For a second year, Donald Braswell II traveled to New York City last week to take part in two of his friend Tim Janis' Christmas concerts. The world-renowned composer, Tim Janis, has again been touring with his Ensemble in The American Christmas Carol Tour in Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and New York; benefiting various charities and featuring local talent. Most Janis and Braswell concerts are benefits, as both men wish to use their gifts to help the world, so they enjoy teaming up. This year, Donald joined Tim's concert at St John the Baptist Parish Center in Brooklyn, on Dec. 1, 2011; a benefit for the church.
The 140-year-old church is spectacular with two stories of interior archways. It was partially damaged in a fire in 2003. Restoration has not been possible but the stop-gap construction created a still-stunning sanctuary. The church is doing great things in an impoverished area, including housing, counseling, and education. The nuns, priests, and volunteers are wonderful and, along with their incredible youth group, are inspiring the community one day after another. They provided an exceptional buffet dinner for participants prior to the show.
The concert was a composite of Christmas, Gospel, and inspirational music, much of which was composed by Janis. Flanked by twin video screens, Janis matched scenic visuals to his songs. Four dancers from the church provided beautiful lyric choreography to the show. Braswell joined the Ensemble regulars Amy Petty, Jim Cole, Wendi McPike and Emily McPike (Wendi's daughter) to provide the audience with a night to remember. Cinnamon Creeden (flute), Amy Bateman (violin), Adam McOwen (violin/fiddle/accordion) along with Tim's keyboard made up his traveling Ensemble and his choir rounded out the troop, consisting of more McPikes (Emily, Aaron, Josh and Wendi's mother), and Petty's husband Bill.
Everyone was in brilliant voice and the instrumentals were stellar. Braswell's contribution was a duet with Amy Petty of “Star of Wonder” a Janis composition, along with two other inspirational selections. Tiny Sister Kathy (concert organizer) broke the audience up when she announced at the end that there must still be time for her Elvis impersonation. Unfortunately, she didn't do it. Other than that omission, everyone was delighted with the evening and they enjoyed a meet-and-greet reception afterward.
The next night, Dec. 2, Janis took his troop to NYC and produced his annual The American Christmas Carol, a beautiful concert at the famed Carnegie Hall on the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. This year was presented by QVC. The three-hour show shined a spotlight on many Janis compositions among a variety of other works ranging from classical, to inspirational, to Christmas, to Gospel, to doo-wop.
The extravaganza hosted a bevy of stars including the featured artist, Darlene Love. Besides Braswell, other performers were child-pianist Emily Bear, flutist Yoko Owada, John Lloyd Young, Walter Afanasieff, Bridget Yingling, Caroline Jones, James Cella, Celia Kleeman, Wendi McPike, Jim Cole, Bill Petty, Amy Petty, as well as, children singers Rozi Baker and Bailey Grey.
The show began with a tribute to the Honor Flag that began circling the country shortly after the 911 attack. The tour began when Chris Heisler was presented a flag by the Texas House of Representatives. He wanted to honor the victims of the World Trade Center and began ceremoniously carrying the flag around the country honoring service people and those who have lost their lives in service to the country. Having it at the concert in NYC was a special honor. The tribute was accompanied by Joey Schumann with a Uilleann bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace”. Then Texan Braswell kicked off the concert with Tim Janis's song “Star of Wonder”, this time in a duet with Bill Petty.
Over 500 people were onstage throughout the night with the entertainers and the 480 people in the orchestra and choirs. Janis quipped that he figured they had the Guinness Book award for the largest performance of Jingle Bells, when it was performed. Kevin Cooper was the show Director and Steven Van Zandt was the Musical Director. Janis and Cooper shared the conducting The American Christmas Carol Orchestra which, to quote the program, “boasts a collection of some of the Philadelphia area's finest student musicians from fifteen different high schools, along with local music educators and private instructors. This unique combination of student and adult performers includes several parent and child pairings, sibling combinations, and even a grandparent, parent and child combination”. The co-producer (Robert Galiette) and stage manager (Jana Llynn) are to be commended for the backstage handling of the hundreds of performers coming and going onstage.
Of special note, was the a cappella song “The Battle of Jericho” sung by the 25-voice Dimensional Harmony Choir (Sterling Frederick, Director). The children choirs, 45-voice ChildrenSong of New Jersey [Haddenfield] (Polly Murray, Artistic Director) and 100 member Abigail Adams Children's Chorus from Public school 131 Queens, NY (Marisol Ponte-Greenberg, Director) charmed everyone. Similar to the Honor Orchestra, The American Christmas Carol Honors Choir conducted by Matt Vanzini was made up of multiple choirs; Mount Olive (director Matt Vanzini), Bridgewater-Raritan (director John Wilson), Springfield (director Susan Descasu), Howell (director Regina McAllen), Mendham (director Patricia Danner) and Nutley (director Michael Cundari).
A touching moment was when Owada praised America's involvement to help her country following the earthquake/sunami tragedy. She gushed over Janis and invited him the other cast and the entire audience to perform next time in Japan. The audience was left wanting more after her one haunting flute number, Janis's “Ocean Heights”. Braswell's solo “Gloria” (another Janis composition) was powerful with this massive choir and orchestra behind him. Another of many notable pieces in the show was when Baker and Grey sang while Bear accompanied on the piano. The three children were charming and earned them a standing ovation. The show ended with the entire cast, Ensemble, Honor Choir and orchestra performing a stirring version of “O Holy Night” with Wendi McPike and Amy Petty.
An extra treat to Braswellians (fan club members) was when Braswell joined them at the Carnegie Deli after the show. At the neighboring table, a family from Virginia were celebrating three girls's sixteenth birthday with a trip to New York. They were thrilled when Donald stood up to sing an operatic “Happy Birthday”. The normally noisy restaurant was stunned to silence, after which all the patrons gave a rousing applause.
QVC is hosting a Tim Janis special morning show at 7am on Tuesday, Dec. 6, selling his 3-CD Christmas package (#F09608). Interested parties are encouraged to call 800.345.1515 at that time to order.
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To book Donald Braswell or Gli Unici contact Bookings@donaldbraswsell.com. For details on upcoming Donald Braswell II and Gli Unici concerts, go to www.donaldbraswell.com. To keep up with his special activities, join the Donald Braswell Fan Club at www.donaldbraswellfanclub.org. They also have a Facebook presence: Donald Braswell Facebook Page; Donald Braswell Fan Club Facebook Page. Braswell is a 10-star listing on Classical-Crossover.co.uk artists and numerous videos can be seen on YouTube.
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