'American Echoes' to ring through zoo

8/2/2012

BY SALLY VALLONGO
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE

Sam Szor will conduct several numbers at Sunday’s Music Under the Stars at the Toledo Zoo.

The Cake Walkin' Jass Band and the Sweet Adelines will appear in special guest slots during this weekend's family-oriented Music Under the Stars, starting at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre.

The Toledo Symphony Concert Band will perform a program titled "American Echoes" conducted by Rodney Dorsey, in his Toledo debut. Dorsey is associate director of bands at the University of Michigan, where he also conducts the Michigan Youth Band.

Rodney Dorsey

On the program will be patriotic music by Charles Ives, Morton Gould, Sousa, and other American composers. Sam Szor will put in an appearance to conduct several numbers.

Famed nationally for its high-energy approach to traditional Dixieland jazz, the Cake Walkin' Jass Band was a fixture at the Tony Packo's original eatery in East Toledo, drawing thousands of fans over a generation.

Much-recorded and still performing, the Cake Walkin' group is as much a part of Toledo's musical history as Szor, who planned and led Music Under the Stars.

Also back by popular demand will be the Pride of Toledo chapter of the Sweet Adelines, an enduring barbershop-style singing organization that has brought honors back to its hometown for decades.

Music Under the Stars is free, thanks to support from The Andersons and Mercy Health Systems.

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More outdoor concert series continue as August begins. At 6 p.m. Saturday, the Ottawa-Jermain Parks Advisory Board will present Bobby Holloway's Dance and Jam Show in the Glyn M. Smith Amphitheatre of Ottawa Park.

The final concert will be On the Beach, a pop/rock group, at 6 p.m. Aug. 11. Access to the outdoor theater is from the north side of the park, behind the new Toledo Police Museum and police substation off Kenwood Boulevard.

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The Riverside Summer Concert Series on Dick Daugherty Plaza of Findlay's Riverside Park continues with Sojourner, a religious vocal and instrumental group founded in 1991, based in Findlay.

Since its beginnings, the group has evolved and gained a widespread audience, performing from Kansas to Florida as well as on cruise ships. Sojourner has made recordings with gospel groups.

Music starts at 7:30 p.m., weather permitting. Admission is free and listeners may bring their own seating, picnics, and other accoutrements.

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Yearning for some organ music? Then drive north on U.S. 23 to Ann Arbor, where the Summer Organ Recital Series presented by the Ann Arbor Chapter, American Guild of Organists, is ready to launch with a 7 p.m. program Monday in St. Francis of Assisi Church, 2250 East Stadium Blvd. (just past Trader Joe's).

Recitalists will perform on the church's 1994 Letourneau pipe organ. All concerts are free.

Opening the series will be Naki Sung Kripfgans, organist of First Methodist Church, Ann Arbor. A South Korea native, Sung Kripfgans has a musical doctor degree in church music from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Marilyn Mason, and a master's degree in piano performance.

On Aug. 13, performers from the studio of James Kibble at UM will be David Banas, Keilor Kastella, Monte Thomas, and Stephanie Yu.

Shin-Ae Chun will present a program Aug. 20 in the church. A former organist at Toledo's First Congregational Church, she has a doctorate in organ performance and a master's degree in harpsichord from UM. She performs throughout the Midwest on organ and harpsichord.

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A repeat broadcast of Ode to Raoul Wallenberg, by the late Panos Bardis and David Jex, of the University of Toledo music department, is planned for Friday on WGTE-FM91. WGTE program director Brad Cresswell will introduce the work during his Afternoon Classics show, which runs from 1 to 4 p.m.

Bardis, a native of Greece who was on the UT faculty and died in 1996, wrote the poem inspired by the work of renowned peace advocate, Wallenberg. Jex, a member of the music faculty, wrote the score.

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Singers ages 8-13 are invited to try out for a part in the Toledo Opera's production of Puccini's La Boheme, to be presented Oct. 5 and 7 in the Valentine Theatre downtown. The Children's Chorus will perform during both shows directed by James Meena.

Choral auditions will begin Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and rehearsals at 4 p.m. at the opera headquarters, 425 Jefferson Ave., Suite 601. Interested singers should contact Jennifer Cresswell, chorus director, at jennycresswell@toledoopera.org. or call the office, 419-255-7464.

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The Owens Community College Band will begin rehearsals for its 2012-2013 season at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 20 in Room 111 of the Center for Fine & Performing Arts. Rehearsals will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, except during vacations when the college is closed, or performances in the theater. Players include Owens students, faculty, and area musicians, who may participate at no cost.

For more information, contact William Dais at william_dais@owens.edu.

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Planning your 2012-2013 season? Send details to svallongo@theblade.com for inclusion in The Blade's Season of the Arts, which is to run in September.

Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks before the event date.