Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Our Musical Theatre Matinee series features guest lectures from some of the Valley’s foremost experts in musical theatre, which include live performances by outstanding local singers and dancers!
In celebration of the release of the new movie Wicked hitting the theatres on Nov. 22, we begin our Musical Theatre Matinee series with a celebration of the music of Stephen Schwartz!
Hosted by AZMF Resident Artist Josh Condon and featuring some of the valley’s top musical theatre performers, Josh will take us through the life and career of Schwartz, performing familiar favorites and hidden gems from each of Schwartz’s major works. Get ready to laugh, cry, and experience the exquisite storytelling that has made Stephen Schwartz one of the most critically-acclaimed composers for musical theatre for the last half century!
Featuring:
Kaitlynn Bluth, soprano
Alyssa Chiarello, mezzo-soprano
Šime Kosta, tenor
Instructor
Josh Condon
As a pianist equally adept in the genres of jazz, pop, and classical, Josh Condon has served as music director/supervisor for over 40 musical theatre productions, in addition to leading concerts with symphony orchestras, choirs, jazz ensembles, and pop/rock bands. He has traveled the world as a music director and pianist for the Norwegian, Celebrity, and Princess Cruise Lines where he worked with numerous Broadway and West End performers.
Currently, Josh serves as Resident Artist and Director of Community Music Programs for Arizona Musicfest in Scottsdale, an organization which features concert performances of the music industry’s top talent. In addition to serving as Assistant Conductor for the Musicfest Festival Orchestra, he lectures on topics surveying a huge breadth of music history and analysis, including popular song, symphonic repertoire, jazz performance practice, musical theatre, and everything in between.
He also serves as Assistant Conductor for the North Valley Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as Guest Conductor with the Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra, the Scottsdale Philharmonic, and the Arizona Musical Theatre Orchestra. Josh is passionate about using flexibility, positivity, and encouragement to create spaces where all can learn and perform to their best ability. He holds a BM in Jazz Studies from Ithaca College and an MM in Musical Theatre/Opera Music Direction from Arizona State University, and resides in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Lexy, their son Arlo, and their cat Sadie.