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As music director of the National Memorial Day Concert and“ A Capitol Fourth” on PBS, Maestro Everly proudly leads the National Symphony Orchestra in these patriotic celebrations on the National Mall, attracting hundreds of thousands attendees on the lawn and reaching millions of viewers annually.
Originally appointed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mr. Everly was conductor of the American Ballet Theatre for 14 years, where he served as music director. In addition to his ABT tenure, he teamed with Marvin Hamlisch on Broadway shows that Mr. Hamlisch scored. Mr. Everly conducted Carol Channing hundreds of times in Hello, Dolly! in two separate Broadway productions.
A graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Maestro Everly is a recipient of the 2015 Indiana Historical Society Living Legends Award and holds an honorary doctorate of Arts from Franklin College in his home state of Indiana. He is a proud resident of the Indianapolis community for over 14 years and when not on the podium you can find Maestro Everly at home with his family, which includes Max the wonder dog.
Jack Everly last appeared with the BSO in January 2017, conducting“ A Tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes.”
Benjamin Brecher
Mr. Brecher has appeared with the Santa Fe Opera, Opera de Montreal, Opera de Nice and Glimmerglass Opera, among others. On the concert stage, he has performed with the orchestras of Chicago, Chautauqua, Mexico City, Rome, Seattle, Budapest, Cincinnati, Ottawa and the National Symphony at Kennedy Center among others.
His 12 recordings include the 2010 release of Bernstein’ s Candide and two live PBS concerts from Carnegie Hall: Ira Gershwin at 100 and The Music of Lerner and Loewe. His 2016 recording“ Forgotten Liszt” was released on MSR Classics.
Recent engagements include performances at the Ravinia Festival, Don Giovanni with Opera Santa Barbara, the world premiere of the opera Shot!, the story of the assassination of President McKinley, Lucia di Lammermoor and Lakmé with California Opera. In 2017, he embarks on a U. S. and European tour with his“ Forgotten Liszt” repertoire.
A native of Toledo, Ohio, Mr. Brecher made his professional debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis in Colin Graham’ s production of Billy Budd. He attended the New England Conservatory and The Juilliard Opera Center. Mr. Brecher and his family live in Santa Barbara, California where he teaches voice at University of California Santa Barbara.
Christopher Layer
( Uilleann Pipes, Irish Flute, Pennywhistle and Scottish Highland Bagpipes) Christopher Layer is founder and artistic director of the New Harmony Music Festival & School, in New Harmony, Indiana. Trained in both traditional and classical music, he has appeared as an orchestral soloist with the National, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Portland, Seattle, St. Louis and Baltimore symphonies among others. He contributed traditional music to the New York Public Theater’ s production of Twelfth Night, performing onstage with the company.
As a teacher of the flute and pipes, Mr. Layer has worked for Scotland’ s Feis Na Gael, in the Scottish Hebrides, The Augusta National Heritage Center, The Hamish Moore School of Piping and countless workshops and music festivals around the world. Over the last 15 years, Mr. Layer has toured as principal pipe soloist and flautist with the Trinity Irish Dance Company. Since 2003, he has been artist-in-residence for the Moab Music Festival in Utah, and is the creator of the Moab Community Dance Band.
A native Hoosier and the son of two musicians, Mr. Layer played his first professional engagement at age 11.
Patricia Noonan
Patricia Noonan recently appeared as Meg in the revised James Lapine-directed production of Sondheim’ s Merrily We Roll Along and created the roles of Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen’ s Pride and Prejudice at the Signature Theatre and Sophia in Death Takes a Holiday at the Roundabout. Other New York credits include Where’ s Charley?( Patricia) at City Center Encores, Signs of Life( Lorelei) at the Marjorie Deane and Hurricane at St. Clements. Ms. Noonan has also appeared regionally in The Secret Garden( Lily) at TheatreWorks Palo Alto, Carousel( Julie Jordan) at Barrington Stage and Sondheim at 80 concert at the Kennedy Center. She was in the original cast of Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie and appeared in Ragtime( Evelyn Nesbit) and Man of La Mancha( Antonia) at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. Ms. Noonan is a graduate of Boston College where she was part of the Presidential Scholars Program.
Will Ray
Will Ray was recently in the closing Broadway company of Les Miserables where he performed the role of Jean Valjean. Before that, he was seen across the country in the First National Tour of Little House on the Prairie. Favorite musical theater roles include Chris in Miss Saigon, Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard and Lt. Cable in South Pacific. Mr. Ray has also been a featured soloist with such orchestras as the Tokyo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Pops and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Jack Everly.
The O’ Hare Irish Dancers
Tim O’ Hare started the O’ Hare School of Irish Dance in 1979 in Plymouth, MI, opened new schools in Cleveland and Akron in 1984, and in 1996, further expanded his school to Chicago. Many of O’ Hare’ s students have won championships in solo, group and dance drama
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