York. (credit: davidbromberg.org)
David Bromberg and his Big Band will perform an eclectic mix of blues, folk, rock and more at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, 50 N. George St., York. Waitin on a Train will open the show. Tickets are $31-$41. To get tickets, call (717) 846-1111 or visit the Strand website.
York Weekend entertainment editor Mel Barber interviewed Bromberg via email about his half-century musical career and his upcoming show in York. Read the feature story and watch videos of Bromberg performing below:
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For some musicians, the moment of recognition — that split-second realization that, yes, playing music is going to be a career and not a hobby, that he or she can lay it down and stomp the performance — is a small one. It’s in a tiny club, maybe, or the enthusiastic response from one person in a crowd.
For guitarist and all-around string wizard David Bromberg, it was a big moment.
“Playing my first solo set ever, unplanned and unannounced, in front of 200,000 at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 convinced me I could have a career,” he writes in an email interview.
But that moment came long after Bromberg, who was born in Philadelphia, began studying guitar as a teenager in the late 1950s in New York. And in the half-century since he picked up his first guitar, he has toured the world and played on albums for familiar names like Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Willie Nelson and others.
“I love interacting with musicians — that’s what I’ve done for 50 years,” he writes. “And it’s gratifying to go to places as close as Philadelphia and as far away as Tokyo and have what you do appreciated.”
Taking a break: Life on the road can be tough, though — a sentiment Bromberg took to heart in the 1980s, when he put his performing career on hold to pursue a new direction: making violins.
“My interest in violins was the antidote to years of a grueling life on the road,” he writes. Hanging out in a violin shop near his home at the time offered a way for Bromberg to decompress and investigate his new passion.
“I have built violins, and it is exacting work, but I’ve used those violins onstage with great success,” he writes. Building violins, though, wasn’t the main reason for his interest. Unlocking the secrets of their manufacture gave him the tools to study their stories and history.
“I learned how to build violins not to become a builder per se but to have the knowledge to identify them,” he writes. “Uncovering their origins really became my passion.”
Eventually, though, Bromberg found himself back on the stage — while simultaneously running his violin shop in Wilmington, Del. He keeps a hectic schedule these days, but he knows how to get by:
“I’m a world-class ‘napper’ on planes, in cars, wherever,” he writes. And he makes the time for the important people in his life. “I learned the hard way you need downtime. I love spending time with my wife, my children and just reading.”
The York show: Heading into York on his Use Me tour, celebrating his recent album, Bromberg is coming off an extended string of performances overseas.
“My mood right now is a mix of satisfaction and exhaustion,” he writes. “We just finished a three-week tour of Hawaii, Australia and Japan that spanned 28,000 miles and 14 shows.”
But the exciting thing for Bromberg, his band and his audiences is that every show is different. He never knows what the night will bring.
“I had a blast playing with Los Lobos in California, getting a hug from Mavis Staples, having Allen Toussaint sit in with us on some tunes in New York,” he writes. “For York, the audience can expect the unexpected — I never script my shows. Other than the first tune, I have no idea what songs I will call. The room will dictate it.”
So if you plan to be in the audience for Bromberg’s show at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center on Friday, you’d better bring your ‘A’ game — because you can bet he will.
— Reach entertainment editor Mel Barber at 854-1575, ext. 458, or mbarber@yorkdispatch.com or follow @yorkweekend on Twitter.
Haydn, Mozart concert at York College
York College will present a free piano recital featuring students of professors Kenneth Osowski and Gretchen Dekker performing works by Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The concert will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 3, in the DeMeester Recital Hall of Evelyn and Earle Wolf Hall on the York College campus, 441 Country Club Road, Spring Garden Township.
For all the details, visit the college website or call (717) 846-7788.
On sale: Tickets for Manhattan Transfer at the Pullo
The Grammy-Award-winning vocal group Manhattan Transfer has been entertaining audiences — in various iterations — for four decades. Now the members are heading to York for a year-end stop on their 2012 tour.
The jazz-pop quartet led by Tim Hauser will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, 1031 Edgecomb Ave. on the Penn State York campus in Spring Garden Township.
Tickets are $55 to $75 and go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Monday, April 30.
For all the details, visit the Pullo Center website or call the box office at (717) 505-8900.
Weekly picks: York Jazz Fest
The first-ever York Jazz Fest doesn’t care whether you’re a longtime jazz aficionado or a newcomer to the style. It’s all about freedom — the freedom to make music that doesn’t conform, that grows and evolves as each note emerges. The audience and the artists are invited to go with the flow.
Get a sneak peek from performer and master of ceremonies Amy Banks in the embedded video. To learn all about the performers and the inspiration for the festival, read the York Weekend feature story.
The York Jazz Fest goes from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, 50 N. George St., York. The show features multiple stages of music and a variety of food samples from York City restaurants. Tickets are $35. For all the details, visit the Strand website or call (717) 846-1111.
In Extras, fill up at the Jewish Food Festival, explore art and crafts at Art in Residence or the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, find hope at the Tea Light Lantern Float Festival, play for a cause at Casino Night, discovery beauty at the Garden Faire or take the kids out for free fun on Family Day at the York County Heritage Trust.
In Openings, catch Robin Hood at DreamWrights, mingle with artists in Shrewsbury, listen to country music in Hanover or rock out at York College.
In Couch Potato, watch the 10th annual TV Land Awards.
In Weekend Sports, check out sprint-car races and track and field events.
For locations and trailers of new movies opening this week in York County, see the new movies post.
York Symphony Chorus spring concert
The York Symphony Chorus invites the community to spend a Sunday afternoon embracing musical Americana. (credit: YSC)
The York Symphony Chorus and York Symphony Chamber Singers will present “American Dreams,” their spring choral concert, at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 29, in the sanctuary of Union Lutheran Church, 408 W. Market St., York.
The program will feature pieces from American musical theater, folk songs and spirituals. Selections include medleys of music from Les Miserables and The Sound of Music as well as beloved songs by Irving Berlin and Rodgers and Hammerstein, arrangements by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw, and original songs by Stephen Foster.
The chorus will be directed by Robert Hart Baker, with organist Jennifer Noel and piano accompaniment by Randy Day and Jami Paules.
Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Parking is available alongside the Market & Penn Street Farmers’ Market.
For all the details, email ysctickets@aol.com or call (717) 779-6260.
