Carnegie Hall to Lindsay stage

LINDSAY — Richard Glazier, a world renowned musician who has performed at Carnegie Hall, will make a one-night-only appearance Saturday at the Lindsay Community Theater.

“We’re very excited to have him here,” said Hal Munter, treasurer of the Lindsay Community Theater. “We’re very privileged to have this man come here. In the Bay Area these ti

ckets go for $100 to $150 a person. We’re charging $15. He’s played everywhere, but as a favor to me, he is willing to do this show in Lindsay.”

Glazier, a Steinway piano artist, is a family friend, Munter said, and is known for weaving fascinating commentaries about the composers of the era into his musical performance. He shares stories, film clips and piano performances to make his programs entertaining, educational and inspiring.

Glazier offers six different program performances, including “A Salute to Judy Garland and Friends,” “Ragtime and Romance — the Music of Joplin and Gershwin” and “Pop Concerts with Orchestra.” But Saturday’s program will focus on “Gershwin — Remembrance and Discover.”

The brothers, George and Ira Gershwin, were popular music royalty — a songwriting team that created some of the most memorable and beloved music. Starting at Tin Pan Alley and Broadway, they made their way to Carnegie Hall before spending their final years in Hollywood.

“I saw him in February in Fresno and saw this same program he is going to be doing,” Munter said. “He does a magnificent job.”

Glazier will play rare arrangements of the great Gershwin songs and the complete solo piano version of “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Glazier’s love for the music and the era in which it was written dates back to his first encounter with George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” he said.

“I was 9 years old and one day I was rummaging through my Aunt Esther’s record cabinet when I found an old 78-rpm recording of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ played by Oscar Levant with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra,” Glazier said. “She played it for me and I was hooked.”

Glazier said she took him to the library and they checked out books and sheet music — and anything else they could get their hands on about the two brothers and their era.

Glazier’s mother also suggested he write a fan letter to Ira Gershwin. He did and Ira Gershwin answered. They corresponded by mail for three years.

At age 12, Glazier said he was invited to Ira Gershwin’s Beverly Hills home.

“We spent many hours together and this brilliant man of Arts and Letters, America’s best known lyricist, could not have been nicer to me or more encouraging,” Glazier said. “I always tell the story of meeting Ira because it literally changed the course of my life. Since we met, and it’s been more than 30 years ago now, I can honestly say that not a day has gone by that I have not either discussed, played or studied the music of George and Ira Gershwin. I feel a very strong connection to them and through them to the other great composers and lyricists of their era. It gives me enormous pleasure to tell their stories and play their music for audiences everywhere.”

Tickets are $15 and available in advance and at the door. There are no reserved seats and only 375 tickets are available for purchase through any Community Theater board member or by calling 562-4472 or 562-3322. A pre-concert wine and cheese reception is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

The concert starts at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at Lindsay Community Theater, 190 N. Elmwood Ave., Lindsay.

--Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1047 or evila@portervillerecorder.com.