FORT MYERS, FLA., October 10, 2019 – Elementary and middle school students of Veterans Park Academy for the Arts in Lehigh Acres will have a rare opportunity to hear a world-class pianist October 30 when Thomas Pandolfi of Washington, D.C., performs a private concert and interactive program for the students in the school cafetorium.
The concert is provided courtesy of the Fort Myers Community Concert Association as part of its outreach program for Lee County public school students.
“We provide seats for each of our concerts at no cost to students in Lee County public schools, but we realize that not all students have the ability to get to our weeknight performances. To expose as many young people as possible to classical music, our Board of Directors decided to take some of our concerts to the students,” said Community Concert Association President Mary Lee Mann.
Pandolfi will perform for middle school students for about an hour beginning at 9:50 a.m. and for elementary students from 12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. He also will answer questions from students interested in the arts and music.
Mann said the Community Concert Association Board of Directors chose Pandolfi because of his outstanding record of working with students of all ages.
“I am a strong believer in, and supporter of, educational outreach programs,” Pandolfi said. “The objectives of educational outreach are to provide extended interactions between the artist and the community, to expose and educate students and adult audiences by broadening their understandings of the arts and to make arts accessible to a wide variety of people.”
Pandolfi is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as a scholarship student. Highlights of the last concert season include performances with the North Charleston Pops, Symphony of the Americas, Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic and Reston Orchestra as well as a coast-to-coast recital tour. His international concerts have carried him across the globe to China and Europe as well as a Canadian debut in British Columbia.
In 2006, he released his first CD, and has recorded 10 additional ones, including ‘Language of Infinity” (Chopin), “Gypsy Passages” (Liszt), “Into the Night with Gershwin,” and the Paderewski Piano Concerto recorded in the Czech Republic with the Moravian Philharmonic.
The Fort Myers Community Concert Association is preparing for another stellar season with five classical concerts planned this winter at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, including performances by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra and the Russian National Ballet.
All five concerts are included in one ticket price, which ranges from $165 for prime orchestra and mezzanine seats to $155 for other orchestra and mezzanine seats, $85 for lower balcony seating and just $65 for upper balcony. Most mezzanine seating already is sold out, Mann said.
For tickets, call the Barbara B. Mann Box Office at 239-481-4849. Tickets to individual performances are not available at this time.
For membership information, visit www.fortmyerscommunityconcerts.org
About the Fort Myers Community Concert Association
The Fort Myers Community Concert Association, now in its 71st concert season, is an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization founded by the legendary Barbara B. Mann in 1949 to bring world-class entertainment to Southwest Florida at affordable prices. The association consists of more than 1,700 members, underwriters and sponsors. Performers brought to Fort Myers in the past by the association include Violinist Itzhak Perlman, The Israel Ballet, The Boston Brass, Minnesota Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Vienna Boys Choir, Pianist Andre Watts, Violinist Joshua Bell with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and many others.