Event Calendar
Upcoming Events
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Hapa
Hapa’s Pan-Polynesian sound is a blend of the music of Portuguese fishermen, ancient chants, traditional church music of early missionaries and American acoustic folk/rock.
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Kronos Quartet - Awakening
A 90-minute program that not only memorializes the events of 9/11, but also offers audience members a chance to reflect on the tragedy in a way that offers both healing and hope.
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Laurie Anderson - Homeland
A series of songs and stories that creates a poetic and political portrait of contemporary American culture, and addresses the current climate of fear, obsession with information and security.
The Piano Men brings the music of Billy Joel and Elton John to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Performer: The Piano Men - Starring Jim Witter
Filed under Press Releases on June 5, 2008.
University of Florida Performing Arts
315 Hull Road
PO Box 112750
Gainesville, FL 32611-2750
352-392-1900
352-392-3775 Fax
www.performingarts.ufl.edu
For press inquiries, please contact Amy Douglas at 352-392-1900, ext. 324.
June 5, 2008
The Piano Men – Starring Jim Witter brings the music of Billy Joel and Elton John to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Continuing its Summer in the City series, University of Florida Performing Arts will present The Piano Men – Starring Jim Witter…A musical journey through the ’70s featuring the music of Billy Joel and Elton John. The multimedia concert experience will take place Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. on the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts main stage.
Dove Award nominee and Canadian Juno Award nominee Jim Witter has been entertaining audiences for more than 20 years. Whether performing country, contemporary Christian songs or the music of Joel and John, Witter’s versatility has earned him fans across Canada and the United States.
Witter began performing at a very early age. While his mother played piano, the four-year-old would belt out everything from Broadway show tunes to songs by The Beatles. With such a gift, Witter knew he was destined to have a career in the music business. “I never really thought of doing anything else,” he says, “and neither did my parents because they always encouraged me to follow my dream.”
Witter spent years writing songs and recording demos during the day and playing in the clubs and bars around Southern Ontario at night to pay the bills. In 1990, he finally got his “big break” when one of his demos caught the attention of a Sony Music Canada executive. A deal with a small independent label in Canada eventually led to Witter being signed by Curb Records of Nashville. His self-titled debut and subsequent albums All My Life and Forgiveness have garnered Witter 10 Top Ten hits in Canada, produced seven hit videos on CMT and scored impressive ratings on the U.S. Billboard charts.
Not content to rest on his recording successes, Witter developed a touring show to pay homage to two of his musical mentors. “I was always a big fan of acoustic music especially the folk of the ’70s,” he says, “but my real mentors were Billy Joel and Elton John.” Since its debut, The Piano Men has received rave reviews from music critics all across North America.
Witter makes no attempt to mimic his heroes in The Piano Men. Instead, the show takes the audience on a musical journey using rear-screen projection to highlight the places, people and events that helped shaped a decade. With songs such as Crocodile Rock, Movin’ Out, Your Song and, of course, Piano Man, The Piano Men is a blast from the past that remembers when rock was fun.
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The Piano Men – Starring Jim Witter
A musical journey through the ’70s featuring the music of Billy Joel and Elton John
Friday, June 27, 7:30 p.m.
Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
The performance is sponsored by 92.5/95.5/107.9 WIND-FM THE CLASSIC ROCK STATION
Ticket Prices: $15-30
Web sites:
University of Florida Performing Arts: www.performingarts.ufl.edu
The Piano Men: www.thepianomen.net
To Purchase tickets, call the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or call Ticketmaster at 800-277-1700 (toll-free). Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, the University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Union or from any Ticketmaster outlet, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Cash checks, MasterCard and Visa are accepted.
For interviews and other press inquiries, please contact Amy Douglas at 352-392-1900, ext. 324.
For high resolution photos and/or artwork, click here.
Performance dates, times and programs are subject to change.