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 Purchase, NY - Grammy and Emmy nominated musician, music director, singer/songwriter, arranger, and record producer Rob Mathes and his amazing band, take to the stage for their annual Christmas Concert, to be performed at The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, December 19, 20 and 21, 2008.
This year is the 15th annual concert, and in honor of such a momentous occasion, the performances have been increased from two evening concerts on Friday and Saturday, to three, with the addition of a Sunday matinee.
Performing with Rob Mathes on stage are some of the top musicians in the New York metropolitan area - Will Lee on Bass from David Letterman's CBS Orchestra; Shawn Pelton on Drums from Saturday Night Live; Billy Masters on Guitar who has played with Suzanne Vega and Cry, Cry, Cry; vocals by award-winning blues, jazz and gospel singers Cindy Mizelle and James “D-Train” Williams, both who have worked with legends in the business including Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, and Luther Vandross; singer Ian Cron; and the 30-member Rob Mathes Friends & Saints Choir. This year, Rye Country Day’s upper school choir is also participating in the concerts, singing a special edition of Peace on Earth.
Concert goers will delight in Rob Mathes’ original holiday songs, such as Wake Up It’s Christmas Morning, When The Baby Grew Up, and the very popular ballad William The Angel, as well as some of Mathes’ newer material that embraces all aspects of the holiday season – from Christmas to Hanukkah – like the beautiful Light in the Window, written for local fan and longtime supporter of the concerts, Rabbi Mark Golub. Mathes also enjoys performing a little Bob Dylan each year with the song Ring Them Bells, and also includes Rob Mathes’ original arrangements of traditional carols such as Deck the Halls, Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High and I Wonder as I Wander. Last year, Mathes introduced some of his new “Orchestral Songs,” that were recorded with a full orchestra in London at Abbey Road, and several of those songs will be performed this year as well.
“It’s amazing to me that this will be our 15th year performing our Christmas Concert,” noted Rob Mathes. “When we started, it was to bring music, hope and charity together and have a lot of fun doing it. Now, we have grown from two annual concerts to three, with reaching thousands of people, who think of the Rob Mathes Christmas Concert as part of their holiday tradition. For that, I am deeply humbled and grateful.”
This year’s Rob Mathes Christmas Concert is also a benefit to support World Vision and its efforts in helping children in Africa. Each year, the Rob Mathes Christmas Concerts have supported a charity that is involved in Africa – a place close to Rob’s heart, as he has traveled to Rwanda to see first-hand how organizations such as World Vision, and individuals, can make a difference. This is the fourth year the Rob Mathes Christmas Concert will support World Vision. In previous years, the concerts have benefited Through the Eyes of Children: The Rwanda Project, and Save the Children.
Rob Mathes’ bio is extremely diverse and his work this year spans musically directing the Kennedy Center Honors, which he was nominated for an Emmy for the second time this year (this is his sixth year as music director – the show airs on CBS on December 7); producing the top five Panic At The Disco album “Pretty. Odd,” and currently starting to produce their next record; writing classical commissions for The Nashville Symphony, and Leonard Slatkin, the world famous conductor who recently won a Grammy for Best Classical Recording; working on string arrangements for a bunch of young bands, including Secondhand Serenade, who had a top five hit this fall; working on a track for LeAnn Rimes; writing an entire record of orchestral music for Eliane Elias, based on the music of Jobim; producing a CD by Michael Cavanaugh, who was discovered by Billy Joel and asked to star in the Twyla Tharp musical Movin' Out, based around Billy Joel’s songs; producing and arranging the critically acclaimed Lullabies & Wildflowers CD for Broadway Star Melissa Errico; and securing a new publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing, the largest music publisher in the world. Rob is currently working on new music for the upcoming Billy Bob Thornton film "Manure," which will be in theaters in 2009; and he is producing several tracks of Latin music for the next Vanessa Williams record to be released next year on Concord Records. Rob has also worked with other top music icons like Elton John, Eric Clapton, Lou Reed, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Vanessa Williams, Luciano Pavarotti, Just Blaze, Jay Z, Fabolous, Ghostface Killah, Phil Ramone, Carly Simon, Michael McDonald, Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, Shelby Lynne, Fall Out Boy, Bowling for Soup, Butch Walker, Avril Lavigne, Hall and Oates, Yo Yo Ma, Renee Fleming and many more.
After all of this, Rob still says that the focal point of his year and the highlight of his year are coming home and performing the Christmas Concert.
Tickets are $35 and $45 and are available online at www.artscenter.org, by calling the Performing Arts Center Box Office (914-251-6200), or at The Music Source in Old Greenwich, Conn., (203-698-0444; 1345 E. Putnam, Old Greenwich, Conn.).
The concerts will be held at 8:00 p.m., Friday, December 19, 8:00 p.m., Saturday, December 20, and at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, December 21, 2008, at the Performing Arts Center, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, N.Y. 10577. To learn more about Rob Mathes, visit www.RobMathes.com.
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