All is propelled forward with evocative narration by conductor Rick Benjamin. Louis, Louis”), and as a finale, the Orchestra accompanies the Moving Picture Travelogue – historic world’s fair films by Thomas Edison & company. There is audience participation (on “Meet Me In St. This new PRO program reunites stirring world’s fair hits with the continuous projections of magnificent fairground images. Music played a key role in the success of all these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians (including Scott Joplin and Sousa). Musical “exhibits” rotate, but works by Offenbach, Joplin, Moses-Tobani, and Sousa are the core attraction, performed by Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, the official orchestra and conductor of the U.S. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Meet Me at the Fair! is a two-hour spectacular musical celebration of the world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Lamb, James Scott, George Botsford, May Aufderheide, and Kerry Mills. Composers represented on this program include Scott Joplin, Joseph F. This is PRO’s most popular program – critically acclaimed across 48 U.S. Joplin’s music takes center stage, but all performances are one of a kind as conductor and pianist Rick Benjamin shares his score discoveries with the audience – and the Orchestra – in a voyage of discovery tracing the roots of American music. A two-hour concert program of approximately 15 pieces played from historic orchestrations drawn from the Orchestra’s legendary 22,000 title collection. Travel back to the early 1900s as modern life begins: America falls in love with electricity and automobiles, flying machines take to the sky, and vaudeville creates American idols. Note: Paragon has one of the world’s largest libraries of historic American orchestral music, and the particular pieces played on each of Paragon’s concert programs are subject to change to reflect this unique resource. Paragon Ragtime Orchestra concerts are sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is an IRS 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Non-Profit organization. The Orchestra’s audio and video recordings have been widely praised and considered instrumental in rekindling interest in America’s rich traditions of theater, cinema, and dance orchestral music. Over the years, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has been heard on the soundtracks of several motion pictures and television programs. Ambassador of Goodwill at the 1992 World’s Universal Exposition in Seville, Spain. The PRO strengthened its international following during its extended engagement as a U.S. at Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris. Since 1989, the Walt Disney Company has relied on the Orchestra’s recordings for the outdoor theme music heard at Main Street U.S.A. In addition to its worldwide concert hall, university, and festival appearances, the PRO has acquired a considerable following both in the US and abroad through radio appearances on New York’s WQXR, NPR, the BBC, and the Voice of America. In 2005 and again in 2006, Paragon had the honor of being presented in Minneapolis’s Orchestra Hall as guests of the Minnesota Orchestra. In June 2003, the PRO presented the world premiere of Rick Benjamin’s new reconstruction of Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival. In 1999, PRO’s music inspired master choreographer Paul Taylor’s new dance Oh You Kid!, which was premiered at the Kennedy Center by the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Orchestra. Since then, PRO has appeared at hundreds of leading arts venues, including the Ravinia Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, Chautauqua, the Brucknerhaus (Austria), New York’s 92nd Street Y, and the American Dance Festival. In 1988 the Orchestra made its formal debut at Alice Tully Hall – the first concert ever presented at Lincoln Center by such an ensemble. The PRO came into being as the result of Rick Benjamin’s 1985 discovery of thousands of turn-of-the-century orchestra scores once belonging to Victrola recording star Arthur Pryor. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra (PRO) is the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble re-creating the syncopated sounds of early musical theater, silent cinema, and vintage dance in the United States.
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