Milton Community Concerts
at First Parish
Opposites Attract: Classical Meets Jazz
Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 4:00 PM
First Parish Church of Milton. 535 Canton Ave.
General Admission: $20 (no advance sales) 18 and under: Free
Come celebrate Valentine's Day with these two marvelous performers.
Cory Pesaturo, Jazz Accordionist
Bethany Worrell, Soprano
Cory Pesaturo (“C Pez”) is a graduate of the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, where he was the first musician ever to major and graduate in the accordion. Pesaturo is one of only 4 accordionists to win World Championships on both the Acoustic and Digital Accordion, and is the only person to ever also win a World Championship on Jazz. Accordion Legend Dick Contino said when Cory was only 15, “Of all the accordionists I’ve seen over the years, Cory is the one to pass the torch to, the only one who has all the tools to bring the accordion back to its former glory.” Cory’s main contribution is his visionary thinking of how the accordion should be used, played, and presented in modern music. He has given a TED Talk about this, which is the only one in the world about the accordion. He has also developed his own electric accordion, and already has made the first ever skinned accordion that includes a symmetric midi lighting system attached to the keys.
Pesaturo's extensive resumé includes appearances at the White House for President and Mrs. Clinton on 4 different occasions, starting at age 12. On one of those occasions, he became the youngest person ever to perform at a State Dinner, performing with the Marine Strolling Strings for the President of Hungary. He has since performed at 7 other events for the Clintons and continues to keep in touch as proven by his 14 letters from the First family. He has judged accordion competitions in the US, Canada, and Europe, in addition to music competitions in general. Cory currently gives masterclasses on both Music Theory and the Accordion at various universities throughout the US.
On his Classical side which is less known, a win at 16 years old in a concerto competition at the New England Conservatory of Music gave Pesaturo the rare opportunity to perform with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra as a featured soloist, where he became the youngest accordionist to ever solo with a symphony orchestra in the US back in 2003. Concerning his Jazz side, Cory recorded two CD’s with saxophone legend George Garzone and his famous band “The Fringe” at age 19, and has performed/become friends with Jazz and Music Legend Wynton Marsalis. His performances at All of his World Championships were playing on accordions that were not his, and were generally 90% improvised which is unheard of in the accordion world.
Pesaturo is also heavily involved and respected with the weather and motor sports worlds as well. From 2005 to 2006, he composed the official list of records set by the inconceivable record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. He has also written the lists for the 2007 and 2008 Seasons as well. Moreover, he has put out reports on Winter Seasons for the United States which have been featured on Accuweather.com amongst others. His is known for being a pioneer in the FreeSledding world with his own sledding mountain called “CN Mountain”, and has various other hobbies which he dedicates himself to such as writing sports blogs for sites like Bleacher Report. Furthermore, he collaborated with members of the Red Sox and bands such as the Dropkick Murphy’s on the “Fenway 100” album released in 2012. His music is regularly played on Formula 1 broadcasts on NBC, FOX, and Velocity, and has an ongoing musical relationship with 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston. Cory is also currently working on a Formula 1 book that will change the way people look upon the sports history and its champions in a similar fashion to Bill James’ Sabermetrics book on Baseball.
Hailed as performing with “a gorgeous and flexible soprano that revealed a large measure of dramatic intelligence and musical acumen,” soprano Bethany Worrell has performed in Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Salzburg, Austria, and Florence, Italy. Most recently, she was a Young Artist with Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and performed as Echo in their July production of Ariadne on Naxos. In the Boston area, Ms. Worrell has been seen as Micaëla (Carmen) with Longwood Opera, the Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel) with MetroWest Opera, Despina (Cosi fan tutte) with the North End Music and Performing Arts Center in Faneuil Hall, and Pamina (The Magic Flute) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with New England Conservatory Opera. When not singing opera, Ms. Worrell is the Soprano Artist-in-Residence with the Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline and also sings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the first soprano section of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. She regularly serves her community through music and gives song recitals in Boston’s homeless shelters and area high schools with Music Street, a newly formed group that performs art music for non-traditional listeners. Ms. Worrell is a native of Macomb, Illinois and currently resides in Boston, MA. For more information, please visit her website at www.bethanyworrell.com.
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