Adam Swanson. Photo by Carl Geers
Adam Swanson
6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Portland Conservatory of Music, 28 Neal St., Portland, free, $10 suggested donation portlandconsevatoryofmusic.org
7 p.m. Friday. Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport, $21 in advance, $25 at the door, $10 students. cadenzafreeport.com
If you’re a piano fan, this is a must-see show. Adam Swanson is a four-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest which is held annually in Mississippi to showcase piano music written before 1940. Swanson is also a internationally known pianist who loves ragtime, early jazz and standards from the Great American Songbook. He’s played at shows and festivals here and abroad and has even performed privately for Oscar-winning composer Richard M. Sherman (“Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”). You can also take a ragtime and early jazz workshop on Saturday afternoon with Swanson at Cadenza ($15, $10 music teachers, $5 music students).
Billy Ocean. Photo by Haze Photography
Billy Ocean
8 p.m. Friday. Aura, 121 Center St., Portland, $20. auramaine.com
Hey you, get outta my dreams and into the Billy Ocean show at Aura! That’s right, one of the most successful ’80s British R&B artists is coming to Portland, and he’s bringing all of his hits with him for what will surely be a nostalgic, fun night of live tunes that you’ll have a hard time sitting still for, especially when his 1985 Grammy winning song “Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)” is played. The party will continue with “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Going.” And let’s not forget the ballads like “Suddenly,” “Love Really Hurts Without You” and “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry).”
James Kennerley, municipal organist in Portland who plays the Kotzschmar Organ at Merrill Auditorium. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’
3:30 p.m. Sunday. Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland, $33 to $58, $18 students, 12 and under free. porttix.com
It will be a grand production on Sunday afternoon as Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, ChoralArt and seven other choirs gather at Merrill Auditorium for a huge production of composer Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” You’ll hear 200 singers from all over Maine, including soprano Molly Harmon and Maine Public Classical host, baritone Aaron Engebreth. The show’s conductor is ChoralArt’s Robert Russell, and Portland municipal organist James Kennerley will work his magic on the mighty Kotzschmar.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
