MUSIC & MORE SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
2023 SEASON FINALE CONCERT
To see some of the photos taken during the finale concert, please click here.
During the finale concert, Rev. Randall K. Bush played several selections composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, including Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Var. 18.
Randy has served as an ordained Presbyterian pastor since 1989, leading congregations in Zimbabwe, Kansas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Maryland. (Randy served at First Presbyterian Church of Racine from Nov. 1993 to Mar. 2006.) Prior to his study at Princeton Seminary, he was a piano performance major, studying and earning degrees at Kansas University, Hochschule fuer Musik (Salzburg, Austria), and Musikhochschule (Cologne, Germany). He has performed Gershwin's works for piano and orchestra, plus Bach concerti and the Grieg piano concerto with the Racine Symphony Orchestra. He continues to enjoy balancing music and theology, along with traveling, doing crossword puzzles and indulging in chocolate treats.
For the finale, Beth Johnstone Bush sang Fifty Percent (from Ballroom) by Billy Goldenberg.
Beth is an equity actress and singer who has performed everything from opera to straight theater. She attended Smith College and the New England Conservatory. Beth has had roles in Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Fiddler on the Roof, Evita, March of the Falsettos, Apartment 3A, The Good Doctor, and Grey Gardens. She has performed with Skylight Opera Theatre, First Stage, In Tandem Theatre, Racine Theatre Guild, as well as the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Irish Classic Theatre , Front Porch, and Off the Wall Productions. She taught private voice at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University (Pittsburgh) and has continued to teach privately during her time now in Maryland.
Charlotte "Charli” Bush sang several songs, including Room by Shaina Taub.
Charli graduated in May 2023 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater from Syracuse University. Charli has had roles in The Little Mermaid, Matilda, Sweet Charity, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for both Syracuse University and the Syracuse Stage. She currently lives in New York City, where she works, auditions, navigates the subway, does crossword puzzles, and watches the occasional bad horror movie.
The Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin, directed by
James A. Schatzman - Founder, Conductor, & Artistic Director
Our season final concert featured favorite Beatles songs with CAS, guest musicians and band.
CAS is an auditioned community chorus of more than sixty volunteer singers. Director James Schatzman founded the chorus in 1987. They generally perform four major concert programs each year, and participate in community outreach and special events. Their repertoire is diverse, and includes classical choral works, opera, show tunes, jazz, folk, and a little popular music.
Versatility, one of Maestro Schatzman’s most respected qualities, has been the hallmark of the CAS’s programming from the beginning. Equally at home in the concert hall or the theater, he has led and prepared the chorus to perform masterworks of the classical repertoire and musical theater, as well as folk and pop classics throughout the CAS’s 36 seasons. In 2010, Mr. Schatzman led the CAS in a performance of Glenn Burleigh’s Nguzo Saba Suite at Lincoln Center in New York City’s Avery Fischer Hall.
Mark Paffrath and Marv Dykhuis – vocal & guitar
Mary Skop – keyboard | Noel Crowder – bass
Steve Comeau – drums | John Traylor – percussion
Marvin Dykhuis was born in Racine, Wisconsin. Coming from a musical family, he learned early how to play many instruments as well as sing. He played music professionally for many years in Wisconsin with Mark Paffrath and Marvin and the Dogs. In 1985, he moved to Austin, Texas and began another musical journey as a singer, songwriter, band leader, record producer, session musician, frontman, and sideman with many Texas touring acts. Marvin has played for two US presidents (and other world leaders) and toured throughout the U.S. and the world. He has worked with artists Tish Hinojosa, Jimmy LaFave, Marcia Ball, Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Martin Murphy, and Shelley King, just to name a few. Marvin just released his second recording with his group “Grouchy Like Riley.”
Award winning pop/folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Paffrath from Racine, has been charming audiences for longer than he can believe! From the concert and festival stage to your local bar and grill or coffeehouse, his thoughtfully chosen interpretations and well-crafted original music are as much about his history as where he would like to be; as much about how the world is, as the way he’d like to see it. His observations, repartee and humor are self-deprecating but keen, quirky, and refreshing. His command of vocal and instrumental skills is well honed from years of performing. A performance by Mark Paffrath may leave listeners a little more aware of the foibles of the human condition, the ironies that life is made of, the difficulties and joys of living in this world, but may also leave them feeling just a little bit better about their part in all of it - and this alone is well worth the price of admission.
Mary Skop has been active as a piano instructor, accompanist, and performer in the Kenosha/Racine area for the past 25 years. She holds a Master’s degree in Vocal Collaborative Piano Performance from UW-Milwaukee (2020) and a B.A. in Music with a double concentration in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy & Literature from UW-Parkside (2004). Ms. Skop studied under Professor Elena Abend and Dr. James McKeever. She was nominated for a Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in 2018 and won the college division of the 2003 Kenosha Symphony Youth Audition, in addition to receiving numerous music scholarships and academic awards during her time at UW-Parkside. Ms. Skop is currently active as a musician, vocalist, and composer at Light Of Christ Anglican Church in Kenosha. She is also the cofounding composer/performer/arranger of the musical collaboration “The Number of Months.” Mary currently resides in Kenosha, WI and teaches piano in her home studio while wrangling her three wild boys and two sweet girls.
Noel Crowder is a huge Beatles fan and is excited to be performing with this talented group of musicians in this Beatles Tribute. Noel is a singer/songwriter who has been playing and recording since the 1970’s and has also played bass and sung on various commercials. In the mid 1990’s, he (along with drummer Steve Comeau and guitarist Ralph Bruner) formed the band Feet of Clay. Their first album was released on Megalithic Records in 1996. This album was nominated for nine WAMI awards (Wisconsin Area Music Industry). Noel is currently writing songs and working on remixing the Feet of Clay songs in Dolby Atmos.
Although Steve Comeau has played in his share of cover and wedding bands, he has always gravitated towards original music. He is still a member of his first band, Feet of Clay, who were signed to Megalithic Records with Sony RED distribution. One of their career highlights was playing CBGB in New York. Feet of Clay’s version of “Dear Prudence” will soon be put into rotation on the Sirius XM Beatles Channel as well as KLOS 95.5 in Los Angeles. For Steve’s latest project, the band Rocky Rose, he and Rachelle Koshen have put together a lineup of fine musicians to bring her many original songs to a worldwide market. He is also part owner of Splice Media Marketing, which produces TV, radio, web content, podcasts and more. He resides in Caledonia with his wife Susan Jensen. They have two lovely daughters, Heidi and Annie.
Ever since an early age, John Traylor has loved the sounds of hitting things with other things. This naturally led to a passion for percussion which was refined by Dr. Kathleen Kastner at the Wheaton Conservatory of Music. He has gone on to master hand drums from around the world. He plays regularly with the Light of Christ Anglican Church in Kenosha and many Wisconsin ensembles including: Choral Arts Society, Racine Concert Band, Kenosha Pops, Parkside Community Band and Belle City Brassworks. "I love sharing joy through music!"