entertainment

Photos by Rich Engelbrecht of Journey, the Doobie Brothers and Dave Mason at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on Saturday night.

Hundreds of music fans and musicians swarmed into Downtown Batavia today for the annual Batavia Ramble Music and Arts Fest, held in Jackson Square and at a stage set up at School and Center streets.

In all, 40 music acts were scheduled to perform. The last act goes on at 8:40 p.m., so there's still time to see the show.

The 38^th annual GO ART! Picnic in the Park will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Centennial Park, located at Richmond and Ellicott avenues in the city.

Arts, culture, heritage and community meld in celebration of Independence Day.

The Kiddie Parade kicks things off at 11:30 a.m. Children are encouraged to ride their bikes to the park by 11 a.m., decorate them with patriotic embellishments that will be provided, and open the festivities with a bicycle parade down Ellicott Avenue.

On the Main Stage, the lineup of featured performers is:

• Noon – The Batavia Concert Band
• 1:15 p.m. – The Buffalo Touch, Grammy-nominated polka band
• 2:30 p.m. Kelly’s Old Timers, performing square dancing & standards since 1950
• 4 p.m.: Conjunto Classico with Johnny Vega, Puerto Rican/Latin folkloric & dance music

New this year is “Airigami” – the fine art of molding air! Airigami is an incredible Rochester-based artist duo, Larry and Kelly, who, together with their skilled staff, create larger-than-life balloon sculptures that inspire awe in audiences worldwide.

They will set up in the park and create a one-of-a-kind balloon sculpture during the picnic. YOU will get to participate by helping blow up balloons and also sculpting them along with the artists.

Expect plenty of food and lots of fun. There will be artists, crafters and many vendors.

The main sponsor of this year’s event is the renowned Red Osier Landmark Restaurant in Stafford.

With a flourish of patriotic favorites and classic pops pieces, the Batavia Concert Band opened its summer season at Centennial Park on Wednesday evening with Josh Pacino conducting.

Dancer and choreographer Shoulin Young has traveled the world, working and performing with the likes of Brittany Spears, Chris Brown, Jason Darulo and Justin Beiber. Monday, he was in Batavia, conducting classes with students at Kristen's Performing Arts Center on East Main Street.

"I love what she (Kristen) has going on here, especially for a small town like Batavia," said Young, who is originally from Rochester, but now lives in Tampa, Fla. "Any chance I get to come here and work with these kids, I love to do it. The kids always have great energy. I love every second of it."

Owner Kristen Drilling opened the studio 10 months ago and offers a wide range of classes in performing arts, including all styles of dance, theater, music and pageant training. Each summer, she tries to bring in an accomplished and well-known instructor to conduct classes for a day.

Students from the studio have won competitions in Niagara Falls and Rochester, which has drawn attention from choreographers such as Young, she said.

"They see a lot of talent through our girls," Drilling said. "They see we're from a small town, so when we have really talented girls go out and win first place over all these big cities, we get a lot of choreographers in our studio to see what our girls have."

Young said he sees the talent, but more importantly, he sees an enthusiasm for hip-hop that a lot of people might not expect from a small town.

"When you think of Batavia or smaller towns in Upstate New York, you don’t really think hip-hop, but the hip-hop talent specifically here is very, very impressive," Young said. "There are lots of kids who are very hungry for it and dance in general is something that younger kids really want and the style of hip-hop is just a music that they all love.  I’m very impressed with the dancers I see here."

Press release:

The Batavia Concert Band’s 91st season of music making will run again this year with free public concerts in Batavia’s Centennial Park on June 29; July 6, 13, 20, 27; Aug. 3 and 10, as well as the ever-popular July 4 "Picnic In The Park" sponsored by GO ART!

In addition, the Band will be featured at Birchwood Village Apartments' "Light the Night" concert on Tuesday. Aug. 2. The Aug. 3 concert in Centennial Park will feature sections of the Band and soloists.

The Batavia Concert Band’s repertoire is wide ranging in origin, period and style: marches, Big Band and swing numbers, popular songs from musicals and movies, rock favorites arranged for band, classical adaptations, fun songs for kids of all ages, and everything in between.

The Band consists of 45-55 brass, woodwind and percussion players ranging from talented high school students to 60-year veterans. Many have professional experience; the rest are advanced amateur musicians. All love to play.

This year’s conductor will be John Bailey, instrumental music director at Lyndonville Central School. The June 29 and July 4 "Picnic In The Park" concerts will be conducted by Joshua Pacino.

Founded in the early 1920s, the Batavia Concert Band has brought musical pleasure to the region every year except during World War II. The Band currently enjoys support from GO ART!, concert sponsors, program advertisers and individual patrons. The City of Batavia supplies chairs for musicians. The Band also sponsors 50-50 raffles at every concert, bake sales and other low-key fundraisers. Individuals or businesses interesting in supporting the Band should contact a Board member at any concert.

Downbeat for regular season concerts is 7 p.m., Wednesday evenings, in Centennial Park, Batavia. (*In the event of rain, concerts will move to Genesee Community College’s Stuart Steiner Theatre. Notices will be posted at the northwest corner of Centennial Park, announced on in local media, on the Batavia Concert Band’s website http://bataviaconcertband.net, and the Band’s Facebook page.)

Collin Raye, who is celebrating 25 years as a recording artist this year, opened the 2016 concert season at Frostridge last night with a set that highlighted his #1 hits and other fan favorites.

Before the show, he met with fans who had purchased VIP passes, including one who presented him with a handmade guitar strap. He also posed for a picture with Frostridge owners David and Greg Luetticke-Archbell.

Among the opening acts were the Morgan Twins.

The Drama Club of Elba High School presents a performance tonight that highlights the past 10 years of musicals performed by the Club, including selections from "The King and I," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Cats" and "My Fair Lady." The performances will be followed by senior awards.

The show starts at 7 p.m. in the Elba Central School theater and tickets are $3 per person.

Last evening, England’s rock band Bad Company opened the 2016 Darien Lake summer concert series.

The 43-year-old band has a 28-city U.S. tour planned before heading overseas to the United Kingdom this fall. They played some hits like “Ready for Love,” “Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy” and “Feel Like Makin' Love."

Singer Paul Rodgers captured the standing crowd grooving to their classic hits one after another.

Joe Walsh is a seasoned veteran of the music scene, having played in five successful bands, one of which was The Eagles. He did not disappoint on Tuesday night with his band, which opened for Bad Company. 

The 68-year-old performed some hits from previous bands including “Life in the Fast Lane," "Take it to the Limit” by The Eagles. From the band James Gang he performed “Walk Away” and "Funk #49."

Joe. also known as “The Clown Prince of Rock,” entertained the crowd with fascinating facial expressions through his 80-minute set, readying them for headliner Bad Company.

Country music star Miranda Lambert will be coming up later this month for the next concert at Darien Lake. 

For the complete summer lineup visit: https://www.darienlake.com/concerts

Joe Walsh and his band:

With a cast and crew into the dozens of people in Batavia today, scenes for the upcoming bio-pic about Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, were completed today at the Old Courthouse in Batavia.

There are no pictures here of Chadwick Boseman, who is playing Marshall, because producers asked photographers not to take pictures of him in costume. They want to preserve the mystique of Boseman in character until the film is released, one of the co-producers said. We were free to wander the set and take pictures of all other aspects of the production.

The interior of the Old Courthouse was dressed up to look like a county courthouse in Oklahoma in the 1940s. Light switches were removed and the holes covered, the exit sign removed, an old clock and fans installed and pictures hung on the wall suitable to the time and location. There were also a 48-star U.S. flag behind the bench and the Oklahoma state flag.

Carl Hicks, who grew up in Le Roy, is interviewed by Mike Pettinella for the Buffalo News. Hicks was the construction supervisor for the set.

Press release:

As we watch our favorite films, it is often the music that brings to life what we see on the screen. A soundtrack can tug at your heartstrings, incite a fit of giggles, bring tears to your eyes, or put you on the edge of your seat. Ric Jones, musical director of the Genesee Chorale, has created a performance that takes those moments off the screen and brings them to a live audience.

The Genesee Chorale invites the community to "Meet Me at the Movies"! This performance will feature a multimedia presentation of movie clips followed by a live performance of featured songs by individual singers, small ensembles, and the entire 60-member Genesee Chorale.

Song selections will come from some of your favorite movies, including "Grease," "The Bodyguard," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," and many more. This performance will also feature the Genesee Children’s Chorus, directed by founder Heather Lovelace. The Children’s Chorus will be performing songs from "The Sound of Music" and Disney Pixar’s "Brave."

“The last time the Chorale performed 'Meet Me at the Movies!' the event sold out,” Jones said. “The community’s response was overwhelming and we have so much great music to choose from in films, we couldn’t resist doing a second performance!”

This exciting event will take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, at Northgate Free Methodist Church, North Campus. It is located at 8160 Bank Street Road in Batavia.

Refreshments will be available for purchase by concertgoers at the concession stand. Presale tickets cost $8 and can be purchased from any Chorale member or online at www.geneseechorale.com. Tickets will also be available at the door for $10.

It would probably be a stretch to say that S. Shade Zajac knew from an early age he wanted to be a symphony orchestra conductor. Like every young person, he explored lots of interests growing up.

But then, there was that time his grandfather gave him a baton and he took it to kindergarten for show and tell.

"My mom got a note from my teacher saying, 'We understand that Shade really likes his baton, but some of the other kids are not mature enough to handle sharp, pointing sticks. So, we would ask you kindly not to bring it in anymore,' " Zajac recalled with a chuckle.

Zajac's obvious passion for music, his love of leading an orchestra and his sheer talent are why, at 22, fresh from earning his Bachelor of Music in Music Performance from Nazareth College, Zajac is the new conductor of the Genesee Symphony Orchestra.

He was selected by the GSO Board of Directors after a season in which he and three other conductor candidates each took turns leading the orchestra for one performance. All four shows were well attended and well received, but it was Zajac who was selected to lead the orchestra as it enters its 70th year.

Not too many young conductors get the opportunity to lead a symphony orchestra right out of college and Zajac is thrilled by the opportunity.

"It's an unbelievable experience and an unbelievable opportunity," Zajac said. "There's no substitute for having living people in an ensemble for you to work with. And not just for you to experiment and fail and to grow, but to learn from them and to learn 'okay, what works? What doesn't work? There's a problem. We're not playing this. It's not gelling yet. Why? How can I fix that?' There's only so much you can do on your own, just looking at the music."

It was Zajac's professor at Nazareth, Nancy P. Strelau, who told him about the opening with the GSO, but she warned him not to get his hopes up. His resume would arrive amongst other candidates with doctorate degrees and decades of experience.

"She told me, 'It's going to be really good for you to go through this process. Let's take a look at your resume, and you know, you won't get asked for an interview,' " Zajac recalled.

Then he got an e-mail inviting him to an interview, and he thought that was great, but "they're not going to ask me to do a concert because I'm 21 years old."

In truth, Zajac said, throughout the process, with the search committee, the board, the orchestra, he never felt like his age was an issue.

"I didn't feel like they're not taking me seriously because I'm so young," Zajac said. "They're just looking at me as a musician."

He admits he was nervous at that first rehearsal. Even for conductors in their 40s, he said, orchestras can look at a new conductor like, "Ok, who is this guy?"

"There's always going to be people who don't think I know what they're talking about or 'what is this?' " Zajac said. "They think, 'I can do better than this jerk here.' And I never, through this whole process, I never felt that. I think I said at the concert that I could have been working with these people for 40 years. It just felt, you know, we could get time to work, we could have a laugh, and we could make music, which is what we're supposed to do."

Zajac grew up in Ovid surrounded by music.

His grandparents were musicians and one of his earliest memories is being at their house and hearing Ravel's "Bolero." He was captivated.

"Just about every string player in the world, and probably other orchestra musicians, hate it because it's 15 minutes of the same thing," Zajac said laughing. "I'm probably the only person who loves it."

His next musical stepping stone was Yanni.

"My grandmother had a VHS -- whatever those are -- of 'Yanni Live at the Acropolis,' " Zajac said. "Say what you will about the man and his music but it was very helpful. It taught me that if you're going to be a cool drummer you need to have a lot of drums," which Zajac laughs at now. "So I actually really first started kind of drumming, and I was banging on pots and pans to Yanni. It sounds cliche, but I'm told it's true, and I was given a toy drum set when I was 2 or 3."

His grandfather taught in the Ithaca College School of Music and at his grandparent's house were more than Yanni -- there was Beethoven and Bach, too.

His father was a rock musician, playing guitar in bands, so he also heard a lot of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Rush.

"So I had these two very different musical paths and all of which I enjoyed," Zajac said. "Very rarely do I find something I don't like. When I was, I think, 3, my grandfather took me to my first orchestra concert at Ithaca College, and I barely remember it. It was the Stravinsky 'Firebird Suite' and apparently I went home and I just was all about, 'Oh, the timpani was so loud. I love that cello thing.' And I kept talking about the cello and I really wanted to play it, I guess. I started taking lessons when I was 3 or 4."

There was no string program at his middle school, so Zajac started studying with professors in Ithaca, but that duel interest in classical and rock came up again in seventh grade when some other boys asked him to be the drummer in their rock band, and they played together for several years.

"It's amazing how everyone always would freak out," Zajac said. "They only knew me as a cellist, classical music. 'You like rock music? You like jazz?' Absolutely. And it helps me so much with classical music, especially because playing in the rock band was, in a weird way, my first form of chamber music."

Nazareth College was a natural pick for Shade, both because he wanted to study under Nancy Strelau and it's perhaps the only college in the nation that allows undergraduates to conduct. As a result, he's already conducted a few symphony and chamber performance, including the Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra, the Finger Lakes Summer Festival Orchestra and the Greater Rochester Women's Philharmonic. He's also participated in workshops, master classes and apprenticeships with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra.

"All throughout high school, I had other interests," Zajac said. "I enjoy reading, and probably in another lifetime, I would fancy myself a writer, or a painter, but I have always known that somehow I wanted to do music for my life, whatever that meant. If that meant being a rock drummer and touring the world, or being an orchestral musician, or being a conductor. If any of those things happened, I would be happy.

"Conducting," he added, "what really drew me to conducting, I think is, for one, there's so much music in the world, that even if I listened to something new, if I just spent each day for the rest of my life listening to something new, I probably wouldn't begin to scratch everything that's out there. I didn't want to just limit myself to say, just the cello solo repertoire or the quartet repertoire because that is just a skin cell in a body of music that I'm sure is out there."

That vast body of music -- centuries of composers from all seven continents -- will give Zajac much to choose from as he begins to chart out each season of GSO's four performances. He must balance each performance to ensure the pieces work together, that there is the right mixture of audience-pleasing hits as well as new, challenging or unfamiliar works to help spark exploration and interest. That's important both for the audience and the orchestra members, who can grow even more bored than the audience if the same pieces are performed year-after-year.

He knows he's gotten into something special with the GSO, an orchestra that consistently performs at the highest levels and attracts talent from throughout the region, something rare for the few small community orchestras that still survive. He wants to cherish that and nurture it, providing pieces that both please and challenge orchestra members, but not take them further than they're able to go.

"Me and Professor Strelau sat down and said, 'Well, what's good for this orchestra?' And what I chose was a little risky to do. Capriccio Espagnol and Polovtsian Dances. They're meaty pieces. And, quite frankly, they played the hell out of them. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with me. I mean I can only do so much. The conductor is there to inspire and to guide, but they do all the hard work. I just wave my hands. You have to have good players, and then you have to pick a smart repertoire, an engaging repertoire. I think it's a great group."

So good, in fact, that Zajac went through, after the performance last fall, a spell of "post-concert depression." It's a real thing most conductor's experience, he said, because there is so much work and anticipation that go into preparing for a performance, and then just like that, it's over. It's done.

"You're on cloud nine for a little while if it went really well, and then the next day you go, 'Ugh. When do I get to do another one?' And I have not experienced such post-concert depression as after the concert in September. Not only because it was such a great experience, and I felt such a connection, and they played so well, and I thought, 'Even if I get this, I have to wait so long before I get to work with them again.'"

The ideas of what to perform in the coming seasons are already running through his head. Perhaps a whole show of orchestral pieces from movies.

"John Williams is obvious, but Bernard Herrmann is one of my favorite composers," Zajac said. "He did most of the Alfred Hitchcock movies. "Psycho' is obviously the one you think about, but "North By Northwest" and "Marnie" and "Vertigo," they have really stunning music."

He's also interested in exploring local composers.

"Dana Wilson, for example," he said. "I guess he just retired this year, actually, from Ithaca College. Very important composer, relatively local, in the area, and he wrote some really phenomenal stuff. One is called, "Shortcut Home." It's a three or four-minute overture that's vibrant. It's got some jazz influence in it and I think the orchestra would really like it, and it's exciting as a listener. Even for someone who's not into classical music, it's cool. There are trumpets with plungers."

Perhaps, someday, the GSO will even perform one of his own compositions. He wrote his first piece in seventh grade. But he isn't considering that any time, soon, he said. The performances should be about the music and the orchestra, and he's afraid that if he programs one of his own compositions, it will look like it's about him.

There's also a very good chance one of the professors from Nazareth, a world-renowned pianist, will perform Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1. The pianist was in Batavia for Zajac's performance with the GSO and was impressed with the orchestra. He said if Zajac got the job, he would perform.

At 22, with his first appointment as conductor for a symphony orchestra, it's hard not to think the GSO could be just a stepping stone for a young, passionate and talented musician, but Zajac said he doesn't look at it that way. He doesn't even like the term "stepping stone," he said. Maybe there will be opportunities down the road that are too good to pass up, but he said he's committed to helping the GSO grow and thrive, if not for the sake of the GSO, just for the sake of his own enjoyment of music.

"As long as I'm working with musicians who want to be working, and who are just as passionate as I am about what we're doing, I could be conducting the Berlin Philharmonic or I could be conducting the East Podunk Orchestra with five people in it," Zajac said. "My goals are just to make music every single day until I physically can't or die. I think it's very easy to set these goals, like, 'I want to be the new conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic or the Berlin Philharmonic,' and although they're really wonderful names, the name is not what's most important.

"I'm convinced that I can experience just as beautiful of an experience at the GSO or another orchestra."

DISCLOSURE: Howard Owens is a member of the Board of Directors for the Genesee Symphony Orchestra.

Live Nation's concert line up for 2016 at Darien Lake looks pretty much like it's set for the season.

Here it is:

• Bad Company & Joe Walsh – Tuesday, June 7th
• Miranda Lambert w/ Kip Moore & Brothers Osborne  – Thursday, June 23
• Zac Brown Band – Sunday, July 3
• 5 Seconds of Summer – Wednesday, July 6th
• Vans Warped Tour – Thursday, July 14th
• Toby Keith w/ Eric Paslay – Friday, July 15th
• Disturbed w/ Breaking Benjamin – Sunday, July 24th
• Josh Groban w/ Sarah McLachlan – Tuesday, July 26th
• Heart & Joan Jett w/ Cheap Trick – Wednesday, July 27th
• G-EAZY with Logic – Friday, July 29th
• Darius Rucker with Dan + Shay and Michael Ray – Sunday, July 31st
• Brad Paisley w/ Tyler Farr – Friday, Aug. 19th
• Goo Goo Dolls w/ Collective Soul – Saturday, Aug. 20th
• ZZ Top & Gregg Allman --Tuesday, Aug. 23
• Blink-182 w/ A Day to Remember & All Time Low – Wednesday, Aug. 24th
• Florida Georgia Line w/ Cole Swindell – Friday, Aug. 26th
• Kidz Bop Kids Live! – Sunday, Aug. 28th
• Def Leppard w/ REO Speedwagon & Tesla – Wednesday, Aug. 31st
• Jason Aldean w/ Thomas Rhett & A Thousand Horses – Thursday, Sept. 22nd

Press release:

The Genesee Chorale, under the direction of Ric Jones, is excited to offer a performance of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 29th, in the beautiful sanctuary of St. James Episcopal Church, located at 405 E. Main St. in Batavia. 

“Performing this amazing work will truly be a memorable experience for us and for the audience,” said Jones, director of the large, talented community chorus based in Batavia. “This performance will run the gamut of human emotion; excitement, intrigue, humor, and love all rolled into one amazing work."

“Carmina Burana” is a scenic cantata composed by Orff and based on a collection of 24 medieval poems. You might recognize the exciting “O Fortuna,” which was first introduced to mainstream media in the 1981, John Boorman film, "Excalibur." Other appearances in movies include "Glory" (1989), "The Hunt for Red October" (1990), "The Doors" (1991), "Natural Born Killers" (1994), and "The General’s Daughter" (1999).

Orff’s Carmina Burana is based on 24 of the 254 poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana, a manuscript composed of 11th – 13th century poems and dramatic texts, believed to be written by clergy in Italy and Western Europe for traveling scholars, universities and theologians. The collection of texts was discovered in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria (Germany).

The Chorale will consist be accompanied by several three outstanding soloists: Emily Helenbrook, soprano; John Clayton, tenor; Joe Finetti, baritone.

Hellenbrook is a senior at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Carol Webber. Helenbrook has performed several times as a featured soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic and in several appearances with Ars Nova Musicians in the Viva Vivaldi Festival. She also appeared twice on the nationally acclaimed show, From the Top, recorded at the Chautauqua Amphitheatre and Kodak Hall at Eastman.

Clayton is a tenor based in Buffalo. He has been described as “One of Buffalo’s top vocalists” who performs “gallantly.” He studied music and voice at SUNY College at Buffalo and has worked with vocal coaches from across America and Europe. Clayton is a frequent soloist with choral ensembles in Western New York. He has also been featured in concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Nickel City Opera. Clayton has sung the National Anthem for Buffalo Bills' home games and is a current member of the Harmonia Chamber Singers.

Finetti, bass – baritone, enjoys various performing opportunities in the Rochester area. He recently appeared as the beleaguered Herr Schlendrian in Bach’s Coffee Cantata at Nazareth College, interpreted the Bass role of Haydn’s "Creation" in several performances with the Finger Lakes Chorale, and sang Broadway favorites as a guest of the Irondequoit Chorale. A longtime member of the baroque ensemble The Publick Musick, he has sung solo roles in numerous Bach cantatas and masses as well as period performances of Handel’s "Messiah." Finetti performs regularly with the Renaissance group Musica Spei, the annual sponsor of the Rochester Early Music Festival as well as the well-known local chamber choir Madrigalia. He has a practice of family medicine in Greece, NY, and lives with his wife Maria Mastrosimone, also a family physician, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Rochester.

The performance will also feature two talented pianists, Doug Hanson and Howard Spindler. Five percussionists from the Batavia and Rochester area will accompany the work.

Tickets for the performance at St. James are available on the Genesee Chorale Web site, www.GeneseeChorale.com, from any Chorale member, or at the door. For more information please contact the Chorale president, Heather Lovelace at (716) 531-8986.

The Genesee Chorale is directed by Ric Jones, owner of Imagine Music Publishing. In addition to being the musical director of the Genesee Chorale, he also serves as musical director of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra and The Middleport Community Choir. Jones is also the organist at St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church in Medina and Trinity Lutheran Church in Wolcottsville.

The Genesee Chorale is a community choir comprised of singers from all walks of life. It draws membership from Genesee County and seven surrounding counties. The repertory of the Genesee Chorale encompasses a wide variety of music in various styles from motets and madrigals of the Renaissance, to folk, musicals and jazz. Over the years, the Chorale has championed contemporary works for choir as well as larger liturgical settings including Bach's St. Matthew's "Passion," Charpentier's "Midnight Mass for Christmas," the Mozart and Brahms requiems, and several masses by composers such as Schubert and Mozart. Additionally, the Chorale has performed "Die Fledermaus," Mendelssohn's "Elijah," Handel's "Solomon," Haydn's "Creation," Vivaldi's "Magnificat," and Vaughan William’s "Hodie."

This concert is made possible in part with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Genesee Regional Arts Council.

The Genesee Valley Wind Ensemble performs a spring concert at 4 p.m., Sunday, at Elba Central School, 57 S. Main St., Elba. 

The performance will feature the Rockwell Brass Quintet and include pieces by Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Hamlish and Kleban, Frank Tichelli and Gustav Holst.

The wind ensemble is conducted by Phil Briatico.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students, and families are $25.

James Carter "Jimmie" Walker Jr., who played James Evans Jr. ("J.J.") from the mid-'70s TV show "Good Times," headlined Batavia Downs' first of many Comedy Nights scheduled this year. Walker has been entertaining people for more than four decades, from TV to comedy acts with his great one-liners, humor and his signature catchphrase "Dy-no-mite!"

He spoke about the era many years ago when TV had a whoppomg three channel and when it got to be very late, the signal went off the air with a beep and lines. Walker was nominated for Emmys, Golden Globes and more. The 68-year-old guy Bronx native entertained a packed crowd with laughter, wit and charm and was well received by Batavia.

Rochester native Todd Youngman opened the show for Walker.

The next Comedy Night at Batavia Downs is Wednesday, May 11th, with Michael Winslow from "Police Academy."

Pictured below, Todd Youngman.

The Genesee Symphony Orchestra performs at 4 p.m., Sunday, at Elba Central School's auditorium. 

Bryan Eckenrode conducts "American Made," which features nine pieces by American composers, including two local composers, Gary Call Hanley and Ross Chua. Hanley lives in Nashville and his piece, "Plight of the Common Man," has been performed there. Chua is a Batavia High School student and this is the world premier of his work, "Spectacle in Flight."

Also on the program are "Short Overture to an Unwritten Opera" by Don Gillis, the "Paul Bunyan Suite" by William Bergsma, "Blues in 6/8" by Milton Weinstein, three dance episodes from "Rodeo" by Aaron Copland, "Variations on a Theme" by Handel, a piece by Maurice Whitney, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" by John Williams and "West Side Story" by Leonard Bernstein. 

The Harry Potter piece will be performed with students from the GSO String Workshop.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online (click here).

The DSP Jazz Trio (Derek Reiss, Skip Taylor and Pete Mark) played a benefit concert today at City Church for Crossroads House.

The Alexander High School Drama Club presents "Big Fish: A Musical" this weekend.

Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m., Sunday.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and students, pre-sale, and $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and students at the door. Children 5 and under can attend for free.

Photos are from yesterday's rehearsal.