A Piano, a Composer and a Pop Singer Walk Into a Bar...

In preparation for the 50th Anniversary Festival Season, I thought it might be nice to share some "Fun Facts" with everyone! The Festival has such a rich history, not to mention a plethora of talented artists who have come through the doors at Dana, that I'm sure our Facebook fans, blog readers and Twitter followers would be interested in learning more about what makes EMF so valuable to our community.  This might even turn into a competition with prizes down the line...not sure yet. :)

So, what fun fact (I think I'll call them EMF-FF's from now on) should I start with - there are so many!  Since I'm learning all about the classical world myself, I think I'll share one of the first EMF-FF's I learned upon joining the organization.

On June 24, 2006, the World Premiere of Symphonic Fantasies for Piano and Orchestra debuted at Eastern Music Festival.  Held at the War Memorial Auditorium of the Greensboro Coliseum, the composition was arranged by Jeffrey Biegel from solo piano pieces off of this composers "Fantasies & Delusions" album.  The conductor was Stuart Malina, who won a 2003 Tony Award for best orchestrations with this composer.  Winding up the group was Phillip Keveren, who did the orchestrations for Symphonic Fantasies.  But who was the composer!? 

The photo on the right was taken at the performance, and features Malina as conductor and Biegel on the piano.

The composer, you ask?  Well, maybe you can guess!  He has 23 Grammy nominations with six wins under his belt, along with 33 Top 40 hits.  He has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.  In 1992 he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame; in 1999 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; in 2006 into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame; and in 2009 the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.  As mentioned, he won a 2003 Tony Award with Stuart Malina for best orchestrations on the musical "Moving Out."  Yup - the composer is Billy Joel! 

And there's your EMF-FF for the day...in 2006, Billy Joel premiered the composition Symphonic Fantasies for Piano and Orchestra, with arrangements by Jeffrey Biegel and Phillip Keveren.