Phillip Mentor in Concert
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Location: Ruppenthal Middle School Auditorium
Reservations, call: 785-483-3742
Tickets: $10

Phillip Mentor in Concert

West Indian baritone, Phillip Mentor, is performing at Ruppenthal Middle School Auditorium in Russell at 7:30 pm Saturday, October 24, sponsored by the Deines Cultural Center. 

Mentor’s Russell concert will be a walk down memory lane with songs from Broadway's favorite musicals including selections from Carousel, West Side Story, South Pacific, and My Fair Lady. The tuneful journey excites the imagination and brings back Broadway's finest moments and more. 

He will be accompanied in Russell by Alex Underwood.

Born in Belmont, Port of Spain on the island of Trinidad and Tobago, Mentor is a trained opera singer and has performed in musical plays and theaters and as a concert vocalist with symphony orchestras throughout the United States and the Caribbean.

He studied at Montclair State University as well as with teachers and coaches from the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony.

Mentor’s performances around the world have earned him rave reviews in such well known productions as: The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, Porgy and Bess and the Magic Flute.

 As one of America's finest concert baritones, Phillip Mentor is "the only singer since Paul Robeson that I've enjoyed hearing singing these songs," says Charles Bassch of Asbury Park Press.

He sings in a variety of languages and musical styles -- from French to German to Spanish and Latin, and even some Yiddish; from Negro Spirituals to classical, baroque, classic Broadway, to Irish and English folksongs, gospel, sacred concerts, and Christmas concerts, both sacred and popular

Mentor says "My involvement in the arts has been a constant learning process . . . I thoroughly research each piece that I perform, so that I can help the audience to relate, by telling them about the time and ideas the piece conveys."

A “delightful” performer, Mentor is a great story teller and his presentations are thought provoking.  He has also conducted master classes at universities across the United States as well as workshops for children. 

Through the generosity of the Friends of the Deines Cultural Center, tickets for the concert are priced at only $10.00 each, with a match from the Friends. 

To hear a sample of Phillip Mentor’s music, go to http://www.phillipmentor.com/.

Concerts
Deines Cultural Center

	Singer song-writer, Jim Pemberton from Russell, Kansas
	The Godfather of Iowa Blues, Patrick Hazell

• Blues harp player, Peter Madcat Ruth, Michigan
• Singer song-writer, Jim Pemberton, Russell, Kansas
• Pianist Linus Sarver from Osborne
• Flutist Annie Davidson,
• "Two Muses" Jennifer Rhyne and Matthew Hinsley
• Opera singer Michael Davidson
• The Godfather of Iowa Blues, Patrick Hazell

Matthew Hinsley and Jennifer Rhyne, The Two Muses

	Pickin’ and Jammin’ at the Deines

The third Sunday of each month, The Deines Cultural Center hosts Pickin’ and Jammin’ at the Deines.

An open-to-the-public jam session for acoustic musicians and those who want to listen, musicians start to gather at 3:00 pm. Audience members and musicians are asked to bring food to share and their own table service for a potluck supper which starts at 5:00 pm.

In October 2006, the pickers recorded a live CD produced by Advantage Studios of Hays. The CD is a membership gift for the Friends of the Deines Cultural Center members, and is also for sale at the Center and several local outlets.