Barbara Drury
On Sunday, October 7, 2018, the Oracle Piano Society will commemorate the construction of a new stage at Oracle Center for the Arts. Dr. Stephen Cook, Artistic Director of the Oracle Piano Society, will again perform Picture Rachmaninoff to honor the memory of the late radio legend Paul Harvey, Sr., who would have been 100 this year. On November 30, 2013, SaddleBrooke DesertView Performing Arts Center hosted an inaugural performance for a fledgling Oracle based nonprofit arts organization called Oracle Piano Society. Dr. Cook performed his one-man-show written by Paul Harvey, Jr. called Picture Rachmaninoff. Since that auspicious debut, the Oracle Piano Society has been busy. The organization obtained its very own concert grand piano, launched a full-scale classical concert series, established a chamber music festival/institute, started a community chorale (which includes several SaddleBrooke Ranch singers) and christened its very own temple for music and art called Oracle Center for the Arts.
The significance of SaddleBrooke’s support for Oracle Piano Society during its formative years is noteworthy. At this first performance of Picture Rachmaninoff, a one-of-a-kind one-man-show written by Paul Harvey, Jr., author of The Rest of the Story, and Radio Hall-of-Famer, the gracious people of SaddleBrooke provided the necessary wind in the sails for this young organization’s Sally Fender Memorial Fundraiser Performance. The beautiful DesertView Performing Arts Center was filled nearly to capacity and the audience gave a lengthy standing ovation for Drs. Cook and Harvey, Jr. Picture Rachmaninoff is a unique production, which fuses the elements of a piano recital, poetry recitation, painting exhibition and theatre production to create a new genre of musical performance. The concert will feature live performances of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s virtuoso Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 for piano, poetry readings by Paul Harvey, Jr. and animated projections of Russian paintings.
Paul Harvey, Jr.’s Picture Rachmaninoff Performance and Stage Dedication at Oracle Center for the Arts will be on Sunday, October 7 at 4:00 p.m. at the Oracle Center for the Arts 700 E. Kingston St. Oracle, AZ.
General admission is $30, students free with ID.
To find out more information about this and other exciting Oracle Piano Society events, please visit: www.oraclepianosociety.org or www.facebook.com/oraclepianosociety.