Dante Hall Kicks off Summer

Kick off the summer in South Jersey with a toe-tapping concert with Andy Stein's Blue Four at Dante Hall Theater of the Arts on Friday, May 19, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. Famous for his thirteen-year stint playing violin and saxophone on national public radio as part of A Prairie Home Companion's house band, Stein will lead an eclectic program with musical selections ranging from novelty and hot swing numbers to beautiful ballads of the 1920s and 1930s. Stein's polished violin style, framed by his humorous banter and historical commentary, will enliven songs by musical greats Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and others. Tickets are on sale now and cost $25 per person; group discounts are available. Please call the box office at 609.344-8877 for reservations or information. Free parking for all Dante Hall events is offered in St. Michael's church lot on Georgia Avenue and in the Ducktown parking lot at the corner of Fairmount and Mississippi Avenues.

Andy Stein is an accomplished musician, arranger and composer in the fields of classical, jazz and popular music. Besides freelancing in chamber and orchestra groups in his native New York, he has notably recorded with Itzhak Perlman and Placido Domingo, and performed concertos with orchestras around the country. He has also arranged many works that have been performed internationally including a newly arranged Schubert piano concerto commissioned by André Watts.

Since the 1980s, Stein has been acclaimed by jazz critics for his renditions of works by Joe Venuti, the first jazz violinist of the 1920s. Stein has also made his mark on the jazz genre as a featured soloist with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Paquito D'Rivera, among others. In the popular music field, he holds a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental 1978 and was also a founding member of Commander Cody and His Last Planet Airmen.

Stein has widely performed on major broadcast media and on Broadway. He has appeared on numerous television programs including Late Night with David Letterman and in a multitude of radio commercials and movie soundtracks. He has also been a featured soloist in a number of Broadway shows including the 1990s revivals of Guys in Dolls and Fiddler on the Roof.

Dante Hall Theater of the Arts is an intimate, 243-seat theater located adjacent to St. Michael's Church in the heart of Atlantic City's Ducktown neighborhood which seeks to continue serving Atlantic City and the surrounding communities as a vital cultural center. Dante Hall presents a diverse range of professional and amateur musical and theatrical performances throughout the year including a special Family Series.

Funding for Dante Hall programs has been provided in part by the NJ State Council on the Arts/Department of State through the Local Arts Development Grant Program administered by the Atlantic County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.

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Author: Press Release-Dante Hall