Tom Chapin To Perform At NHS; Young Rising Stars Tapped For Opening Sets

Multiple Grammy Award winner and nationally acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Tom Chapin will perform in a family concert at Newtown High School on Sunday, March 27. The concert will begin at 3 pm.

Daria Musk, Sam Weiser, Katie McMorran, and other rising stars will open for Mr Chapin. The concert is being produced by The Little House that Roared, a program of Congregation Adath Israel of Newtown. Several of the performers are students and graduates of the Newtown High School.

“I’m excited to come back to Newtown and perform with these wonderful young musicians,” said Mr Chapin, who performed at Flagpole Radio Café this past November for a sold-out adult audience. Upon popular demand, Mr Chapin is returning for this family matinee.

“We started The Little House That Roared series last year as a showcase for highly talented young musicians,” said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel. “I guess we strummed the right chord because now we’re putting these kids on the same stage with Tom Chapin. We believe Newtown is in need of more wholesome, live family entertainment. The Little House That Roared concert committee at Adath Israel is proud to provide it.”

Mr Chapin’s contemporary folkstyle music and sense of humor … “often pokes fun at social, scientific, and political trends in the news,” Janis Gibson wrote for The Newtown Bee in October 2010, prior to the musician’s most recent performance in Newtown.

The 65-year-old father and grandfather has been crisscrossing the nation with his songs, stories, and optimistic spirit for more than 40 years. He believes teaching through storytelling is a great way to connect with kids and while many of his songs are quite silly, which is why kids love them, a number have good manners or environmental overtones.

About half of his 21 albums are child oriented, and he continues to perform both family and adult concerts.

Although Mr Chapin has written a song celebrating the birth of each of his three grandchildren, he noted that his children’s songs “were never about some cute little things [children] did today,” but rather “grown men playing, following our own delight.”

In addition to his solid guitar picking, clever song lyrics, and authoritative vocal performance, Mr Chapin is active in environmental causes, as well as in working to get music and the arts back in schools. In 2009, while advocating to reinstate funding for the arts in the state, he “testified” before the New York State Senate by singing his song, “You Can’t Spell Smart Without Art.”

The Openers

Seven solo musicians and one 12-member male a capella group will share the honors of opening the afternoon concert.

Twelve-year-old Korey Brodsky started playing music at age 3 when he first showed interest in his father’s guitar. Since then he has explored and excelled on other string instruments, including mandolin and fiddle. He currently studies with Jim Allen in Newtown with a primary focus on bluegrass music; however Korey often enjoys playing and studying other genres of music such as jazz, blues, Celtic, and other roots music. Korey has performed at local venues and various bluegrass events like the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival in Boston. At the 2010 Roxbury Pickin’ and Fiddlin’ contest, Korey won first place overall for all children 16 years and younger on guitar, mandolin, and fiddle.

Yossi Kohrman-Glaser, 16, has been studying classical guitar for ten years. He is a student of Andrew LaFreniere at Suzuki Talent Education School in Newtown. Yossi took first place in 2009 in the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America’s International Youth Competition. In June 2007 he was a soloist with the Danbury Symphony Orchestra at its annual Pops concert, performing the Vivaldi Lute Concerto in C. Yossi, a sophomore at Newtown High School, is also accomplished on the piano, which he began playing at age 4.

He is a four-time national winner of a youth competition in musical composition, placing at the state level for eight years in a row

Newtown singer-songwriter Daria Musk has used the winter wisely, hunkering down in her local recording studio since last November and working on a new album project which was debuted recently in part during a Fairfield Theatre Company StageOne performance on February 19.

In just a few short years, Ms Musk has gone from playing cafés to showcasing at festivals and major music industry events like SXSW, CMJ, and Gathering of The Vibes, and touring rock clubs around the country. With a set list of powerfully catchy songs, crafted with artistry, spunk, and a modern flair, she’s quickly becoming a fan favorite online and in person, receiving rave reviews for her recordings and live shows. She also, in May 2009, made time to join her mother, the musician Wendy Musk, for the 2008-09 season finale of Newtown’s Flagpole Radio Café series.

Alex Lampel is an honors sophomore at Newtown High School. He has been playing piano since he was 6 years old and began playing cello at age 10. Alex has played in his school orchestras, chamber groups, the orchestra pit for Newbury Musical Theatre Co. in Southbury, and Danbury Preparatory Orchestra. He is currently the principal cellist with Danbury Community Orchestra and a member of a piano trio with Chamber Music Central in Westport. Alex was a finalist in the Danbury Music Centre’s concerto competition in 2010 and was recently accepted into the Western Region Music Festival.

Actress Katie McMorran is a returning performer for The Little House that Roared. A senior at Newtown High School, she is heavily involved in performance both in school and community theater productions including the roles of Cosette in Les Mis, Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Ruth Condomine in Blithe Spirit, among others. Katie will next be seen as Rosa in The Mystery of Edwin Drood in May at Newtown High School.

Jake Tolson is also a returning player for The Little House That Roared. A junior at Newtown High School, Jake was the opening act for Daria Musk’s recent FTC StageOne show. He has always loved music, and has been in numerous musicals, including roles as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Brett in 13, and The Pharaoh in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has written more than 45 songs, is self-taught on the piano, and is currently working on his first album.

Sixteen-year-old Samuel Weiser is the only Manhattan School of Music Precollege student ever to double major in classical violin and jazz violin. He studies with famed classical teacher Patinka Kopec and jazz artist Sara Caswell, and he was the 2008-09 recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin and the 2009 ASTA alternative strings award winner for his improvisational work.

He has performed with Mark O’Connor both as a soloist and as an ensemble member at numerous venues, including Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center Le Poisson Rogue and The River to River series at Pace University. Sam’s debut CD, sam I am, on disappear records, was released February 2010. He is also a returning performer for the Little House That Roared Concert series.

The XY Chromatones is a male a capella group founded by George Primavera and Chris House in 2009. The group has performed in various public places in Newtown, and has participated in multiple talent shows. In addition to Mr Primavera and Mr House, members include Josh Goldman, Ishaar Gupta, Jeff Haylon, Chris Hunter, Austin Isola, Matt Madden, Don Morrissey, Dan O’Connor, Kevin Rovelli, and Brian White.

Tickets purchased in advanced range from $12 to $20. Door prices range from $15 to $25.

Newtown High School is at 12 Berkshire Road (Route 34) in Sandy Hook. For additional information and advance ticket sales, visit www.CongAdathIsrael.org.