June 11th at 7PM: Dave Peckham and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

The next concert will be one you don’t want to miss! Like most talented theatre organists, Dave Peckham lives, eats, and breathes pipe organs. He’s been on tour around the world. And when he’s not performing, he’s restoring and repairing pipe organs for the family business.

In his spare time, he’s the organist for the Clemens Center in Elmira, New York, providing accompaniment and sound effects for silent films or tunes before the start of a show. Like so many child prodigies, Dave began taking piano lessons at age eight, then moved to the pipe organ when he was 11..

Now celebrating its 34th season, THE PARAGON RAGTIME ORCHESTRA is the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble specializing in the authentic recreation of “America’s Original Music” – the sounds of early theater, “silent” cinema, and vintage dance. PRO came into being as the result of Juilliard student Rick Benjamin's 1985 discovery of thousands of historic orchestra scores of legendary Victor recording company. This extraordinary collection sparked Mr. Benjamin’s formation of his “Paragon Ragtime Orchestra” at The Juilliard School the following year. In 1988 the Orchestra made its formal debut at Alice Tully Hall - the first concert ever presented at Lincoln Center by such an ensemble. Since then PRO has toured extensively across 48 States and several countries overseas. These travels have taken the Orchestra to more than 700 performing arts centers, including the Ravinia Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, Chautauqua, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Austria’s Brucknerhaus, the American Dance Festival, and in New York at the 92nd Street Y and City Center. PRO's music inspired legendary choreographer Paul Taylor's dance suite, Oh, You Kid!, which was premiered at The Kennedy Center jointly by the Paul Taylor Dance Companyand the Paragon and has since toured the world.  In 2003 the Orchestra premiered Rick Benjamin’s reconstruction of Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha at the Stern Grove Festival in a performance hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “ vigorous and utterly charming.” More recently, PRO has appeared twice as special guests of the Minnesota Orchestra, and in 2017 had the honor of presenting the official Scott Joplin Centennial Memorial concert at the composer’s grave in Queens, New York.    

In addition to its world-wide concert hall, university, and festival appearances, PRO has acquired a considerable following both here and abroad through its radio programs on National Public Radio, New York Times' WQXR, the BBC, the WWFM Classical, and the Voice of America networks. Since 1989 more than 600,000,000 people have enjoyed the Orchestra’s recorded area music on Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris, and in 1992 PRO proudly served as "Ambassador of Goodwill" for the United States at the World's Fair in Seville, Spain.  Over the years the Orchestra has been heard on the soundtracks of several feature films and television programs, including productions for PBS, HBO, the FX Channel, and Turner Classic Movies. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra's widely praised discography includes 18 albums and 2 DVD sets of historic Hollywood films with authentic scores. PRO’s recordings have made the Billboard Charts (“Top Classical Albums”) and have won three major critic’s awards: Gramophone’s “Editor’s Choice,” BBC Music’s “Opera of the Month,” and Sterophile’s “Record of the Month.” (website: www.paragonragtime.com)