Lee will welcome acclaimed Beatles tribute band Classical Mystery Tour to the Conn Center on Tuesday, Jan. 22, for the next Presidential Concert Series event. The group will be accompanied by the Lee University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Robert Bernhardt. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m.
Composed of Beatlemania veterans, Classical Mystery Tour plays Beatles classics, backed by a symphony orchestra. CMT is made up of four musicians that look and sound like the Beatles. The full show presents 30 Beatles songs performed exactly as they were written. Audiences have heard "Penny Lane" with a live trumpet section, the rock/classical blend on the hard-edged "I Am the Walrus" and experienced the beauty of "Yesterday" with an acoustic guitar and string quartet.
The Classical Mystery Tour features Jim Owen (John Lennon) on rhythm guitar, piano, and vocals; Tony Kishman (Paul McCartney) on bass guitar, piano, and vocals; John Brosnan (George Harrison) on lead guitar and vocals; and Chris Camilleri (Ringo Starr) on drums and vocals.
Mr. Owen began studying piano at six and won honors in various piano performance competitions through his teenage years. He was eight years old when he first heard The Beatles and promptly decided to take up the study of the guitar. His first professional performance as a Beatle was at 16.
Singer-songwriter Tony Kishman was born in Tucson, Az. where he began his musical career in the early 1970s. Starting in 1979, Mr. Kishman played bass and guitar for six years as Paul McCartney in both the national and international tours of Beatlemania. He then went on to perform in Legends in Concert and produced shows that ran in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe.
Mr. Brosnan is a songwriter and musician from London, England. He first began performing the role of George Harrison in 2000 and has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia with various Beatle productions. In addition to performing in Classical Mystery Tour, Mr. Brosnan runs a music and film production company in the UK.
Born and raised on Long Island, N.Y., Mr. Camilleri started listening to Beatles records at a young age, and for many years played drums and sang along to the recordings, eventually forming the internationally-renowned Beatles cover band Liverpool, which still reunites to perform at the Fests For Beatles Fans (formerly Beatlefest).
Accompanying CMT is the Lee University Symphony Orchestra, comprising select instrumentalists led by critically acclaimed conductor Robert Bernhardt. In addition to performing one major concert each semester, its musicians frequently participate in operatic, choral, and other concerts on the campus. Recent repertoire includes Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Humperdinck’s Evening Prayer and Dream Pantomime, and Dvorák’s Symphony From the New World.
Robert Bernhardt joined Lee's School of Music in the fall of 2011 as an artist-in-residence and conductor of the Lee Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bernhardt also serves as music director emeritus of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera and principal pops conductor of the Louisville Orchestra. He was formerly the music director and conductor for 19 seasons with the CSO and is the first to hold the title emeritus.
Mr. Bernhardt has directed and conducted numerous symphonies, operas, musicals and ballets all over the country. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1978 and has recorded for Vanguard, First Edition, Carlton Classics and RPO record labels.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and will be available at the Dixon Center Box Office Jan. 15-22 from 3–6 p.m. or by calling 614-8343.
For more information about Classical Mystery Tour visit http://www.classicalmysterytour.com/main/index.htm
For more information about this concert, please call Lee’s School of Music at 614-8243 or email music@leeuniversity.edu.