Paul Sullivan & Friends Holiday
Join Grammy Award winning composer and pianist for a warm, intimate concert to usher in the Holidays. Paul will be joined by Bangor Symphony Orchestra members Marisa Solomon, cello, and Liz Downing, flute, in a performance of his own original compositions, and arrangements of Christmas pieces.
A Paul Sullivan concert is far more than a music recital. He engages his audiences with his personality and his wit, as well. With charm, eloquence, and a bit of Irish blarney, Paul makes everyone feel welcome while offering insights and personal observations that make the experience all the more intriguing. Plus—he’s just plain funny.
In addition to original and Christmas music, you can also expect the unexpected, such as spontaneous improvisations, Bach fugues, or Brazilian sambas. Anything goes, as long as it sounds good – Paul’s guarantee is that you’ll leave the concert happier than when you came in!
Tickets are $30 | K-12 $16, including all fees.
About the musicians
Paul Sullivan
Paul Sullivan has enjoyed a richly varied and distinguished career as a composer and a pianist. As a soloist, with his trio, and as a member of the Paul Winter Consort, he has played concert tours in most of the United States and Europe, as well as the Middle East, Central America, and Asia. Sullivan has worked in some of New York’s most prestigious jazz clubs as well, and has played with a wide variety of masters. His 18 CDs have sold over 300 thousand copies and have won 3 Indie Awards. His music has been broadcast internationally, as well as on all the major American networks, including National Public Radio. He received a Grammy Award for his work on the Paul Winter Consort CD, Silver Solstice. In the theater world, he has worked as a Musical Director, pianist, and/or conductor for many Off-Broadway and Broadway shows. Sullivan also received commissions to write two musicals, including “The Last Ferryman” for which he wrote both the music and lyrics. He has worked extensively in the Modern Dance world, playing piano for Merce Cunningham’s classes, and writing music for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. He has also enjoyed a long friendship with the Pilobolus Dance Theater, for whom he has written close to 20 scores. Add to that composing and playing music for films, corporate productions including the IBM Golden Circle Awards, and a very happy three year stint as the Music Teacher at the Brooklin Maine Elementary, (which has an enrollment of 55 kids from pre-school through 8th grade), and you get the picture: A long, lovely, lucky career, which shows no signs of stopping.
Marisa Solomon – Cello
Cellist Marisa Solomon received performance degrees from the Oberlin College and San Francisco Conservatories. She is the Director of the Kneisel Hall Program for Maine Students, and serves on the board of the Chamber Music Society at the Collins Center for the Arts. Marisa is a member of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Ceólta Cello Duo, and is adjunct faculty at UMaine in Orono. Festivals include Kneisel Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, the International Festival-Institute at Round Top, Spoleto USA, Festival de due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, and the Breckenridge Music Festival in Colorado. Photo credit: Kevin Couture
Elizabeth Downing – Flute
Elizabeth Downing is a professional flutist, chamber musician and faculty member in the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine where she teaches Flute, Chamber Music. Flute Ensemble, and Majoring in Music. She has a B.M in Flute Performance and a B.A. in German from University of Maine, she studied at the Mozarteum Conservatory and University of Salzburg in Austria and received a M.M. in Flute Performance from University of Colorado.
She has been a soloist with New York Philharmonic members in the Arcady Music Festival, performed with the Leningrad Chamber Orchestra, the Haydn Festival Orchestra under Claude Monteux, and the Bangor Symphony including the “Lemonwheel” concert tour of the band PHISH. Elizabeth has taught at the University of Colorado, Northern Conservatory of Music, the Boulder Center for New Musical Directions, Maine Summer Youth Music and RDL Strings. At UMaine, with Doug Hall ’86, she helped create the Innovation Engineering Program, teaching the inaugural classes at the Foster Center for Student Innovation. She has served on the boards of the UMaine Alumni Association, American Folk Festival, UMaine Patrons of the Arts, Arcady Music Festival, Melmac Education Foundation, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and is the recipient of the Vincent Hartgen, Stephen R. Gould, and McGillicuddy Humanities Center Awards from the University of Maine. She lives in Brewer with her husband, Dr. Dennis K. Cox, UMaine Professor Emeritus of Music.
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