July 18–28, 2012
P.O. Box 1452 • Lancaster, OH 43130-6452 Phone: (740) 687-4808 • www.lancasterfestival.org
For more information, contact: Lancaster Festival office (740) 687-4808
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
LeAnn Rimes, André Watts, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to Headline 28th Annual Festival
LANCASTER, Ohio — The 2012 Lancaster Festival begins a day early to welcome world-renowned pianist, André Watts in concert with the Lancaster Festival Orchestra on July 18th. A performance by country/pop music star LeAnn Rimes will close the 28th season of the Lancaster Festival. The 2012 Lancaster Festival runs July 18 – 28, 2012.
Multiple music award winner LeAnn Rimes will perform at Ohio University-Lancaster on Saturday, July 28 with the Lancaster Festival Orchestra. LeAnn Rimes has sold more than 40 million albums, won two Grammy® Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards and 12 Billboard Music Awards. Rimes is the youngest recipient of a Grammy® Award, and was also the first country recording artist to win in the “Best New Artist” category. Rimes has placed 42 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 13 of which are top-10 hits, and has scored numerous hit singles in her career, including “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” which went #1 in 11 countries, and “How Do I Live,” which is the second longest charting song ever on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Rimes is as an accomplished actress and author, including writing two children’s books Jag and Jag’s New Friend, as well as the novel, Holiday in Your Heart and the inspirational book What I Cannot Change. LeAnn has long-supported a variety of charity organizations including advocating for the National Psoriasis Foundation, The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes and StandUp For Kids.
Come celebrate the 25th Anniversary season of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra and Maestro Gary Sheldon in an exhilarating program of music by the great Beethoven on Wednesday, July 18 at Faith Memorial Church. Legendary pianist André Watts joins the Orchestra to perform the Emperor Concerto and the Orchestra performs the joyous Seventh Symphony. An historical evening is in store as we mark the silver anniversary of our prizewinning Orchestra.
Big band music hits the stage on Saturday, July 21 at Ohio University-Lancaster, as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy joins the Orchestra for a jumping night of swing. Since their arrival on the music scene in 1993, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s irresistible live show and aggressive, musically perceptive approach has proven them over time to be the singular standout among the numerous bands that launched the Nineties swing revival. The seven-man group forged a massively successful fusion of classic American sounds from jazz, swing, Dixieland and big-band music.
The celebration of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra’s 25th anniversary continues on Thursday, July 26 at St. Mary Church, when the Orchestra is joined by the Lancaster Chorale in an inspiring and uplifting musical program of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The master’s choral masterpiece “Magnificat” headlines a program of perennial favorites including the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and the Toccata and Fugue for Organ.
A new concert event this year on Thursday, July 19 will feature Texas natives, national touring artists, Hayes Carll and Amanda Shires at OU-L. Hayes and his band, The Poor Choices, have been on the road nearly nonstop blasting through honky-tonks and rock clubs across the U.S. and beyond. Along the way Carll has garnered an enthusiastic and ever-expanding audience, with his engaging live shows, sparked by humorous storytelling and between-song patter.
Nashville-based Amanda Shires will open the show. Shires’ Texas twang and fetching vibrato can dance playfully around a melody or haunt a line like a mournful ghost, and she deftly employs her fiddle/violin, ukulele and even whistling skills to similar effect.
And, tribute band night returns on Wednesday, July 25 at Ohio University-Lancaster with Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones Show, internationally acclaimed as the most authentic cast and production show available to honor the World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band.
Festival ticket sales will begin in early-May. More detailed ticket sales information and more artists for the 2012 Festival will be announced soon. The Lancaster Festival is an annual celebration of music and art held each July in Lancaster. For concert schedules and ticket information, call 1-800-LANFEST or visit the web site at www.LancasterFestival.org. The Festival is supported in part through grants from the Fairfield County Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.
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