12/2/08: Special Holiday Production to Benefit Symphony

Two of Lynchburg’s most-loved vocalists — one from the world of opera and one from popular music — have teamed with local popular musicians to create a new type of Christmas program for Lynchburg.

Marcia Jones Thom and Paddy Dougherty are producing “Christmas and Candlelight,” a treasury of favorite Christmas music old and new to benefit the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra in a one-time-only performance at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, December 23, at the Oakwood Country Club in Lynchburg.

Joining the two vocalists on stage will be Roanoke guitarist Marc Baskind, pianist Anna Billias, saxophonist and keyboard artist Glenn Buck, bassist Robin Tolley and members of the Harp Song Harp Ensemble.

The orchestra itself is not part of the evening.

Soprano Marcia Jones Thom is a member of the orchestra’s board of directors. She has performed leading and supporting roles with Des Moines Metro Opera, Tennessee Opera Theatre, Kansas City Civic Opera, The Ashlawn-Highland Opera Festival in Virginia, Chattanooga Opera, Nashville Opera Association, Kentucky Opera, Opera Memphis, and Opera on the James. Solo appearances include concerts with the Middle Tennessee Symphony, the Nashville Symphony and the Memphis Symphony, and a performance with Amy Grant in 1996 for the opening of the Nashville Arena. Equally at home on the musical theatre stage, Ms. Jones Thom is an Equity actress and has performed with Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Theatre Memphis, and Circuit Playhouse in Memphis.

In 1991, Ms. Jones Thom made her Alice Tully Hall debut in New York City as a winner of the Liederkranz Competition and in 1998 was named the Vocal Recipient of the Tennessee Performing Arts Commission Grant Awards. Students of her voice studio have been accepted at the Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Indiana University, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, University of Miami, The Tisch School at New York University, University of Southern California, Carnegie Mellon University, and North Carolina School of the Arts.

Locally, Ms. Jones-Thom has directed “Home for the Holidays” at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg – a collaboration with local arts organizations. She has also performed as a featured soloist with the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra, most recently in a performance of the Verdi “Requiem.”

This month, she appeared in the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Handel’s “Messiah.”

She is on the music faculties of Randolph College and Sweet Briar College.

Virginia-based singer/songwriter Paddy Dougherty relishes her growing success in a musical career that began in folk music, moved into blues band backup work and then leadership of a popular regional cover band, and in the recent past has taken on increased momentum as she has found her own voice as a singer and songwriter in a career shift that shows every sign of coming into full bloom.

Paddy and the Paddy D Quartet — drummer Larry Scott, Glenn Buck on sax and keyboard, electric bassist Robin Tolley and Paddy on keyboard, guitar and vocals — find themselves performing in an ever-wider geographic area based in Lynchburg and extending to the Carolinas and the Washington area. Paddy and the group reached a new plateau in the spring of 2007 with an invitation to appear at the prestigious National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. The performance there led to exposure before a worldwide audience, as well as an invitation to return for the 2008 festival.

In September 2005, Paddy and the Quartet were invited to have several songs arranged for full orchestra by legendary hit maker Charles Calello, for a performance with Rita Coolidge and The Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra. The show was so successful that she and her quartet were invited to perform her original works again with the symphony in June 2006 at the City Stadium before a hometown crowd of nearly 5,000 people.

September 2007 found Paddy once again joining forces with The Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra along with master songwriter Paul Reisler and area school children premiering 5 songs co-written with the children through the national award-winning songwriting program Kid Pan Alley.

Tickets for the event are $75 each, with tables for 8 people for $500.