(La Porte, IN) - A local group bringing musicians in to perform is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
The La Porte Community Concert Association’s first sponsored performance of the season is scheduled October 22nd, set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Kesling Intermediate School Auditorium.
The featured performer will be Jason Lyle Black, an award-winning piano entertainer whose clever arrangements, fun stories and on-stage charm has won countless fans throughout the world, according to the LCCA.
Black takes audiences on a journey through numerous musical styles, playing nearly 100 songs in his fast-paced show interwoven with his comedic stories like “Songs Not to Play at People’s Weddings and Funerals," and the uncanny ability to play as easily sitting backward as forwards.
Program highlights during his performance will include: Musicals – Les Miserables; The Sound of Music; West Side Story. Movies – Beauty and the Beast; Star Wars; Indiana Jones. Famous Classical hits – William Tell Overture; Toccata and Fuge (Bach); Flight of the Bumblebee; and Blue Danube Waltz.
The idea of Community Concerts began in 1923 when Ward French of New York came up with a plan to take live, professional talent to the small towns in America with the assurance the sponsoring organization would not lose money. His idea was to raise money first, then select the programs to fit the budget.
LaPorte was the second city, with Battle Creek Michigan being first, to try this new idea.
Originally, the concerts were held at the LaPorte Theater, the old LaPorte High School and the Civic Opera House. After 1930, most concerts were held at the Civic Auditorium, but today they are at Kesling Intermediate School Auditorium at 306 East 18th Street.
In 1948 the name was changed to LaPorte Community Concert Association and Walter Burger was elected president, a position he held for many years.
For ten decades, the association has brought hundreds of renowned artists to LaPorte including the Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Al Hurt, Marian Anderson, Mario Lanza, the Swedish Symphony, the Moscow Balalikas, the London Piano duo and the Shanghai Acrobats from China. This is in addition to dance companies, choral groups, comics and big bands that have performed in LaPorte at the Civic Auditorium.
The LaPorte Community Concert Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization staffed entirely by volunteers. All the money raised through ticket sales and contributions is used for artists’ fees and production expenses.
LaPorte has four concerts per year and has a reciprocity agreement with the associations in Portage (4 concerts) and Munster (6 concerts), allowing LaPorte members to attend any of their concerts.
So, a $60 adult membership ticket will admit a member into 14 concerts a year. Tickets are $20 at the door for a single performance.
For more information, contact Bill Burger at 219-362-5292 or Beth LeRoy at 219-362-8262.
