FOXBURG, Pa. — ARCA will host Theatre Organist Jelani Eddington as he presents “The Great American Songbook” – a concert of popular American standards from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s on the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer on Sunday, April 12, in Foxburg’s Lincoln Hall.
The event begins at 3:00 p.m.
Tickets for this performance can be purchased online at www.alleghenyriverstone.org or by calling 724-659-3153.
Admission costs $25.00 for adults, $20.00 for ARCA members, and $10.00 for students.
During the years that he has given concerts, Jelani has easily established himself as one of the most prominent and sought-after artists on the concert circuit. He has performed in most of the major concert venues throughout the United States, has toured extensively abroad and has received numerous awards and recognitions, including selection as the 2001 Theatre Organist Of The Year
Jelani Eddington was born in Muncie, Indiana to Louise Eddington and the late Robert Eddington and grew up in a very musical family. Between the interests of his mother, a professional music teacher of many years and those of his grandmother, Florence Arnold, a well-respected piano instructor, it was no surprise when he demonstrated an inclination toward music at a very early age.
Shortly after beginning piano instruction at the age of four, Jelani began studying classical piano under the direction of his grandmother.
At the age of eight, a trip to hear the 4-manual 42-rank Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ installed in the Indianapolis, Indiana restaurant, the Paramount Music Palace, introduced him to the sounds of the theatre pipe organ.
Soon thereafter, he began to pursue classical organ lessons and ultimately began studying theatre organ under the direction of John Ferguson, whose skills as a theatre organ instructor have been highly acclaimed internationally.
At the age of 13, Jelani won the American Theatre Organ Society’s Young Theatre Organist Competition, prevailing over competitors ages 13-21 from the United States, England, Australia, and New Zealand. Jelani remains the youngest competitor ever to win this title. He went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Indiana University in 1996, and later received a Juris Doctor degree from the Yale Law School in 1999, after which time he was admitted to practice law in New York and later in Wisconsin.
During the course of his concert career, Jelani has been featured at numerous national and regional conventions of the American Theatre Organ Society, and has toured extensively throughout the world, including numerous concert appearances in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. He has also produced and marketed over 30 theatre organ albums on some of the best-known and most dynamic instruments in the country. In August 2001, the American Theatre Organ Society honored his extensive career as a concert and recording organist by naming him the 2001 Theatre Organist Of The Year.
In 2014, Jelani became the first—and to date only—musician to have a video of his theatre organ performance go “viral.” Within a few short weeks, Jelani’s performance of John William’s Star Wars Symphonic Suite was viewed on YouTube over 1 million times in more than 200 countries around the world.
