By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.com
It’s rare to find Brahms Intermezzos, “God Bless America,” “White Christmas” and the “Orange Blossom Special” on the same concert bill, but that’s the way it will be in Jefferson Sunday afternoon.
The eclectic concert is the Jefferson Historical Society’s annual gift of gratitude to the community. Vice-president Barbara Hamilton says the society started its Community Christmas Card concert last year in their home base on East Jefferson Street, a former Episcopal Church. The concert was so well attended, they had to think bigger for this year’s event and relocated it to the First Congregational Church sanctuary.
“It’s our gift back to the community, that’s the way the society looks at it,” she says.
The performances are likewise a gift to the society. Timothy Kalil, a performer, musicologist and instructor from Ashtabula, offered to help the organization with a free concert, and Hamilton says they decided to accept the offer this year.
The 90-minute concert will be divided into seven sets, with Kalil introducing each one. His solo piano performances will include selections by Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, Brahms, Gershwin and Sondheim. On the lighter side, Kalil will offer “musical surprises” for the children.
Joining Kalil for the second half of the program will be 20-year-old Hannah Laing on the violin. Laing and Kalil will perform a set of inspirational songs with a beat, such as W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and Thomas A. Dorsey’s “The Lord Will Make A Way Some How.” They’ll also do four Christmas songs, including “Silent Night” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Tammy Laing, Hannah’s mother, will give Kalil a break on the piano and accompany her daughter on three Christmas numbers and the “Orange Blossom Special.”
Kalil is familiar to the local music scene as instructor, performer and concert organizer; his recent work includes the concert series at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Big Bands on the Beach.
Hannah Laing is a newcomer to the community. Her father Joseph is pastor of Bethel Bible Church in Jefferson; the family moved to the area earlier this year. She started taking piano lessons at the age of 5.
“I started on the piano but I always had a love for the violin,” she says. Living in a rural Ohio community, Hannah didn’t access to an arts center or string ensemble players for instruction While in the fourth grade, she learned about a home-schooled girl who was giving violin lessons and began studying with her.
“It was very excited,” she says. “It was just something that clicked with me. I felt it was a special gift.”
Hannah studied music and graduated from a community college in Buffalo. She’s accepting violin students and working to expand her performance presence in northeast Ohio.
She has an interest in everything from sacred to classical to bluegrass. A picture of Alison Krauss, bluegrass’ sweetheart violinist/vocalist, and her boyfriend, a guitar player/student who lives in Buffalo, grace the interior of her violin case. In addition to Krauss, she lists classical violinist Joshua Bell as her favorite.
Hannah recently joined the Ashtabula Area Orchestra and is looking for other performance opportunities. This will be the first time she’s teamed up with Kalil.
“I was very pleased,” she said as they prepared for their second practice together earlier this week. “Sometimes it is hard to play with people you’ve never played with, but it was very easy to play with him. He is a wonderful pianist, easy to play with.”
“I was very impressed at how well rounded Hannah is,” Kalil says. “She has a command of all the styles I play. She was also very easy to play with, perform with.”
Kalil said he originally planned to play the gospel numbers himself, but after hearing Hannah’s improvisation skills, Kalil invited her to join him on the songs.
“The gospel style I play in is blues oriented,” Kalil says. “I saw that we would have a lot to offer the audience by playing together.”
As one would expect from a historical society, the group has not overlooked the significance of the concert’s date, Pearl Harbor Day. Accordingly, a splash of red, white and blue will be added to this Christmas card by opening it with a performance of “God Bless America” as the color guard from the Marine Corps League Private Henry Kalinowski Detachment No. 782 opens the program.
The detachment’s namesake was a Marine from Ashtabula County who perished at the age of 21 along with 72 other Marines onboard the Arizona. He was Ashtabula County’s first World War II casualty.
Hamilton says the concert will wrap up the historical society’s public events for the year. On Saturday from 10 to 4 p.m., a holiday craft event will be offered for youngsters and adults in the society’s building next to Henderson Memorial Library.
As a gift to the community, the concert is free, but donations will be accepted. The concert starts at 3 p.m. and will be followed by a reception for the artists.
