Published: April 27, 2008 12:54 am         

Entertainment Series featuring top talent

GREENVILLE — By Carol Ferguson

Herald-Banner Staff

Eight concerts ranging from jazz, classical piano, and Big Band, to country-western, ballet and the Singing Cadets of Texas A&M will be part of the 2008-2009 Greenville Entertainment Series season.

The series’ annual membership drive is now in progress through May 9 at bargain prices.

Artists booked include a Tribute to Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee, Vermont’s famous Woods Tea Company folk group, classical pianist Jade Simmons, The New York Theatre Ballet, Side Street Strutters jazz band, Mediterranean guitarist Pavlo, country music singers/songwriters Davin James and Larry Joe Taylor and the Emmy Award-winning Singing Cadets of Texas A&M.

When Benny Goodman played the Paramount Theatre in New York City before screaming fans, the King of Swing was born. Everett Longstreth’s Tribute to Benny Goodman brings the music back to life with a repertoire of the early 1940s. Vocal star Amanda Carr adds her own interpretation while paying homage to Peggy Lee whose classy performances brightened concert halls and supper clubs.

The Woods Tea Company uses banjo and bodhran, pennywhistles and guitar along with dry New England wit for a folk music performance that will delight audiences. They blend bluegrass, Irish, Celtic and “old sea” shanties to achieve genuine rapport with audiences.

Pianist Jade Simmons is conservatory-trained and has performed extensively across Europe and the U.S., with many of her performances broadcast on PBS and NPR affiliates. She is a former Miss America First Runner-up, and has been honored by the Concert Artist Guild as the first-ever New Music, New Faces Fellow.

The New York Theatre Ballet will present the enchanting story of Cinderella, with a dancing clock, wacky stepsisters and everyone’s favorite rags-to-riches princess in a program designed for the entire family. In three decades, the NYTB has established itself as an essential international ballet company.

The Side Street Strutters continue to capture the excitement and spontaneity of America’s greatest musical heritage — jazz. This six-piece band has toured throughout the world, bringing the legendary sounds of Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, as well as a few dynamic arrangements of Big Band tunes. With colorful costumes, tap dancing and rare instrument features, the Side Street Strutters are still going strong after 25 years.

Greenville audiences will have the opportunity to hear the unique music of Greek-Canadian Pavlo and his band of musicians who blend the traditions of Greek, Latin and Spanish music. The sounds of guitar, bouzouki, drums, keyboard and myriad instruments actually transcend genre distinctions, and have won Pavlo numerous awards.

Davin James and Larry Joe Taylor are two of Texas’ best country music singer/songwriters performing in what they like to call their James/Taylor show. Larry Joe has released seven albums with songs that have been recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P. Nunn. Davin has five albums out and plays more than 150 concerts per year. Together they perform regularly on stage with Ray Wiley Hubbard, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker and Robert Earl Keene.

The audience, whether or not they are Aggies, will feel the spirit of Aggieland when the Singing Cadets of Texas A&M take to the stage of Municipal Auditorium. Since the Singing Cadets is a student organization, the members, who major in a wide range of academic fields, volunteer their time and do not receive any academic credit for participation in the group. They have toured Romania, Mexico, Germany, England, Switzerland, Hungary and Australia.

Volunteer workers are now calling on area residents for series memberships. Anyone not contacted may call 903-455-1774. Campaign headquarters in Alliance Bank, 6609 Wesley, will be open May 5-9 during banking hours; call the bank at 903-455-0800 or 903-453-6215 and ask for an Entertainment Series representative.

Memberships are priced at $35 for adults, $10 for students, $80 for a family membership and $80 for a grandparent membership which includes two adults and any grandchildren under the age of 18. Membership cards admit bearers to the entire season and are sold only during the campaign drive which ends May 9. Tickets for individual concerts are not available.

Reciprocity concerts in Paris, Irving, Kilgore, Tyler and Terrell are also open to Greenville Entertainment Series members, and the schedules for those concerts will be mailed with membership cards prior to the first concert in the fall.

The series would not be possible without the generosity of area businesses and citizens who become patrons by making donations. Their financial support enables the programs at a reasonable price.

The Entertainment Series is not to be confused with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Series in Greenville which also brings distinguished programs to the city and which conducts its membership drive in the fall. Separate memberships are required to attend each series, but memberships in both offer area music lovers a remarkable concert season.