"Live at Lincoln Center" Orchestra Benefit Concert

Emmy and Grammy award winner and Broadway producer, orchestrator and recording star John McDaniel will join proclaimed music prodigy Patrice Jackson, and other musically gifted Kirkwood High School orchestra alumni on Friday, Dec. 21 at the “Live at Lincoln Center” Benefit Concert, sponsored by St. Louis Strings Violin Shop, in the Keating Performing Arts Center, located at the high school (801 W. Essex).  The concert will begin at 7 p.m.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit the KHS Symphonic Orchestra’s trip to Lincoln Center in March 2013.  The KHS Symphonic Orchestra has been selected to compete for the prestigious National Orchestra Cup on Saturday, March 2, at AliceTully Hall, located in Lincoln Center in New York City.  The group will be performing along with several other orchestras from across the country for the title of Grand Champion and the Orchestra Cup trophy. The orchestra was one of the three orchestras nationwide selected to perform at Carnegie Hall two years ago.

  This past May, the students kicked off their year long “Live at Lincoln Center” fundraising campaign which, thus far, has generated approximately $33,000 of the $78,000 required to make the four-day trip.

    “This benefit concert will present a rare opportunity for our community to hear world renowned musicians and internationally acclaimed string virtuosos,” said Orchestra Director Patrick Jackson.  “It will be a night of wonderful music.”

    McDaniel (Class of 1979), who will perform on the piano at the concert, attended the Symphonic Orchestra’s concert at Carnegie two years ago.  In a letter he wrote to Patrick Jackson immediately following that concert, he said “I have lived in New York for 16 years and have attended many concerts at this great hall, but I can tell you that none has ever moved me as much as tonight’s has. The selection of music was superb.  Each and every member of the orchestra rose to the occasion perfectly filling the shoes of the young adults they have become.”  McDaniel’s letter is proudly featured at the center of the orchestra’s Carnegie display case at the high school.

McDaniel, who said he is thrilled to return to his alma mater to support the students, has received numerous accolades and awards for his work on Broadway, on television and in the recording studio.  In addition to leading the band daily on The Rosie O’Donnell Show (two Emmy Awards) for the entire six-year run, McDaniel arranged music for the Tony Awards (‘97-’00), and worked on such Broadway hits as Bonnie & Clyde (Drama Desk Nominated Orchestrator), Catch Me If You Can, Brooklyn (also Producer and Orchestrator) Annie Get Your Gun (Grammy Award), Chicago, Grease and Taboo, among others.  He has produced and recorded numerous CDs for Tony Award winners (Christine Ebersole, Sutton Foster, Betty Buckley) and is the recipient of multiple awards throughout the industry.  McDaniel has been a featured guest conductor at Symphony Orchestras including San Francisco, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Baltimore and his hometown Saint Louis Symphony.   McDaniel first studied piano with his mother and earned a BFA degree in Drama from Carnegie Mellon.  Please visit http://www.johnmcdaniel.com for more information.

    Additional Kirkwood alumni scheduled to perform at the Dec. 21 include:

-- Patrice Jackson, a sixth generation string player and graduate of Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School who currently tours with fiddle virtuoso Mark O’Connor;

-- Siblings Meg, Liz and J Freivogel, all members of world renowned string quartets. They will join together for this one night as the Freivogel Family Strings;

-- The Dickinson Family fiddling group made up of three KHS alums and their singing parents;

-- Sara Bailey, a third-year music major at Oberlin Music Conservatory, and Bailey Firszt, a third-year music major at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

    -- Fariga Drayton, Director of the KHS Concert Orchestra and Nipher Middle School     Orchestra;

    -- A special performance by Patrick Jackson, a music educator for 24 years, Kirkwood     orchestra director since 1991, and 2011 recipient of the Yale Distinguished Music     Educator Award from the Yale School of Music, among many other tributes.

       Jackson, 29, began piano lessons at three with her mother and cello at eight with her father.  She made her debut at 13 with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra performing the Elgar Cello Concerto.  Since winning the 2002 Sphinx Competition, Jackson has already
performed with the Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Omaha, Cincinnati, St.
Louis, Grand Rapids, Nashville, Hartford, Chautauqua and Colorado symphonies, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra.  In June of 2002 she made her international orchestra and recital debut in South Africa. 

    Ticket Information:    Tickets to the Dec. 21 benefit concert are $25 and may be purchased online at www.kirkwoodschools.org (“Live at Lincoln Center”), or by making a check payable to KOPA (Kirkwood Orchestra Parent Association) and mailing to:
    KHS Orchestra Benefit Concert
Kirkwood School District
        11289 Manchester Rd.
    Kirkwood, MO 63122.

Please include phone number on all checks in case there are any questions regarding the order.
 The ticket price includes a dessert buffet immediately following the concert.  All tickets will be held at the Will Call table in the Keating Performance Center and may be picked up the night of the concert.  Tickets may be sold at the door as available. Contact Cathy Barnett (cathytedbarnett@sbcglobal.net) with any ticket-related questions.
   
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